For nearly ten years, La Chouette Bike Shop has been serving Paris, France – and an ever-growing online customer base – with a finely curated selection of bikes, components, and products from some of our favorite brands. In a continuation of Reportage from his time visiting Paris earlier this month, Josh checks in with La Chouette owners Pierre, João, and Jacob, who are on a mission to add a bit of international color to the streets of their fine city…
À Paris
It’s been a few weeks since I wandered the streets of Paris following my time in the UK documenting the Bespoked show in Manchester. While some time has passed, my memories are as vibrant as the city itself. While I’ve visited other parts more recently, over twenty years had passed since I was last in Paris. I didn’t really know what to expect, but after living in the West and Southwest for so many years now, I’ve become accustomed to seeing historical buildings and cultural institutions town down and replaced with dull, character-less boxes at the behest of capitalism’s constant push for cheap and new shit.
Not Paris, though. Even on the eve of the Summer Olympics, everything from cafe culture and architecture to fashion, food, and super skinny cigs felt like a time capsule. If you’ve ever been on the fence about visiting or dragging your feet about returning, buy that plane ticket and go.
Bike racks reveal a lot about a city’s terrain and cycling culture, and I like to check them out while walking around cities to see what folks are riding. From single speeds with stout gearing in flat locations to cargo bikes in places where people haul lots of gear, it’s always cool to observe the menagerie. But Paris seems different.
The overwhelming presence of non-descript, dark-colored city bikes was striking in a place with such a rich cycling heritage. I’m sure there are reasons for this, including a desire to fly under the radar in response to rampant theft, but still, it made bike rack ogling pretty dull. But there’s a beacon of color in the bleak urban Parisian bike landscape: La Chouette.
La Chouette Bike Shop
I first heard about La Chouette a few years ago after a friend returned from a trip to Paris with one of their water bottles for me. He had found the shop as lots of others do – walking slightly “off the beaten path” of typical tourists in the 3rd Arrondissement and stumbling upon the shop’s catchy pink facade. Since “c’est chouette” was pretty much the only phrase I’ve retained after four years of high school French language courses, the shop was high on my radar to visit if I ever had the chance to make it back to the city based on its name alone.
It turns out that the shop’s owners were a wonderful and accommodating bunch. They welcomed my friend Steven and me into the fold for a couple of days and even hooked us up with loaner bikes to use during our stay. I tapped L’équipe de La Chouette – Jacob Burke, João Sancho, and Pierre Emmanuel Darrigues – for a brief overview of the shop’s history, where they’re headed, and a couple of recent build breakdowns.
So, without further adieu, I’ll toss the mic over to La Chouette…
La Chouette started back in 2016 as a bike café, and most of our business consisted of selling and repairing vintage bikes. Eventually, the bike side of the business grew, so we dropped the café and started getting in more and more of the brands that we like and are not common in Europe, such as Rivendell, Crust, Swift Industries, Blue Lug, and Bassi. We also stock European brands like Brother (UK), Manivelle and Berthoud (France), Pelago (Finland), and Omnium (Denmark).
A Groovy Name
Our team is multinational: French, American, English, Irish, Portuguese and Swiss, this is reflected in our brand’s philosophy and the stuff we offer. We love being able to provide bikes and accessories for every kind of person and we like our bikes to be fun to ride and extremely capable. The competitive side of cycling is not what we aim for as many Parisian shops are already providing this, but there are not many shops like us.
We were looking for a name for a while. One day, we were at a flea market, and somebody picked up a figurine of an owl, and we thought ‘La Chouette’ is a nice word to say and write. We also liked the fact that owls fly silently, like a well-made bike. They’re also kind of majestic in a way, almost mythical.
It was a bonus to find out afterward that it’s a sort of corny word that means ‘groovy’ in French. The first logo included two circles with a heart in the middle, which looked a bit like an owl face and a bit like a bike, so that was also a plus. Became the inspiration for part of the new logo that we just released this week. Pictured above, the former logo is on the left, and the new one is on the right.
Looking Ahead
Right now, we focus mainly on custom builds whilst still having a workshop that can fix almost any kind of repair. We are extremely happy with the brands we work with – smaller brands that respect and support independent bike shops.
As we advance, we plan to grow our own brand and bring in more favorite brands. We now have our own branded products, such as caps, t-shirts, bottles, straps, etc. But we will also be doing collabs and a nice cycling festival, so stay tuned for more info on that.
We also launched our site a few years ago, and it’s growing pretty quickly, so we’re going to keep pushing that, too. We want to make a few tweaks and maybe add more info and stuff on there, as well as expand the assortment of products we offer.
And we’re starting a book, essentially a guide of cycling in France with routes and photos with a couple of old friends so that’ll be a nice project! Don’t expect that any time soon though, it’s gonna take us a while so we’ll take our time and do it right. For now, though, let’s take a look at a couple of favorite recent builds!
Crust Wombat
We wanted to build a bike with the intention of enjoying the ride. An excellent tourer, even loaded up (waiting on a Pass and Stow rack to stick on the front). A bike that can go anywhere, and be comfortable doing it.
The geared Wombat (especially in this color) was interesting because we hadn’t seen one built up yet, and it looked like the perfect frame for a comfortable, sturdy bike. We went with some nice parts that added color and style to the overall look of the thing. Fat tires and wide bars were brief. It was never made to go fast, it’s more for sailing, and it does just that!
Bassi Hog’s Back
If we recall correctly, the first components chosen for this build were the tires and the frame. The customer needed a bike that could be both good-looking and comfortable, and that didn’t need to be fast but should be sturdy. All chrome and silver parts were also a must.
It is very hard to make a Hog’s Back look ugly, so credit to Bassi for creating such an easy frame to work on. UCI and the Olympic Committee state that a Wald basket must be strapped to that front rack, which we think the customer has done already. As of today, this is our most popular build. It looks great and rides even better. Mission accomplished!
Thanks to Jacob, João, Pierre, Tom, and Reese for your hospitality and loaner bikes! You made our visit really special, and I can’t wait to return and ride with you all.
Bike portraits courtesy of Tom McGeehan.
10th Arrondissement
20 Rue du Château d’Eau
Paris, France
75010
Hours
Tues-Sat 10 AM to 6 PM
Sun-Mon Closed