Do you want to build your own bike?

This store allows owners to creatively piece bike parts on their own.

Three fixed gear enthusiasts who believe that every bicycle should be viewed as a personal project put up WRKSHP by Cycle Project Store which allows their clients to customize their own bicycles. It is a boutique shop that specializes in single-speed and fixed-gear bicycles along with urban commuting lifestyle products.

Located at Tiong Bahru Road, Cycle Project Store offers niche commuter brands that involve apparel, cycling and collectible items.

Long before Cycle Project Store was put up, its founders, Dalbert Tin, 24 and Sherwin Ng Hong Ping, 24, were classmates in Singapore Polytechnic while Sherwin and Christopher Wong Zai Fa, 24, met in the army as they went through officer cadet school together. The three were assigned to Palau Tekong (Basic Military Training School) for the remaining time they had in national service after attaining their ranks. Not long after, they started to purchase their first cheapo fixed gear bicycles and started cycling.

According to Sherwin, they fell for the hobby and consequently, began to do research for better components and higher end bicycles. They also started a Facebook group for their cycling clique named "Cycle Project".

“We tried searching for good quality parts in Singapore but there isn't any bicycle shop that have those components available as they are fixed-gear specific. Either that or they are just too expensive, hence we had to buy them online on our own,” Sherwin adds.

The Cycle Project Store team is composed of two full-time staff with 3 part-timers. The full-time employees are the founders Dalbert and Sherwin themselves while Christopher left the business for further studies. Dalbert is the chief mechanic and manages the store operations while Sherwin is in charge of the direction and branding of the store. Their part-timers are helping to manage the store operations.

“We were pretty much envious of the other fixed gear shops in Europe and the United States in comparison to the local shops in Singapore offering fixed gear products and services. We wanted people to view bicycles differently and offer them the chance of customizing their very own units. They will have an involvement of selecting each component to the way they want as it is. After all, it is their bicycle and they will be the one pedalling it.”

Before setting up a physical store in January 28, the Cycle Project Store operated as an online store when it started out. The first step was never easy for the founders and it is only recently that they are reaping the fruits of their labor. “I can still remember that the first sale we had was not related to bicycle but instead an apparel tee with a bicycle logo. Since then, our profits have been continuously reinvested into the store while we did not get any salary till June 2014! It is a really sad story!,” shares Sherwin.

Now, with its business already growing, Cycle Project Store aims to be a distributor of fixed-gear and single-speed bicycles in South East Asia.

Call for retail stores in the market: Have you recently opened, renovated, and/or expanded etc., this section is made just for you. We would like to hear your stories. Just send a message to Lee Anne Babierra at [email protected].