Ask William Martinen about his title and you’ll get a unique reply.
“Call me a Transportation Hub,” he says as he repairs a time-worn ride in the back of West Side Cycle, the bicycle shop he has owned on Roncesvalles Avenue since 2004. “You want to move people, you want to move cargo, you want to go places, that’s what I do. On a bicycle, you can go anywhere on this planet. You can get anything accomplished.”
As William sees it, there are two main aspects of his business: repairs and sales. When it comes to the former, his approach is simple: “We tell people what’s wrong with their bicycles and how much it’s going to cost to fix. Michelle, my head mechanic” — who is also William’s wife — “has been doing this for 20 years. I’ve been doing it for 17 years. We’ve seen an awful lot of bikes.”
How many? Around 3,000 a year, William estimates, with most of those repeat visits. “If you like what we do, you come back. That’s the ultimate compliment.”
