Opening a bike shop on Westcott Street right before the start of a Syracuse winter might not seem like the best idea. But Sara O’Mahoney and Steven Morris, owners of Mello Velo bike shop, have proven otherwise.

‘A couple days ago it was negative 3 degrees and people still came in,’ said O’Mahoney, a 2009 Syracuse University graduate. ‘What bike shop does business on a day like that?’

O’Mahoney and Morris, a former State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student, opened Mello Velo at 556 Westcott Ave. in November. Customers are frequenting the shop on a daily basis despite the cold and snowy whether, O’Mahoney said.

‘We’ve been lucky – the weather hasn’t been that bad for Syracuse,’ Morris said. ‘And there are a lot of people that still bike. We’re still fixing people’s bikes.’

O’Mahoney got the idea for Mello Velo when writing her senior thesis on bicycle culture. As part of the project, she designed a bike shop.

O’Mahoney then talked to Morris, who has been working in bike shops for years, about her idea.

‘Sara was like, ‘Oh, that place is for rent, we should put a bike shop in there.’ Just out of the blue,’ she said. ‘So we started talking about it and talking to a lot of local people and business people, and it just made sense.’

The store’s name comes from the French word for bicycle, ‘velo,’ and the owners’ desire to create a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere. The small, brightly colored store consists of an open bike-repair area, separated from the rest of the store by countertops and stools for patrons to relax on.

Many of the used bikes around the store, which come from Morris’s own supply, Craigslist and locals who don’t want them anymore, are customized with different colored spokes and paint jobs. A lot of people don’t realize they can customize their bikes, O’Mahoney said. She also hopes to fill the store with bike-related art.

Since opening, the store’s revenue has been split between repairs and sales, Morris said. He and O’Mahoney only sell used bikes currently, but they are getting a line of new bikes for the spring. The store sells winter biking equipment, including tires with spikes to help ride on ice, and winter biking gloves. Salt takes a toll on bicycles, and Mello Velo’s used bikes are good for experienced riders who don’t want to ruin their good bikes in the winter weather, he said.

Morris and O’Mahoney, who met as students in the Syracuse University Outing Club, said they are glad they opened the store when they did, so they have plenty of time to work out any kinks before the spring. The winter is giving them time to get the store’s name out and establish a customer base so that people know who they are when spring comes around, Morris said.

O’Mahoney and Morris are currently the only employees, but they are planning on hiring more for the spring, Morris said. They want to ensure their customers the best and fastest service, he said. The two will be repairing bikes on campus for free in the spring and want to set up a free clinic on campus that teaches students how to repair bicycles, he said.

While they will have high-end equipment available, they said they want their store to feel more personal and unique than a bigger store. Watching the bikes get repaired and chatting with the workers is a way to make customers feel more relaxed, Morris said.

‘We want to kind of make everyone feel comfortable,’ he said. ‘If you just want something fixed on your Huffy, fine, or if you want to get an $8,000 bike, OK, we can do that, too.’

kronayne@syr.edu

Published on February 3, 2010 at 12:00 pm