The Bike Roost, a new bike sales, repair shop in Boalsburg is ‘all about community’
A new bike shop in Boalsburg opened in the building previously occupied by Riley on Main.
The Bike Roost, a locally-owned bike sales and service shop, planned to have its grand opening at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 29. The shop will offer full service and sales of different brands, Chase Glickman and Richie O’Neil, two of the five co-owners, said during a phone interview Thursday.
They’ll also continue to offer their mobile bike service, Blacklist Premium Mobile Service.
Although the downtown State College area has some established bike shops, The Bike Roost hopes to be a good alternative and serve a different area and community.
“We’re just trying to bring a nice, kind of a fresh start to the area, a little more color to the community and we do want to start being more involved in the community,” O’Neil said, adding they are especially interested in holding kids events and participating in kids events around the area.
On the service side, The Bike Roost can do “anything to fix your bicycle,” O’Neil said, like repairing a tire or cable, or straightening the frame. The website has three different service levels — standard, full and deluxe — and the price estimate varies from $40-110+, plus time and parts. They also offer suspension service and some e-bike service.
As far as sales, they’ll carry bike brands like Giant, Cannondale and a boutique company, Transition. Giant has a women’s division, Liv, that they’ll carry, too. O’Neil said they’re excited to be able to cater to women, as far as clothing and bikes go.
All of the women’s clothing they offer is from women-owned companies and are all USA-made.
“I wanted that to be like a real strong focal point of our women’s accessories and clothing. It’s kind of easy to have a men’s line and be like, ‘Oh just size down.’ … but they’re specifically women’s cuts, made by women, and we wanted to keep it all USA made. One of our brands is actually out of Carlisle and everything’s produced in Philadelphia, so it’s a big drive on being local,” Glickman said.
Price wise, they’ll offer something for every budget: bikes that are under $500 and up to expensive builds. They’ll also have used bikes in the future.
“You don’t need to buy this high end bike to get into the sport. We just want to be able to cover it all,” Glickman said. They’ll have various kids bikes, too.
For the co-owners — Glickman, O’Neil, Jim Welsh, Wyatt Stoup and Mitch Dipasquale — there is a big emphasis on serving the community.
“The whole vibe of the shop is community, being local and just a good, safe place for people to come hang out, get bikes worked on. We have a lounge, we have non-alcoholic drinks, we have a fresh-brewed coffee that we’re offering,” Glickman said. They’ll have a seating area where people can meet before or after their bike rides, as well as a free bike wash station, free air and some tools in case someone needs something quick before a ride.
They plan to do rides through the shop for different experience levels, including for kids.
“It’s all about community,” Glickman said.
The Bike Roost is located at 101 E. Main Street, Boalsburg. Business hours are Tuesday 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information, visit www.thebikeroost.com, call 814-808-2520 or email servicepeeps@thebikeroost.com.
This story was originally published April 28, 2023 at 9:04 AM.
