Sierra Bicycle Werks - Visalia, CA

123 E. Main Street, Visalia, CA 93291

http://www.sierrabicycles.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SierraBicycleWerks/

Owner Craig Peyron worked his way through school in Arizona by repairing bicycles in a shop. From that experience, he got the desire to have his own place one day.

After moving back to his home state of California and settling in Visalia, he found an existing bicycle shop at 123 E. Main Street and bought it. The shop had been there since 1996; Peyron bought it in 2002.

Located in the San Joaquin Valley, Sierra Bicycle Werks sits along the “Gateway to the Sequoias,” just 36 miles west of Sequoia National Park and the largest tree in the world.

Peyron says he is really lucky to have his shop here. “This is a really nice downtown…we get a lot of foot traffic, there’s a great restaurant culture with microbrews and coffee shops.”

Customers have suggested that he move to a bigger location than his cramped 5000-square-foot space. But Peyron packs the shop as full as he can and is committed to the full-family sales and service he provides at this spot.

In some circles, Sierra Bicycle Werks is very well known for being a niche shop that provides higher-end models of road bikes for serious bicyclists. However, Peyron points out that he gets all kinds of customers: “People that get their kid's first bike, someone that will buy a $17,000 bicycle and transients off the street.” He says that, like any city, the transient population in Visalia often has bicycles as their only mode of transportation. The shop fixes their broken and damaged bicycles just as they do for the millionaires that come in.

While Peyron is well aware of the way 123 Main Street is the “anywhere USA” address, it does have some drawbacks for him, from misdirected deliveries that he has had to track down to vendors who have a good laugh when they hear 123 Main Street. Still, he considers himself lucky to have the address and states, “I never want to move.”