Take Me to Your Dealer: You Bet! Bicycle Sales and Service in Nevada City, California

We love bike shops! A good repair and retail hub is essential for any strong cycling community because they provide community support – that means inclusive group rides, events, and outreach. After all, bikes should be fun and they should be for everyone!

We choose to partner with shops that go above and beyond. We're going to call these features "Take Me to Your Dealer" because we want to shine the spotlight on the special folks who own and operate the shops we've hand-picked to be Authorized Sklar Dealers.

We're going to keep it short and sweet, with three questions designed to hint at the unique flavor of each shop (without making too much more work for these hard-working folks).

Today we're continuing the series with our old pals at the best little bike shop in beautiful Nevada City, California: You Bet! Bicycle Sales and Service!

Name: You Bet!
Location: Nevada City, CA
People: Jay and Kurt

You Bet! is a very special bike shop. It feels lived-in and alive, chock full of thoughtfully curated stuff and cycling ephemera from owner Jay Barre's decades working in bike shops. They carry niche brands, but they also serve the mountain biking community with full-squish service – after all, this is Nevada City, a trail destination in its own right and also a gateway to the many treasures of the Lost Sierra.

Jay lives and breathes bikes – we talked about the latest happenings in the Giro d'Italia, Unbound, and the Loudienville DH World Cup, all of which were taking place on the weekend we were visiting. He's a gifted bike handler, as we got to see him in fine form dancing with his Meriwether hardtail down a chunky descent off Grouse Ridge. We love Nevada City. If you're ever in the area, You Bet! is worth a visit!

Tell us about your shop in haiku.

The love of bikes
is as bright as a flame.
Be kind to all.

What role does your shop play in your community and how do you make it happen?

Our community is a pretty unique one. We have a great diversity of cyclists in a pretty small town/area. When creating the space, I did want it to be a "third space" for the community.

Our workshop is very open, and we have a few stools right in front of the bike stands. I like chatting with people as we work, and we have a lot of customers and friends who come and hang out and enjoy the shop and engage with whoever walks in the door.

I love ALL bikes and ALL types of cycling and really just enjoy everything about the sport, and try to cater to everyone. We work with our local high school and middle school teams with events, practices, clinics, etc., to help with knowledge and offer the parking lot as a place to start team practices where the team can use our restroom to change clothes after school or fill up water bottles.

I love when people come from out of town and park their cars at the shop and start rides from here too! My favorite aspect of the "You Bet! Community" is bringing people together from all over the country and world. I have had many people reach out and say they met some great folks by just seeing a You Bet shirt or hat and saying hey. We had friends meet in a market in Mexico City because of a You Bet! tie-dye shirt....that almost made me cry!

We built a small "free bicycle library" with publications that people can check out and take a book or leave a book as they choose. There is a lot of cycling history in Northern California and I love trying to share the legacy and knowledge of the roots of mountain biking and the incredibly deep cycling culture that has come out of this area with others.

I want the community to know that they are always welcome here whether you're an experienced pro cyclist or someone who is just starting out on their cycling journey. With a name like You Bet!, we will always try to help in any way we can!

What's your favorite ride snack?

On long rides I like making sushi rolls. Usually just something simple like a sheet of nori, some rice, and veggies or tuna/salmon rolled up with a glob of miso in there. I love the starchy rice, a bit of protein from the fish, and a lot of salt from the miso. YUM! Also, gummy peach rings are damn good.

Thanks to Jay for making Nevada City a second home for Sklar Bikes. We love it, You Bet!