2009-2012
Jinji Cycles began operations as home based, appointment only bicycle service center for the “discerning cyclist.” Jinji concentrated on building a client base among performance oriented riders and amateur racers. Jinji spent a lot of time traveling Colorado doing on-site neutral service at bike races and event rides. Much of this work helped build the foundations of education, expertise, professionalism, and excellence that support Jinji Cycles to this day.
June 2012
Opened Jinji Cycles retail store at 2538 W 32nd Ave in Denver.
In 2012 the decision was made to expand the business into a traditional bike shop model with a retail store front. The new store sought to be a bicycle service driven model with retail as a secondary function. Our mechanic stations represented the focal point of the store and every employee who ever served with us was required to work as a mechanic as well. Jinji Cycles was the mechanic’s bike shop but this highly visible storefront required expanding the intended customer base to pretty much any person on any kind of human powered two wheels. In addition to our performance oriented customers, bicycle commuters became a growing segment of our clientele.
2015-2019 growing and coming into our own
As the years passed, business grew and the personality of the shop evolved with that growth. Jinji became known as a reliable service center for any kind of bike and bike rider. Jinji was also becoming known as a first rate Front Range mountain bike shop. We added Scott mountain bikes to our existing line of Felt road, cyclocross, and recreational bikes. Our commitments to amateur racing grew as we partnered with several area road, cyclocross, XC and Enduro mountain bike teams. Our core team of employees within the shop maintained a stellar reputation of professionalism, expertise, and friendliness. But Denver, the bicycle industry, retail in general and really the world itself were all changing. We didn’t know if we wanted to be part of that change.
2019 The end of an era. Closing the Denver retail store
In 2019 the retail store faced a very large rent increase. This, combined with an increasing dissatisfaction with the traditional retail model, led us to the difficult decision to close the retail store. The store closed in September of 2019 and we set to thinking about what future of bike shops and Jinji Cycles might be.
2020 Pandemic brings us back to our roots
The beginning of 2020 had us rethinking what the future of Jinji Cycles might look like. The pandemic outbreak and all of the fallout that came with it made some of the choices for us. When the lockdowns hit, everyone was looking for those things they could do from home and cycling was a big one. Bike shops were overrun with people trying to get their bikes fixed or up and running. The unfortunate side effect for people who had been recreational cyclists previously was that their repair needs were put in the same service backlog as people who hadn’t ridden their bike in years. We had already started doing some bike repair from the home shop again but as the year went on more and more cyclists needed quicker repair services from a mechanic service they could trust. More people contacted Jinji and we realized this was going to be the next step, back to square one. We renewed the home business permit, business registration, and liability insurance and started working from the home shop again with exclusively word of mouth references. Business went great and it’s where we remain for the time being. We are very thankful for everyone who has followed us and trusted us over the years and we are happy to continue providing the service they have come to expect from us. We’re glad to invite new clients and friends along the way and we are eager to see where things go from here.
