New bike repair station at Paramount Room

Paramount Room (415 N Milwaukee, just south of the viaduct) now has a bicycle repair station outside. Pretty awesome for mid-commute emergency repairs!

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130911/west-town/paramount-room-of...

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Permalink Reply by dan brown on September 11, 2013 at 6:46am

nice photo of marco !!!

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on September 11, 2013 at 9:20am

Over/under for how long until it's broken?

Permalink Reply by Will on September 11, 2013 at 9:57am

The structure itself is pretty solid. The tools hang from steel cables, and I suppose they could get ripped off by someone with cutters, but it's not like they're snap-on tools or anything.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on September 11, 2013 at 10:06am

I've tried to use the fix it stations at Whole Foods Lincoln Park and DePaul and both of them have the hoses of the pumps broken. It's nice to see more of these stations popping up, but they need to be maintained and checked over occasionally.

Will said:

The structure itself is pretty solid. The tools hang from steel cables, and I suppose they could get ripped off by someone with cutters, but it's not like they're snap-on tools or anything.

Permalink Reply by Will on September 11, 2013 at 10:47am

True. It's in a very visible spot, where the owner of Paramount Room and others often park their motorcycles. I have a feeling he'll keep an eye on it.

Permalink Reply by Jaik S. on September 11, 2013 at 3:39pm

Spotted yesterday! I wondered what all of the crowd was doing...then saw a co-worker...then found this thread...

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 11, 2013 at 5:02pm

How do you know it costs $1,000 and how do you know the business owner experienced reduced revenues?

For comparison, a commercially available one from Dero is $900 and West Town Bikes crafted theirs for about $300 (twice, because the first one was hit by a car). 

Anyway, I checked this out today and this one is pretty cool and different from others because it has compressed air for WAY faster fill ups. 

BTW, this DIY repair stand makes #8 in the city!

Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on September 11, 2013 at 6:49pm
Clever idea to draw in business. I can't wait to get a chance to check this place out.
Permalink Reply by Will on September 12, 2013 at 1:07am

I've been a fan of Paramount Room since I moved to Chicago in 2008. They always have a nice little selection of craft beer on tap, and their food menu is really good. 

I don't know how much the owner spent on this station, but I asked him, and he did pay for it out of his own pocket, and it was his idea, no one approached him asking for it. The city removed all the parking on the block where Paramount is located when the PBL was built. They were free parking spots, even. Let's just say the removal of the parking hasn't been a positive thing for business, but he's looking to help turn that around with the repair station. 

FYI, they're also offering some inner tubes for sale.

Permalink Reply by Bez on September 12, 2013 at 2:40am

This is a good idea, especially if they can have someone stocking the tubes during commute times.

Will said:

FYI, they're also offering some inner tubes for sale.

Permalink Reply by Will on September 12, 2013 at 3:00am

Just because you can't imagine it, doesn't make it untrue.

I don't want to betray anyone's confidence, but let me be clear, I'm not assuming the removal of parking had a negative impact on the business. 

Anyway, what does it matter? It's hardly germane to the fact that there is a new way for cyclists to fix their bikes along Milwaukee, which is great. Why make an issue out of the parking situation?


h' 1.0 said:

I can't really imagine how more than a tiny percentage of patrons would have found parking in the same block as this business before it was removed. I know the owner has no obligation to publicize his revenues, but I'm not comfortable with the assumption that removing the parking had a negative effect on business without some sort of clear evidence-based statement to that effect.


Will said:

 The city removed all the parking on the block where Paramount is located when the PBL was built. They were free parking spots, even. Let's just say the removal of the parking hasn't been a positive thing for business, but he's looking to help turn that around with the repair station. 

Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on September 12, 2013 at 3:16am

Steven, I think you might have missed the point of Davis Moore's post.

Good to know about repair station prices, though.

(Btw, the business losses, the $1000 figure, the lemons-to-lemonade all came from the DNAinfo article linked in the original post.  Davis didn't just make it up.)

And I'm thrilled to see businesses on Milwaukee embracing cycling.


Steven Vance said:

How do you know it costs $1,000 and how do you know the business owner experienced reduced revenues?

For comparison, a commercially available one from Dero is $900 and West Town Bikes crafted theirs for about $300 (twice, because the first one was hit by a car). 

Anyway, I checked this out today and this one is pretty cool and different from others because it has compressed air for WAY faster fill ups. 

BTW, this DIY repair stand makes #8 in the city!

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