Judi and Dominic LoPresti met in a bike shop. Their first date was a bike ride. They even got married at an international bike show in Las Vegas.
Next year, the Cincinnati natives will fulfill a lifelong dream to open their own bike shop when they welcome customers to
Spun Bicycles in Northside, at 4122 Hamilton Avenue in the storefront space of historic Hoffner Lodge. They've leased the storefront space and are already busy planning for the space, which will have a 60-inch TV screen pumping BMX videos and music and a bench constructed out of skateboards.
"Cincinnati hasn't seen anything like this," says Judi LoPresti, who worked as a bicycle messenger in San Francisco and raced for three years before deciding that the traditional riding scene was not for her. "We just want to have a bike shop that's going to be really cool."
With her background in bikes of all sorts and her husband's history as a sponsored BMX rider, the couple spent countless hours volunteering for
MoBo, the city's only bicycle co-op. She spent most of her time volunteering with youth programs, including summer initiatives that provided bikes for neighborhood kids.
What she noticed, over and over again, were people who didn't want to work on their own bikes, which MoBo supports, but just wanted their own bikes fixed.
"The neighborhood needs a bike shop," she says.
While it won't be a focal point of Spun, the couple does plan on selling locally crafted skateboards by
Fickle Boards. But the shop's main focus will be restoring and repairing bikes, selling bikes and supporting the local biking community.
Judi LoPresti says that he shop's location next to
The Listing Loon will make it easy for customers to drop of their bikes for repair, stop next door for beer or wine, then come back to pick up their fixed wheels.
She sees a symbiotic relationship with MoBo and the newly opened
Wrong Brothers bike shop in nearby
Northside International Airport.
"I'm really excited," says Judi, who currently spends days tending the coffee bar at
Sidewinder. "There are ton of people looking forward to it."
The LoPresti's get occupancy next month and hope to have their logo on the windows soon. Inside, though, they have lots of renovation and design work to do. Still, Judi LoPresti hopes to have the doors open by late March 2013. Currently,
We Have Become Vikings is designing Spun's logo, which should be unveiled this month, and the shop's website, which will launch next year.
By Elissa Yancey
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