Local Family Opens Second Bike Shop

Four summers ago, Naveed "Navz" Farahirad was a teenager selling beach cruisers out of his parent's home in West L.A.

Now he's a graduate of working full time as the manager of Downtown LA Bicycles at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Seventh Street in Santa Monica—the second shop his family has opened in two years.

"The bicycle community is super fun," Farahirad said.

The business was born when Farahirad started shopping for a beach cruiser to ride himself. In searching for the most affordable one he could find, he said he realized he could make some money by ordering the parts cheaply, assembling them in his parents' back yard and posting ads on Craigslist.

He said he started selling about five a week, some he delivered for an extra $5.

"I got to the point where I was selling 20 a week," he said. That's when he said his dad approached him about opening a shop in downtown Los Angeles. "My dad's clothing business wasn't doing so well, so we opened the shop," he said.

Now they're prepping for a ribbon cutting for their second location, which opened three weeks ago. The event is from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and there will be a bike give-away, demonstrations, yoga and food trucks.

While his brother, Daniel, manages the downtown L.A. shop at 1626 S. Hill St., Naveed plans to spend most of his time here in Santa Monica. He declined to divulge the length of his lease at 700 Wilshire—.

The Santa Monica location is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The store offers a variety of bicycles for sale and rent, there are also accessories and mechanics on hand for repairs.

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