It’s a testament to the zeal of Missing Link’s staff, and the viability of “flat-triangle-style” management, that some employees can remember the co-op’s inception in 1971 when a group of heady UC Berkeley students started their own bike shop in the basement of the campus’s Student Union building. Now comprising a repair shop and store nestled across the street from each other on Shattuck, Missing Link offers a better selection of goods and services than any other bicycle hub in the East Bay. Better, even, than the assortment of new and used bikes — including mountain bikes, touring bikes, hybrids, sexy Italian or “European-style townie” bikes, bikes with or without suspensions, and even fancy-schmancy bikes that fold up into a little wad when you’re done with them — are the free classes in which staff members teach practical skills like changing flat tires and avoiding collisions. More gung-ho bike enthusiasts can also enjoy a free workshop space with tool kits and instruction manuals, and store products ranging from generator lights to traffic-stoppingly red Ortlieb messenger bags, to those high octane, zero-carb nutritional goos. It’s about winning combinations: the chic of a bicycle-themed outlet store with the grit and vision of a Berkeley co-op.
Readers’ Pick:
Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative
