Friday, January 15, 2010

LSD Bike Shop, Seoul

A internet search for Seoul fixed gear bike shops will bring up LSD Bike, and they come recommended as the only exclusively track/fixed shop around town by other shops. One of my favorite things to do in foreign countries is check out bike shops, especially if they're track or fixed related, and I decided to drop by on this balmy (27*F) Friday afternoon.

LSD Bike is located a few blocks away from Yaksu station off lines 6 or 3 of the Seoul subway. I just kind of got off the train and wandered around, it's pretty easy to find and immediately recognizable with its distinct sign and a track bike in the window.



The amount of space they have is great - and they pack a bunch of stuff in there. Immediately when you enter there's a bunch of complete builds and all sorts of wheels hanging from the ceiling - everything from carbon tri and 4 spokes to various bolt on track wheels and everything in between.



There's a cake refrigerator that's been appropriated as a components display, it's got all the goodies you could want from NJS goodies to LSD's own house-branded components.



And finally, a wall of frames - if you're in the market for a track frame they've got everything from Korean Keirin frames from Interpro, Cello, and Corex, to Vintage Pogliaghis and even the new Leader trick track frames.



The people are super friendly, and down to hang out and have a chat with an American. I met the owner Lee and Johnny, who happens to have lived right by the shop in Park Slope, BK - small world! They speak great English, which was welcome after having stepped into a few nice shops that were unable to answer any of my questions due to the language barrier. Lee and Johnny say that there's a large growing number of trick riders in Seoul especially, and their bikes are mirror images of some of the top trick guys from North America - 32c and up tires, beefy unicrown forks, bmx style platforms with velcro foot retention a la Holdfast FRS. I like to experiment at track shops in foreign countries and name-drop Prolly and see if they know who I'm talking about, and I was't disappointed.


Johnny's on the left, Lee the owner in the middle, and some goofy dude on the right.

Anyway, the shop's got a couch in the back, the people are friendly, and they're stocked to get you rolling again if you happen to need some service, they've got pretty much any tool I could think of, plus a few more - my favorite being this wheelbuilding tool.



Seems to be based on a slide hammer, it's like an automatic mechanical screwdriver that's perfect for lacing wheels - their mechanic laced a wheel in about 4 minutes while I was asking what the tool was - apparently it's Japanese, go figure.

Drop by if you're ever in Seoul, or check them out here on the interwebs. Lee was kind enough to hook me up with a sick LSD shirt, you can snag one at the site.

3 comments:

  1. we had one of those auto screwdrivers at our old apt.. sooo cool, but i dunno what happened to it..

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