By Lisa Euker
Charlie McCorkell admits that it was “pretty insane” to open a bike shop in Manhattan in 1978. Only a few cyclists were riding at the time, and the city streets were “unfriendly” to those who did ride.
But he wasn’t thinking about that. He was determined to make a living and a life out of something he loved.
It all started when McCorkell and his wife attended a wedding, where they were seated at a table with a group of lawyers. McCorkell, a civil engineer who had graduated from Cooper Union 12 years earlier, listened to the lawyers talk about how dissatisfied they were with their careers.
“Afterwards, my wife asked me what I really wanted to do and I told her I wanted to make a living out of bikes,” McCorkell said, “Something that I really believe in.”
She then suggested he open a bike store.
“And that’s what I did,” he said.
His passion for bikes began during his junior year of college. McCorkell commuted everyday from his parents’ apartment in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn to his classes in the East Village by subway. There was one moment that he can still remember, aboard the “F” train, when he felt such a disconnect from the city in the dark subway car.
He skipped his second class that day to take out $100 from the bank and go to Stuyvesant bikes where he bought a three-speed black Raleigh and he immediately knew it “was so much better than taking the subway” as he rode over the Brooklyn Bridge, looking out at the Statue of Liberty.
Bicycle Habitat, his store on 244 Lafayette Street, really hasn’t changed in the 31 years since it first opened because it’s focus has remained the same: “We wanted to market real bikes for real people,” McCorkell said. “And we wanted to be integral to bike advocacy in New York City.”
Concentrating on the urban cyclist, Bicycle Habitat offers repair classes and test rides.
“Everyone who works here rides in the city, so we know what works best,” said Eric Scho, the store’s manager.
Packed from floor to ceiling with colorful metal bikes, Bicycle Habitat sells everything from cycling apparel to Trek road bikes, their most popular product, which ranges in price from $400 to $1,250.
The shop has been named “New York’s best bike store” by both New York Magazine and The Daily News this past year. New York Magazine recognized it in its 2009 “Best of New York Shopping” section, saying: “Bicycle Habitat is the best overall, for its price range, beloved repair crew, and its owner, Charlie McCorkell, who’s been a cornerstone of the city’s biking community for more than two decades.”
Yet McCorkell does not seem to care about the awards and recognitions. His main concern is contributing to the city’s cycling community.
McCorkell has been actively involved with Transportation Alternatives, a New York City-based non-profit advocacy organization for cycling, since 1975.
Bicycle Habitat and Transportation Alternatives worked together to lay the groundwork for bicycle advocacy, an uphill battle during 1970’s and ‘80’s, when New York drivers clearly did not want to share the streets with cyclists, McCorkell said.
“Back when I started riding, I got spit on at least once a week, and I would be squeezed off the road by cars,” he said. “There weren’t many cyclists back then at all, but now drivers expect to see us on the roads because of the sheer number of us.”
Even now, he said, there is a long way to go educating both drivers and cyclists on how to share the roads.
McCorkell was among those who successfully campaigned to have the city’s first bike lanes installed on the roads and he personally takes credit for making the Brooklyn bridge bike accessible.
McCorkell and Bicycle Habitat also support many cycling events throughout the city. Most recently, it helped sponsor “Summer Streets,” organized by the New York City Department of Transportation. The event closed off Lafayette Street and Park Avenue to vehicles from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, leaving the roads open to bicycles and pedestrians.
There is no such thing as a typical day at Bicycle Habitat. Running the store is always hectic because of economic challenges and finding employees with cycling knowledge and customer service skills, McCorkell added.
Despite the challenges he faces, McCorkell said it is all worth it to hear customers come into the shop with cycling success stories.
“It’s great when people come in and tell me that they’ve lost weight from cycling or that they’ve completed their first bike race,” he said.
Ellen Jaffe, a board member of New York Cycle Club, has been a customer at Bicycle Habitat for 30 years because she “likes the store’s vibes.”
Jaffe said Bicycle Habitat is different from other bikes stores in New York because of the employees’ friendliness and the way they support the cycling community.
“It’s the Woodstock of the city bike stores,” she said.
Although McCorkell has upgraded from that first three-speed bike, he says he still rides to work every day, and loves every minute.
