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Can you believe it? It feels like we opened our doors just yesterday. Alas, we’re fast approaching our our 4 year mark serving the community.

To celebrate we’ll be partying at the shop. Stop in Friday evening, September 30. We’ll be running specials on beer all night. From 7 to 8, Asahi is only ¥5 per pint. From 8 to 9 it’s only ¥10 per pint. Don’t fret, after 9 it will still be discounted to ¥15 per pint. We’ll also be running the same special on wine if beer’s not to taste.

Start off your Golden Week right and join us for some fun. Read more

This week marks a special occasion. With our beloved mechanic Wen Chen leaving our ranks this will mark his last Friday Night Ride before departing Chengdu. In honor of the occasion Wen Chen himself will act as the master of ceremonies and lead the group.

As for the rest? Expect the same good old fashioned fun. Show up a bit in advance to have a frosty beer and socialize before we depart and be sure to catch Wen Chen to wish him well in his future endeavors. Read more

Our pal Todd has an extensive history with bicycles. From a young age he’s been an ultra avid rider, has raced road and still to this day, despite being a family man that’s also often caught up with business, makes regular time to ride.

Over the past few years we had the fortune to service a few of his bikes which naturally meant we got to pick his brain about anything bikes. An integral figure in the early Chinese recreational bicycling scene he’s responsible for helping Trek get their foot in the door as well as cooperating to help build a bevy of local clubs, races and organizations.

His collection of bikes is also nothing to scoff at. Everything from custom hand built steel race frames to former pro race rigs we’ve seen and heard of half a dozen of his prized rides. And finally, we get to join the ranks. Read more

As we approach our fourth anniversary we’ve got an increasing amount of experience with which types of bikes people are looking for, whether they’re new to riding or are interested in exploring a new area of cycling.

One thing we always recommend is that if you’re interested in getting a new bike that it’s best not to rush your decision to purchase. On the market anymore there’s hundreds of brands, styles, materials, you-name-it and with so many choices it makes getting a new bike pretty daunting.

It helps to first loosely familiarize with what type of bike would suit your needs, the sizing, the cost and most importantly the ride quality. If you invest the time in these things you’ll get far more out of your purchase in the long run.

This may mean taking a couple trips to a few different shops to scope out whats on offer. The internet also offers an enormous amount of information for the budding bicyclist. And when you’re ready, you won’t be buying any old bike, but what you’ll be getting is your bike.

And honestly this is our favorite thing to do for our friends. Take for instance this recent rig and its owner. She took her time considering bikes and only got one when she knew she was ready. When the bike resembles the rider and the rider’s grinning from ear to ear, you know that her patience has paid off. Read more

As you may recall, the last pair of bikes we pieced together and put up for sale managed to find their way out the door before we even had a chance to hang them up.

In keeping with the spirit of getting more butts on bikes, we’re continuing our focus to bring quality rides to the table at a fair price. Up for grabs now we’re got this complementary pair of single speed city bikes.

The frame is a lightweight chromoly steel. The eyeleted aluminum rims are a broader profile than the usual, which when paired with a lower profile tire creates better contact with the road, even in tight corners. This keeps the wheel weight down and also means you roll fast and far with minimum effort.

The rest of the parts selection insures a comfortable and quick ride. But the best part is the paint.Available in a ruby red or a royal blue, these bikes are beautiful with a more traditional style.Both have a 52cm seat tube, a size suitable for anyone between 170 and 180 centimeters tall.

Interested? We recommend hitting us up quick because these are bound to disappear fast. In fact, a red ones already out the doors! At only ¥1888 it’s no wonder why. Read more

Join us again this week for September’s first Friday Night Ride. All the same as ever, with a special surprise for the end.  This week we’ll be stopping off at Aw Yeah! Diner located at Dave’s Oasis to celebrate it’s grand opening.

Expect some awesome specials on drinks, American comfort foods and an awesome vibe：30RMB Carlsberg Draft pints, 20RMB Bud Heavy, 15RMB sampler size Chicken and Waffles, Banh Mi sandwiches, and poutine.Now that Autumn’s here get out and cruise the cool streets with us. Read more

When it comes to having nice stuff, the most important thing is caring for it. This means that you keep up with all the little things. Keeping it clean, checking its condition, and having them repaired whenever a problem occurs.

This same idea applies to anything, whether its shoes, a television, a car, a washing machine, your apartment and yes, even bicycles. Although bikes are simple machines and relatively easy to fix, you can prevent serious problems from happening by having a professional mechanic look them over on a regular basis.

A big part of our offerings at the shop are our repair services. We take fixing bikes very seriously. Why? Because no one likes being caught out on the road with a broken bike. This is why customers at our shop all get a free check up with their new bike.

This is also why we suggest that anyone with a bike brings it to a professional shop for regular service. At Natooke, we offer a full variety of repair services and packages to keep your bike rolling like new. These include a basic check up, a complete tune up and a total overhaul depending on the condition of your bike.

The check up is your standard repair service. Our mechanics will run through all the major systems on your bike including the brakes, shifting and bearings to insure everything is in normal working order.

The tune up is a little bit more involved. Beyond the brakes, shifting and bearings we’ll replace all the cables and housing and make sure things are good and greased.

For the bike that needs the most love, we recommend a complete overhaul. This is a total rebuild of your bike. We’ll take your bicycle apart piece by piece for a complete cleaning before reassembling with all the necessary new bits included at no extra charge.

The type of service your bike may need depends on how well maintenance has been kept up. Wanting to see what new life you can breathe into your bicycle? Stop by and have our mechanics give it a look over to see what kind of work you need to make it like new. Read more

There’s no dearth of awesome well-ridden bicycles that roll their way through our doors looking for much needed tending to. Sure there’s a few common brands and styles of bike, but occasionally you get a rare gem like this one.

You may remember our post about the vintage Diamondback we have on sale at the shop. This Rock Hopper is of the same generation of machines. And yes, despite it’s apparent condition we still love the chance to work on such a fine piece of equipment. Why? Because they were built to last.

This makes repairs just that much easier. Any long-neglected piece of equipment with a little bit of tinkering will spring back to life. For instance, the index shifter for the rear derailleur had lost its dust cap ages ago and the mechanism had been left to rust. When we started in on it the thing could barely twist enough to cover shifting between two gears. A little reassembly and some grease and voila! It returned from the dead.

And the funny thing is, this chromo Rock Hopper was Specialized’s “younger brother” model to the higher end Stump Jumper. Makes no difference though as quality begets itself and regardless of it being the pared down offering, still manages to work, 30 years later on a tour around the world.

Which at the end of the day, for our mechanics is likely our favorite thing. You don’t often get to see the relationship with someone and their beloved bike. However, with this degree of use we get a good feel for all the intimacies a person has had in exploring the world on their favorite ride. Read more

Over the past couple months we’ve failed to keep on top of keeping stock of more affordable entry level bikes. Never fret. In the interest of getting more people riding we’re going to redouble our efforts in putting on sale some cheaper bikes.

Take for instance these two new rides. One pink, one purple: both were built in colorful but nearly complementing color schemes. Sure, something so bright may not be for everyone but who hasn’t considered getting a bike that shows a little of your wild side?

To top it all off the bikes were on offer for only ¥700 a piece. We should repeat: were on offer. Before we had a chance to list these builds for sale, we already had people asking. Within two days both had already found new homes with several other inquiries.

Which tells us just one thing. We need to keep more bikes like these around. If you’re interested in picking up an economical ride for getting around all we can say is be sure to stay on top of the shop and keeping checking in with what’s on offer. Read more