Have you seen Bass? A visit at Sea Bass Cycles London Being located in South East London as a bike workshop means a great diversity of customers and a huge influence from the creative environment. Reason enough for us to chat with Charlie from Sea Bass to feel the pulse of London’s Cycling culture. If you are nearby, check out the location and the fresh vibe of these three very likeable heart ’n’ soul bikers and bike builders giving you their latest thoughts and achievements about the passion of the two wheels stick together by a set of tubes. Words by Jo Offenbacher Dear Charlie, describe a bit the concept behind Sea Bass. What makes it unique? The idea was to open a bicycle shop where we would like to go as a customer. We all love bikes, from all eras, especially ones made from steel which is why the majority of bikes that we sell are custom built from steel road frames, although we do a lot of modern custom builds as well. We wanted a shop that appealed to everyone, a shop that had unbiased views on particular types of bike or a style of riding a shop where anyone would feel comfortable going as a customer. Loving all bikes we wanted a workshop that could cater for any bike from the serious carbon machine to a rusty old pub bike. Who’s involved in the business and how was the idea born to start two shops? So there’s Charlie, Sam and Zach who started the shop, but there are more people who work here now. We have all worked in various bicycle shops as mechanics and sales staff since our early teens. We have seen the industry change throughout the times, we have seen ‘fads’ and ›fashions‹ come and go and we have seen shops open and close. This has given us both an invaluable insight and hands-on experience within the bicycle world from both a mechanical and product point of view. Where are your two shops located? Do you find yourself in a creative and inspiring urban environment? We have one shop in Camberwell and a bigger one in Peckham where we also have the spray shop and framebuilding workshop. They are both in South East London, which is quite well known for being a creative part of London, there are two really good art colleges very close and the Peckham shop is in a small business park with lots of artists and small creative businesses. Which kinds of customers to you have? Do they come on a frequently basis? Quite a big mix, like we said we don’t exclude anyone and we like working on all bikes so we get a big mix of people, yeah we have quite a few regular customers.
How had the collaboration with Oakley in residence in London fallen into place? We support two race teams, ‘Velociposse’ an all Ladies track team and ‘5th Floor’ who race all disciplines. Oakley also supports the 5th floor and one of the Guy’s, Rudy, put us in touch. Are your shops used as kind of »get together« of London’s Biking scene? Not really to be honest, we are a little further out than central London so it’s not the most convenient place to hang out after work, but we still do hang out and have some beers after work especially with people who live South East. We did have the Mash SF film premiere after party at our bigger workshop in the summer though. Is biking legal in the traffic of London? Any additional recommendations how to enjoy the ride and also pay attention to the safety? Yeah totally legal, although its illegal to not have lights. It is not the safest city to ride around though; they need to do a lot to improve cyclist safety on the roads. Best advice is to just be alert and get some good lights. By the way, we sell a range of stealth reflective stickers and our tops that don’t look reflective at all until they get a light shined on them, so you can be safe but don’t have to look like a Christmas tree. Describe the Biking scene of London in general. Are there different sub groups within the one big urban culture? Big mix of everything really, loads of commuters lots of road riders, lots of fixed riders and there’s a few velodromes around so people who ride track and also cross racing, its not too far to get out to some woods and trails as well. Are there any events on a(n) (ir)regular basis? Yeah there are lots of different races, and there are lots of rides, some organised by individuals or groups and some organised by clubs. What’s in the pipeline for 2016? We just want keep doing more the same really. Definitely build more rad frames and bikes!
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