Since the Tour De France began, the Wheelgirl bike shop has been extra slammed. (This is a good problem to have.) However, in the crazy happy chaos of wheelbuilds and custom bike builds, I forgot to post photos of my 4th of July weekend visit to the new Chrome Bag store in San Francisco. Chrome moved from their Folsom Street location to a beautiful space at 580 4th Street, between Brannon and Bryant, right near the Cal Train station. (Jump to read more, and see more photos.)
At Chrome, Wyatt and Shawn showed me around the new digs. Shawn built the industrial-looking metal and wood display table, which I really like. And I got to check out limited edition bags that I had not seen before that were floating around the store. Flourescents are not at the top of my favorite color list. However, if I had to pick out the messenger bags a car driver during rush hour might most easily see on the back of a cyclist, the bright and garish flourescent mixes win hands down. So, if you are an "Autumn" and look better in browns and greens, but need to be highly visible on your bike commute, you may want to trade your fashion sense for some safety sense, and opt for something hideously bright. (We carry Chrome bags in the Wheelgirl store, so email if you are looking for a certain messenger bag.)
The new Chrome retail space is much bigger and brighter than the old one. One wall has a giant sculpture of scrambled bike frames, a "wheelnado" (my name for it) reaches from the bag racks way up to the ceiling, and a smaller scrambled bike sculpture screens over-zealous bag purchasers from jumping up into the front windows. The store actually opened on June 24th. But there is a Grand Opening on July 31, and the winning bike video from the Chrome Bags Video Contest will be screened at that party. You can check out the video contest entries here.
Photos by Wheelgirl.
