La Chouette, My favorite Parisian Bike Shop
There is always that one time when you have a problem with your bike and you don’t want to fix it yourself because it either looks too tricky or you don’t have the right tools for the job. What about taking it to your local bike shop then? Are they gonna be able to figure it out and are they okay with working on fixed gear bikes? The last thing you’d want is someone to screw up your stuff right ?!
We have all faced this type of dilemma before. Fixed gear is its own niche and even if they are, for the most part, really simple bikes, you’re never sure if the bike shop down the street is gonna be able to do a decent job on your precious ride. This is also the case for road bikes, even though they are far more common and more bike shops are used to them. When my girlfriend wanted to do full maintenance on her Canyon Endurace, we had to go to a bunch of shops before looking at each other thinking “Okay, they look like they know what they’re doing so let’s go with them.”
So when you come across a shop with friendly staff, a wide variety of parts, gear, and a real interest in their customer’s needs, it’s an absolute win and you gotta make sure to keep them on the top of your list.
That’s the exact feeling I had when I discovered La Chouette. I don’t know if it’s because they have the same vibe as my previous local bike shop, Tempra Cycle, or just because they seem like a bunch of nice guys who enjoy wrenching on some cool stuff. But either way, you can feel instantly that can trust them working on your ride. La Chouette is located in the 10th arrondissement (roughly translated: district) of Paris, almost right next to my favorite bakery and even though it’s on a kinda busy street with a narrow sidewalk, you can feel the relaxed and welcoming vibe coming from it. It also has a moody atmosphere when you’re inside, like looking into a treasure chest full of goodies while knowing you can take your time to do so.
But here is the best part! It is filled with quality components, accessories, and imported goods, making it almost the only shop in Paris where you can find brands like Phil Wood, Squid Bikes, Surly, Circles JP, Blue Lug, White Industries, Nitto, and much more. Their finely curated assortment of parts, great customer relations, and inviting atmosphere will inevitably lead you to slap your debit card on the counter to get some sweet sweet anodized parts and more.
You’ll find plenty of Surly and All-City framesets, as well as a decent amount of vintage track frames with some classic Italian craft along with good old NJS pieces. They also received a small batch of Squid Bikes So-Ez for all your tracklocross needs and fixed adventures. If you spend your time on The Radavist like me and dream about ultra-stylish steel bikes, with more bags than you’ll ever need, then you’re in the right spot! Yes indeed, frame bags are also a fashion item at this point, and flexing on your friends with the latest Swift Industries handlebar bag is a power move! Fight me if you think I’m wrong.
It’s nice to finally find a shop in Paris that has that O.G. feeling to it with some passion and great interest behind each product selection. For me, the definition of the dream bike shop is when you’re selling products that you really like even if it means having to go through all the trouble of importing them and more. It’s a cool move to give access to some really small brands and new items locally. People can come in and see the frame bag they saw online for themselves, but that was only available in Japan, for example. On top of that, just hanging out around the shop for a bit, I found them to be really inclusive and confident in the bikes they were taking in for maintenance, upgrades, or repairs. You won’t find an S-Works for sale over there but if your 2k SRAM Red groupset is not on point, they’ll fix it for you. This applies the other way around, too! If you have an old and rusty commuter, as so many Parisians do, and you want to freshen it up, they’ll also do that for you.
I can’t stress this enough, but the core of cycling is just to ride regardless of what you spin on and that’s the feeling I found there.
To sum it up, La Chouette is now my go-to bike shop if I have any issues with my bike, need a good piece of advice from a friendly staff or just to have access to a bunch of quality parts. Hopefully, we see more shops like this in the future since cycling is doing great again!
Small brands, local manufacturers, and people who are making and offering quality products or services are the key! Let’s support them! Thanks again to Pierre, Tom, Chris, Jacob, and João for being so welcoming and letting me take a bunch of pictures around the shop!
And extra bonus points for the good fluffy boy that was clearly, really happy to be here.
