Fishtown: Bicycles Bought and Repaired

Traveling by bike is a common way to get around in Philadelphia but the many craters, potholes and cobblestone streets can wreck your bike.

Volpe Cycles, a bike shop on the corner of a residential street in Fishtown, is the perfect place to get your bike patched up if needed or if you’re just getting interested in biking, it’s a great place to purchase a new or used bicycle.

Volpe Cycles sells and purchases used bike parts and old bicycles that they fix up with recycled or new parts before they re-sell the bike from their shop.

Inside the bike shop tires hang from the walls and steering handles line up on the floor. One set of bike handles is being wrapped with hot pink rubber trim for better grip, the wheels and spokes are customized in pink to match.

Volpe is a small store and more of a workshop than it is a shopping center, but Todd Decato, who runs the store, is friendly and helpful as you find your way around the shop. “I’m the best bike shop within a five block radius!” he says.

How many shops are there within a five block radius?

“Well none, but that’s why I’m the best!”

By Jillian Atkinson and Ashley Zeserman, Group 9, Fishtown