Heritage Bicycles General Store

Just wanted to put in a plug for Heritage Bicycles in Lakeview (on Lincoln, just south of Wellington). In addition to being a maker and seller of pretty cool-looking, Chicago-made bicycles, their retail shop includes bikes, biking accessories, bicycle repair, and, for present purposes, a coffee shop.

Excellent Stumptown coffee made by baristas who understand what they are doing, all in a beautiful, welcoming, sunny room. On the food front, they feature pastries from Southport Grocery and pie by the slice from Bang Bang Pies. I believe they may also have a menu of lighter lunch options.

Started by a Chicago native (who had previously started a bicycle company in New York) [Note: I had previously mistakenly identified the owners as Brooklyn transplants] and following a model that may be unique to Chicago, but can be found in Portland, Seattle, and Brooklyn (presumably among other places), the proprietors and employees could not be nicer -- so do not let any preconceived notions of Portlandia-level tweeness or Brooklyn hyper-hipsterism keep you from checking it out.

In addition to the main cafe/store space, there is a large area with picnic tables (and umbrellas) in the vacant lot just south of the building. There is also space for a food truck to set up just on the east side of this lot. Yesterday, there was a Louisiana food truck set up there. Big Fat Tuesday is a food truck started by a woman who was a Katrina evacuee from New Orleans and features (or at least featured yesterday) red beans and rice, hot sausage poboys, gumbo, and other Louisiana foodstuffs. All for really reasonable prices, I should add. I spoke to the proprietress, Tracee, and she said she had just started up in the past few weeks and is going to be back at Heritage Bikes on future days. I stopped into the shop for a coffee just after having eaten lunch, so did not sample the fare, but look forward to getting back there to do so. Pretty inspiring story behind Big Fat Tuesday in the Sun-Times if you have time.

Heritage Bicycles is pretty active on social media, and seems to be trying to build a community of bikers, coffee lovers, and neighborhood denizens around the shop. In connection with this, they use the vacant lot next door for movies on the weekends periodically, projecting them against the wall of their building; details on these events can be found on their Facebook page and probably through Twitter. The times I have been in with my kids, they also seemed very welcoming of the kids (the owner himself has a toddler who is in the shop from time to time), and the outdoor seating is a good kid-friendly outlet if you are sensitive about disrupting the otherwise peaceful vibe of the shop. Overall, a great place and one I am happy to have just a quick bike ride away.

Heritage Bicycles
2959 N. Lincoln Ave
773.245.3005
Open Daily from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Big Fat Tuesday
Call 312-371-7464 to find out where they are on any given day

Just wanted to say that the owners aren't Brooklyn transplants. They are from Chicago. I went to grade school with them. Great people and a cool shop. (Biased of course)

Thanks for the correction, Swanline -- will make the correction above as well.

They also have cool things. The best apron I own is a deep indigo denim one from there.

Oh, and once David Hammond saw me in this cap, he said I should always wear it( but then that may not have been a compliment ).

My husband liked the food and coffee, but then he likes bikes. I was fasting so I can't speak to the food and beverages, but they looked and smelled lovely that day.

There's also free wi-fi.

pairs4life wrote:Oh, and once David Hammond saw me in this cap, he said I should always wear it( but then that may not have been a compliment ).

It was definitely a compliment...then again, I think everyone should wear hats all the time.