Shops We Like: Tomhannock Bicycles
When we started creakybottombracket.com, we made a list of bike shops that stood out from the standard experience. To qualify, the shop had to be unique, typically with a vision that secretly fell in line with the customer’s perspective. It had to possess a certain atmosphere welcome to all cyclists. Nearly every shop listed had a side quest attached to it. Tomhannock Bicycles outside of Troy, NY, actually caused us to reverse engineer the list to accommodate them, they were that interesting.
Decades ago I walked into Tomhannock Bicycles unsure what I just experienced. It was before one of the early Tour of the Battenkill races, and to get to the shop was no small feat. To get there, I had to find Route 7 out of Troy and take it for fifteen miles. I had to leave the city and head to a rural town named Pittstown. On the way I passed through the Tomhannock Reservoir. I couldn’t help but question the location of the bike shop located just down the street from a Sunoco gas station and a liquor store. And not much else.
I was greeted by the owner. His name was Tim. He had just retired from law enforcement and headed out across the country to explore bike shops to see what worked. It was obvious Tim was a mixture of excitement and reservation. Here was someone doing the very thing I had secretly wanted to do. He gave me a quick tour of the show room and pointed to the open concept service station. Then he revealed the secret to the location: Pittstown is a crossroads of sorts. Cyclists from all over seem to cross paths near Tomhannock Bicycles. Why not put a bike shop there?
Though I left that initial visit, my thoughts regularly came back to Tomhannock Bicycles. I especially focused on the shop during Covid and the shut down. I felt a sense of foreboding for all like-minded shops not located downtown. And then I registered for the Battenkill Race in 2025 and knew I had to physically come back.
I sent an email to see if Tomhannock had a replacement part I could pick up on the way to the race. I learned of small changes. Tim had sold the shop to his son-in-law Ted. The shop was still operating the same, and Tim was still involved. Plus, they had the part I was looking for. I pointed the team car to the crossroads bike shop two miles east of the Reservoir to revisit an inspiration.
Tomhannock Bicycles has a welcoming atmosphere. A bike shop bonus is a shop dog - Honey patrols for snacks but typically rests under the register. I had just missed Tim, but the two mechanics shot the breeze with me as they did a quick install. On the sales floor were Giant bikes: road bikes, hybrids, commuters, and a few mountain bikes. The floor was arranged nearly the same way as the last time I had visited. We talked about the Battenkill Race and how things have chugged along off of Route 7. A pickleball court out back was the noticeable change.
On my first visit all those years ago, Tim had thrown the idea out that he would open an ice cream stand alongside the bike shop. I saw no evidence of an ice cream stand, but the suggestion had stuck with me since my introductory visit. It was my first experience of a bike shop exploring other means of income. The industry was changing, and Tomhannock Bicycles was ahead of it.
Returning to Tomhannock Bicycles after all these years was enjoyable. It’s clear Tim - and now Ted - had picked the correct intersection east of Troy and west of the Vermont border to open a bike shop. The welcoming atmosphere across the years, either from visits or online correspondence has kept the shop on my mind. Any time I walk into another shop, I wonder how it would compare to the unique nature of Tomhannock. And though they didn’t sling ice cream while I visited, it turned my recognition of shops trying an outside project to find their niche in the pile. Don’t be surprised if I find my way back to Tomhannock in 2026, headed to Cambridge for another crack at Battenkill. Or maybe I signed up for Battenkill just so I could stop in for one more thrill.
