Just as a little foot head for those of you reading, this is not your typical Thierry Durieux blog... I’m Karina his daughter and this is my document of his journey to where he is today, enjoy!

On a different topic to our other blogs, this is just a little snippet of what and who we were before Underground Bicycles!

If you are a fairly recent customer you will understand that we are situated in a basement; hence the name, but it may ring bells ,especially to our local customers out there, as we have had many second hand bike shops and stalls around Camden for a solid 6 years. Here’s the story...

I remember how it all began in the noisy Prince of Wales arches, close to the fantastic bike shop Lunar Cycles (who we love!), where in a yard my dad would drag out bikes which he repaired, from a growing (almost alive) heap in the court yard that provoked the idea that this was the new Kentish Town recycling centre!. Whilst the idea of a bicycle heap may sound questionable, as it sure was an oddity to my 8 year old eyes, it was exactly where I got my first Ben 10 wheels and from then on, the source of all coming bikes for the future cyclists.

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‍Our location at the time and a cheeky lil sign!

Commemts made by the Kentish Towner, featured in the ‘Top 10 specialised Bike shops’ article.

This continued in the Stables market, alongside with Thierry’s other business at the time, ‘the best shop in the world’ : an array of antiquities from around the archipelago. It was right around the exit by the Morrison’s petrol station and we were set up by the infamous bronze horse, it sure caught the eyes of punters. Word got around the town and more people wanted bikes, so with limited space in the market and the owner eager to squeeze every penny out of the Stables traders for rent, the investment into a secure shop was finally made! At this point in our story we meet ‘ The Bicycle Gallery’on Chalk Farm road by the Majestic Wine company. Quite frankly, some of my favourite times! Those were the days of the Fusion shop: Bikes and Indonesian antique Furniture. Ever heard of that before? Few people do! Here is an article that documented this lil chapter of our adventure...

As camden became more the way it is today, the location and demands of ridiculous rent, proved to not be the place for the project therefore once again we rode on... You can probably already see a theme of location changes and indeed are you to be correct. Yes we moved and yes we stayed in Camden, still selling our stuff. As you can see the journey it took to get where we are now is quite the Trek ™️  (no pun intended) however that is for another blog and definitely to be continued...

To find out more on our journey to where we are today, keep up with our blog posts! Until next time for the next chunk of our odyssey, stay cyclin’ !