When the pandemic-induced bicycle boom went bust a couple of years ago, a number of long-established Chicago bike shops became casualties of the slowing market. From perennial institutions like Cycle Smithy and On the Route, to newer entrants like Earth Rider Cyclery, our city witnessed an unprecedented contraction in independent bike shops in the last few years.
However, during the same period, a new business model and wave of entrepreneurs have emerged, with an emphasis on sales and networking via social media.
Take for instance, 37-year-old Logan Square resident Chucky Berls. He launched an Instagram account in 2020 focused on retro bike rebuilds and bike camping, and has steadily built up an audience of over 5,600 followers since.
What started as a pandemic hobby and a way to help out friends has turned into a DIY bike shop business, Marygold Cyclery.
"COVID had a lot to do with it," Berly told Streetsblog. "Bike shops were super busy — like, three weeks out on service or longer, so I bought a bike stand with stimulus money. Because we were distancing, I would bring my stand and a couple tools that I had down into the alley and I would work on friends' bikes."
It was by the end of 2021 that Berls, who's a self-taught bike mechanic, thought that Marygold could be something more than a passion project. In 2022, he quit his job at Middle Brow brewery to pursue wrenching full-time.
Berls started out by identifying candidates for rebuilds, completing a full overhaul, and then listing them for sale on his Instagram page. Eventually, he found that "collaborating" — or consulting with potential buyers on a bike rebuild that the client sources the parts for, but Berls completes — was more effective and efficient. In this process, Berls charges a consulting fee to discuss the customer’s goals with their project and put together a parts list, and then charges a flat rate for the full disassembly and rebuild.
Berls has completed over 40 custom rebuilds since starting Marygold, he said. And he's not alone. The same social media-based model has been replicated in other nearby cities, such as Hobo Hub Works in St. Louis.
Though Berls has created a pipeline of customers, he doesn’t have wholesale accounts with parts distributors yet. Instead, he sends customers to The Bike Lane (a Streetsblog sponsor) in Logan Square or to Mack's Bike & Goods in Evanston, where Berls works part-time, to buy parts. He works out of a studio space in Logan Square off of Milwaukee Avenue near the Congress Theater, where bike projects can be turned around in as little as two days or as long as a few months.
But there’s more to building a bike than just turning a wrench and adding new parts to an old frame — it also requires getting the details and visual quality right.
"One thing that I really tried to do, and what I've continued to try to do, is make the [Instagram] page aesthetically pleasing but also consistent. So I was very focused on the way I posted, in the way that I took photos, and what was in a story," he explained, adding that Marygold also allowed him to tap into his background in photography and combine that skill with his love for bikes.
As to what makes for an ideal commuter or cruiser bike in Chicago, Berls enthusiastically endorses retro mountain and hybrid bikes originally made and sold in the '80s and '90s. It's the combination of affordability, ease of use, availability and versatility of these bikes in particular that Berls highlights.
"Aside from them just looking cool and being very easy to service, you can fit a bigger tire or get a smooth tire if you're trying to ride a little bit faster," he said.
The other key ingredient to Berls' success has been his Chicago social network, particularly in the bicycling scene.
"The amount of people that I've become friends or acquaintances with since I've been in Chicago is the only reason I'm able to do Marygold," he said.
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