The year was 1985, and Paul Olszewski had left his job as a social worker and returned to the Bay Area to pick up his previous occupation: The more tangible, easily resolvable work of fixing people’s bikes. Valencia Cyclery was born.
Bicycles had supported him for years, first as an undergraduate at Kent State University, then while he was getting his masters at San Francisco State University in marriage, family and child counseling. So when Lloyd Stephenson, his boss at Broadmoor Bicycles in Daly City, came to him with an offer, he was ready.
The offer was this: Stephenson would front $25,000, enough money to open a bike shop in San Francisco. Olszewski would do all the work of actually opening and running it. As soon as Olszewski could pay Stephenson back double his investment, the new business was his, free and clear.
Olszewski set about looking for a location. It was an auspicious time to be in the bike business. Mountain biking was transforming from the pastime of a few weirdos in Marin to a full-blown nationwide boom. Immigrants from South and Central America were moving into the Mission in large numbers. Many of them couldn’t afford cars and were using bikes to get around.
The Mission, as Olszewski saw it, was the perfect spot to open a bike shop: Lots of potential customers, no competition to speak of, and cheap rent. Olszewski had lived in Guatemala during a stint in the Peace Corps, so he had the language skills and cultural competency to work with this new customer base. He rented a storefront at 1065 Valencia St. between 21st and 22nd, named it Valencia Cyclery, and opened it in the summer of 1985. It took four years to pay Stephenson back.
In 1988, Olszewski made “a gamble that paid off” and bought the building two doors down, at 1077 Valencia, and turned its storefront into a showroom for new bikes and accessories. He would make another major gamble before the year was out: On a lunch break, he strolled two blocks over to Carnaval. “Camera in hand, I was intent on taking pictures of the beautiful costumes,” said Olszewski. “One of those dancers caught my eye. That’s how I met my beautiful wife, Zenia,” a Brazilian dancer at Carnaval.
Olszewski’s passion for bicycles goes back about 60 years to his days as a junior in high school riding along the shores of Lake Erie in his native Euclid, Ohio. What followed were years as part of a racing team that took him all the way to two national championship road races, an invitation to try out for the U.S. world championship road team in 1974, and a competition in Guatemala called “La Vuelta Ciclista de Guatemala.”
From Guatemala, Olszewski planned to partially ride to Seattle, stopping at the Yucatán peninsula in between. After reaching the United States, “I rode up Highway 1 and arrived in San Francisco that February of 1980,” said Olszewski. “Then it started raining a lot. That’s when I made San Francisco my home.”
It was the beginning of a long road that has taken Olszewski through multiple bicycle booms throughout the decades: Mountain bikes in the ’80s, hybrids and the ’90s, commuters and, most recently, electric bikes.
In 1994, he managed to purchase 1065 Valencia St., which he had been renting since 1985.
On June 1, Valencia Cyclery will turn 40, still in its original home and still run by its original owner. It’s a distinction not many on the corridor can claim.
Olszewski said that at the peak of business, between 2005 to 2015, he had as many as 22 employees. Today, that number has dropped to 11. Online shopping has hurt bike shops all around the country, he said, but the rent from the other units in the two buildings has helped offset difficult times.
To celebrate its 40th birthday or, as some people call it, “the new 30s,” the business is holding an 11-day sale from May 30 to June 9. “All parts, accessories, clothing and bicycles are going to have some kind of discount,” Olszewski said. “It is as good of a sale as we’ve ever had.”
At 72, he still rides his bike to work about five days a week, all the way from Brisbane. Riding his bike, he said, still “feels like freedom.”
No mention of him fighting against the bike lanes on Valencia is an interesting journalistic choice.
He fought against the bike lanes because he supported his fellow businesses on Valencia even at the cost of hurting his own business. Those bike lanes absolutely wrecked the local shops and restaurants at a time when Amazon and the pandemic was as already causing serious problems for many of them. He has kept that shop open for years past his retirement age just so he could continue to support his customers, his employees and their families. Truly a man who has always put the best interests of the neighborhood even above his own.
A lot of businesses didn’t like the proposed configuration and fought it. And?
Why should he be expected to swallow a poison pill just because the Bicycle Coalition of Groupthinkers expects everyone on 2 wheels to be on board with their every whim?
Do Bicyclists feel they should have the entire road?
Many elders are not able to ride bikes nor people with many disabilities.
Cars are needed.
I am surprised at all the negative comments here.
Very judgmental.
It sounds like he voted against the bike lanes there because it would hurt everyone’s business….
I met these people .
They are extremely kind and community oriented.
Zenia purchased hair products and clothes for a child that has nothing without blinking.
I will never forget her kindness to a stranger.
The employees are kind and helpful.
Maybe people should look into the caring man he is and realize that he does not deserve the harsh criticism. Instead look at all he has done for strangers and this community out of kindness…..
What can I say, based on the negative comments here, Valencia Cyclery is not for everyone, but it is for me.
A friendly & knowledgeable place that makes me feel welcome everytime.
I’ve been their customer since the 1990s. I’ve never had issues with their mechanical services. I love Timmy (spell?).
As for returns, people make a note: “one can’t return merchandise purchased elsewhere.” I’ve seeing my share of people trying to pull that one off at the shop.
For the old bike lane supporters: I am glad the short lived Valencia bike lanes are gone. Way too dangerous. Maybe I am too old for those bike lanes?? Either way, good riddance to them. Now go out on your bike & enjoy the much improved Valencia BL.
The bike lane was a total failure and people still think it wasn’t ? Can we be serious and focus on what really matters?
Congratulations to Oscar for telling the story about Valencia Cyclery and his owner.
Such bad comments about good people.
Coalitions are fickle.
“Stephenson would front $25,000 — enough money to open a bike shop in San Francisco. Olszewski would do all the work of actually opening and running it. As soon as Olszewski could pay Stephenson back double his investment, the new business was his, free and clear. ”
Where do I sign up for a business deal like that!
100% interest in a year and a half???
I would be happy to loan you some money if that sounds like a good deal to you.
You’re comparing this to a regular loan. Do you not understand the difference?
Support local businesses – shop local, eat local.
What a beautiful story. It truly reflects the high standards and commitment to customers and the community. The world would be a much better place if there were more people like the Olszewski family. Congratulations on this inspiring journey!
A lot of cyclists don’t shop there because he’s fought against bike lanes. Maybe that’s to blame for sales.
A lot of cyclists are into Coalition-style groupthink and can’t think for themselves, agreed.
Owns a bike shop & isn’t down for bike lanes. I’ve had pretty minor repairs done there that have gone wrong as soon as i left the door. Support Box Dog & Market Street Cycles over these guys.
“Owns a bike shop & isn’t down for bike lanes.” – Factually inaccurate.
He just disagreed with one in particular which almost all agree was a complete failure and debacle that cost millions on millions for nothing, only to be undone. He’s a pragmatist as opposed to cyclist acolytes from the “Coalition” who preach groupthink and vengeance against those who have other, wiser, longer-lived-in-SF ideas. His business survived 4 decades longer than they’ll have even lived in SF.
Because he is a responsible & experienced business owner in the Mission District, specifically on Valencia St. He knew those bike lanes were gone kill the local businesses – as they did.
Publicly available district tax revenue information shows declines along Valencia are similar to declines across the district which indicates that the Valencia corridor’s bike lane is unrelated to any declines you might be referencing. So it’s irresponsible/unnecessary to repeat this sort of thing.
Funny how you don’t provide that information but claim there’s no correlation, yet the actual data shows a marked decline TIMED with the closures. Funny in a sardonic sense.
Are you saying years of construction and losing parking and diverted traffic HELPED local business?
Let’s get real.
The next step for this fiscal assessment should be to ck the number of failed businesses on each corridor & compare the numbers to Valencia St. It would be worth it to include the type business (essential vs. non-ess.) in the assessment .
Box Dog messed up my repair. I patronize Don Rafa’s for routine repairs.
A common story about many long term businesses in San Francisco, especially those that haven’t evolved with local consumer interests: some mix of success in prior decades, fortuitous funding, and being in the right place at the right time allowed this shop to buy its building(s) and stay in business despite flagging sales.
In this particular case, the number of mediocre or bad experiences people have had with the shop (I’ve had them) have much to say about the sales slump. I suspect they are making more money as a landlord than a bike shop now. And as others have mentioned, the irony of their bike lane antagonism is enough to turn off most any potential customer who might be interesting in patronizing them.
Kinda sad, cause I suspect if they had taken the other stance, and been a vocal supporter of safe biking on Valencia, then many local cyclists – myself included – would welcome the opportunity to pay a few more bucks than online shops to support them, in spite of the questionable service.
We’ve been taking our bikes there since we were little babes in the 90’s and our address was on Army (!) St. I was always amazed and grateful that a repair shop would offer tools for free use. The negative comments about these guys are myopic. The bike lane was a disaster. To me, a bike guy who would benefit from having loads of bicyclists streaming past his store, that would still call b.s. on it, is actually quite a stand-up guy. I’m grateful for the progress in otherways on bike lanes and bike awareness, but shitting on this guy, because this particular lane did not pan out, is not cool. This article was an opportunity to celebrate a business surviving in San Francisco for 40 years and helping keep people going on two wheels. Congratulations to Valencia Cyclery, keep rollin’.
Thank you for this portrait, Oscar.
Valencia is the only bike shop that I have been to that charged me $25 for a used bike box. After that experience, I started going to Pedal Revolution (RiP)!
Things have a cost. If you’re not paying it, the company is. That’s your big gripe, $25?
In a world where the cheapest bike you can get is like 2,500? K.
Of course the bike zealots think that families should bicycle home with new purchases, because parking is evil.
There’s a giant city-run parking structure literally around the corner.
> “Camera in hand, I was intent on taking pictures of the beautiful costumes.”
Ha. I go for the babes.
I met he and his wife by the side of a hotel pool in Salvador, Bahia 30 years ago. I’m sure he doesn’t remember, but he knows I’m right that he was there, Carnaval 1995.
Congratulations, Paul, on reaching this incredible milestone! Forty years of Valencia Cyclery is not just a testament to your dedication to cycling but also to your unwavering commitment to the Mission community. Your shop has been more than just a place to buy bikes; it’s been a cornerstone for countless riders, from beginners to seasoned cyclists. Here’s to celebrating the past four decades and looking forward to many more years of success and community engagement!
As another alum of State, who also lived on 14th between Valencia and Guerrero as a student, I remember Valencia Cyclery fondly. Although it was partly through working as a scooter messenger that got me through university, I also went on blissfully long road bike rides all over in those glorious late ’80’s, hoisting the bike–that I still have–up and down many flights of stairs in a city that is no stranger to bike thieves. But it was always an incredibly bikeable city; I definitely pre-dated bike lanes there. I love the fact that Lloyd Stephenson saw some promise in Paul, and was willing to put up some capital in exchange for innovation. We should all be so fortunate!
Beautiful article. I’ve know Paul & Zenia since 1987. They are amazing human beings.
May the old Valencia bike lanes RIP, like the businesses they took down in their wake.
There have been bike lanes on Valencia since 1999, arguably before Valencia went through it’s transformation to it’s current state. (And he didn’t support the lanes back then iirc). Are you lamenting the furniture and car parts stores that were replaced by high end coffee making paraphernalia shops, or the womens spa that became condos?
How about missing the buses? Have you given any thought the old-timers that used to use that bus line? SMTA did not. They were too busy catering the Bike Coalition whims.
Pretty much everyone agrees the bike lane on Valencia was a failure that prevented zero real world accidents and may have created a few via door-openings onto a supposedly “protected” lane… except those who are paid (via non-profit) to dither.
Please refer to my comment about “thriving business & mixed transportation modes”. If you what you say is true, I say Paul is a very savvy business, with knowledge ahead of his time. Since we all saw what the previous bike lane iterations did to the local businesses.
It seems irresponsible not to mention this bike shop’s historical proclivity to support parking spots and car infrastructure over bike-centric infrastructure.
Not all bike-centric infrastructure makes sense, period. You want a blank check and don’t care who is affected. That’s not a trope any business owner could support.
People do drive cars.
People visit the city and there is no where to park.
The bike lanes are a bit crazy!
An insight on thriving businesses & mixed mode of transportation
Visualize this, so you might comprehend that bike, as a transportation mode, is not all inclusive, & car access, including parking, is necessary for businesses to thrive.
Here is the list for a grasp on the bigger picture for Valencia Street: bus lines were removed; older people with mobility issues need to drive; any age people with mobility issues as well; families with small kids; & customers that actually buy a meaningful amount of merchandise need to transport the good home.
But who cares about these people right? As long as the people in the Coalition are happy….
This time three years ago I went to check out this bike shop with a thought to taking up bicycling after the pandemic, but I didn’t get past the showcase. The bikes were way overpriced, and there was a doubly prohibitive policy sign warning no trying out the bikes AND no returns. I’m amazed they’ve stayed in business.
I know for a fact that the policy is in place because someone rode off with a very expensive bike a few years ago.
If you had questioned the policy, that offended you, you would have gotten an explanation.