Getting D.M. in gear

Ichi, which means “one” in Japanese, is the dream of Dan Koenig, owner of Yankee Doodle Dandy Tattoo. Basically, his new store is a “chop shop for Schwinns,” Koenig said.

While the eclectic crowd sipped Fat Tires and talked shop, a motorcycle gang rolled up. Tricked-out Surly commuter bikes sat next to Harley choppers, and middle-aged ladies in paddle shorts chatted with hipsters in sunglasses. Such is the atmosphere of Ichi Bike.

“There used to be two kinds of people who rode bikes in Des Moines,” Steve Schmitt, 23, a freelance sound designer and year-round bicycle commuter, said. “There were the people who rode their bikes around Gray’s Lake once a year, and the guys who spend thousands of dollars, and there wasn’t much in between.”

But Schmitt, dressed for a date on his bike, and the growing number of young urban cyclists like him, are proving that the Des Moines bike scene now has a few more speeds. There are still plenty of Livestrong jerseys and party rides to Cumming, but now those folks are sharing the road with hipsters, do-it-yourselfers, cheapskates and geeks.

At the same time bike lanes pop up on Ingersoll Avenue and a renewed focus is being put on bicycle commuting rather than recreational trails, a burgeoning urban cyclist community is emerging. At the Artcrank poster show at the Des Moines Social Club last month, bikes as art was the focus for a packed crowd. In August, the Urban Assault Ride, a city-wide bike race and obstacle course sponsored by New Belgium brewery, debuts in Des Moines and will raise money for the Des Moines Bicycle Collective, a 2-year-old nonprofit that sells low-cost used bikes, offers classes and acts as an advocate for bicyclists.

Outside Ichi Bike, Nash Wiley, 23, a bike and mo-ped builder in acid-washed denim and a Bugle Boy cap, admired the vintage cruisers. “It’s a good-looking shop,” Wiley said. “It’s independent, and these bikes are way more affordable and have way more personality.”

Wiley, who turns trashed bikes into inexpensive fixies, has also noticed a shift in the city’s bike culture. “You see a bike scene starting for sure,” he said. “Fixies are so trendy right now; it’s a little embarrassing.”

Inside Ichi Bike, the tiny shop is stacked with curvaceous frames, saddle seats, pin-up T-shirts and retro-Asian decor. A slideshow of Koenig’s handiwork flashes across a computer monitor: One bike features a sidecar brandishing brass knuckles, another is painted in powder-coated rust. The entire place reflects an aesthetics-first mentality, which, guessing from the crowd, has a market.

At Artcrank, Nate Thesing, a 27-year-old Bike World employee, manned the busy bicycle valet. Thesing rides a Giant Bowery single speed and fell for the trendy cycles after stumbling on videos that feature the high-speed hijinks of bike messengers and racers in New York and San Francisco. Out riding, Thesing’s noticed a growing population of fellow fixies aficionados. “I saw some kids at Fong’s that could definitely be described as bike hipsters,” he said, laughing.

Bicycling magazine recently named Minneapolis America’s best bike city. Despite the brutal winters, more than 4 percent of the city’s population commutes on bike and is supported by a plethora of bike lanes, bike racks, bike-friendly businesses and savvy bike shops.

Des Moines’ bike community wants to keep taking steps in that direction. Bike to Work week has grown from 500 participants in 2003 to more than 2,100 in 2010. The city doesn’t have a bike polo league or tall-bicycle jousting yet, but bikeiowa.com features more cyclocross training and alleycat races than ever.

“Most folks are happy people are riding bikes, no matter what they are riding,” Thesing said. Only now, “people are just craving something different.”

Ichi Bike article at dmjuice.com