David Boone has opened up the most local of bike shops out of his garage in Oakland’s Longfellow neighborhood. On the bike route, he offers personal service for bikes that need a tune-up, and he builds custom set-ups for people who know they want something better than a cheap bike from Craigslist. You can find him on facebook or by email: boonationcustomcycles@gmail.com
Ben Hanna: So how long that you have been working on bikes out of this shop?
David Boone: A little over two years. The only reason I have a consistent record is because of when I started my Facebook page. It was August, so it’s been a couple of years. I was doing it as kind of a side gig before I started doing it full time.
Ben Hanna: What did you do before you started doing this?
David Boone: I was working as an outside trader for Urban Ore, driving the truck around with another guy.
Ben Hanna: Have you always been working on bikes or has it been a hobby?
David Boone: I have always been mechanically inclined but working on bikes using these tools isn’t something I had a mind to do. It hasn’t always been something that I have been crazy about.
Ben Hanna: It wasn’t always something that was going to be your business.
David Boone: Yeah.
Ben Hanna: Do you like it more now that you are doing it more and have gotten into it?
David Boone: Yeah, it took me while when I first started it up and started offering services to get the hang of it. There are lots of problems that can exist within a bike and lot of it just takes experience to know how to solve them. I’m pretty intuitive with my mechanical mind, but some of the things just need experience. The bike is not shifting right! The bike is not shifting right can mean a lot of different things.
Ben Hanna: How do you people find about you? Just walking by or biking by?
David Boone: Living on the bike road has been the best thing for this business. Once I put up my sign, it actually is enough for them to see as they ride by.
David Boone: So what I want to do from there is just take it from here and have a sign here, have a sign down at 55th and Genoa, and then have a sign right here at the intersection of Market and 57th and Adeline. A lot of bikers come through that area, especially coming up and down Adeline. So then, just direct the traffic in this vicinity to this location, and really… I think that’ll…
Ben Hanna: Build a little local traffic. People are coming by anyway.
David Boone: Yeah, I think that’ll be enough. I don’t think I need to go too far out there. There’s plenty of bike shops, and I don’t claim to be the best, or anything. I just…
Ben Hanna: Like to be here doing it?
David Boone: Yeah. [laughs]
Ben Hanna: Which really is all that really matters, in a lot of the cases.
David Boone: Yeah. It’s a service.
Ben Hanna: People like to shake hands with the person who’s going to be working on their bike.
Ben Hanna: Two years ago you opened, when did you go full time?
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