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(Photo: Julia Cawley/Courtesy of Harvest Cyclery) |
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- Harvest Cyclery
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606 Bushwick Ave., at Jefferson St., Bushwick; 929-234-3555
Twenty-seven-year-old AJ Nichols, who grew up on a tobacco farm in North Carolina, spent his early years tinkering with bikes that his grandfather brought home from the town dump. After working in auto and bike shops in Asheville, Nichols ultimately ended up in Bushwick, where he took care of his newborn baby by day and restored bikes in his apartment’s basement by night before finally opening a brick-and-mortar location, Harvest Cyclery, last May. The shop, which features a nearly floor-to-ceiling tool wall and dozens of “garage queens” (refurbished ’cycles that were barely used and then stashed for years in sheds), specializes in bringing vintage bikes from the 1960s to 1990s back to life: mostly ten-speeds, English three-speeds, and American-made Schwinns. His prices range from $120 (for mechanical restoration) to $250 (for a top-to-bottom refurbish). Nichols is just as comfortable doing some standard post-winter rust removal as he is completely overhauling a bike’s drivetrain.