Traif Bike Gesheft

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This venue is closed.

Loosely translated from Yiddish as �non-kosher bike shop,� Traif Bike Gesheft offers inexpensive used bikes for sale and rental. The spot is easily recognizable by its bright yellow saloon doors on South 6th Street, perched between Williamsburg’s hipster lofts and Hasidic Jewish enclave. After he had a new bicycle stolen, co-owner Baruch Herzfeld resorted to riding a used bike and came to appreciate the thriftiness and convenience associated with riding what initially seemed like a downgrade. He launched this modest shop with Joe Diamond in September 2009, aiming to make bicycles affordable to the masses. The duo does repairs in the shop’s backyard and sells bikes for $100 to $150 apiece��as cheap as you can get without buying it from a homeless guy,� says Herzfeld. Though they sold upwards of 500 bikes in their first five months of business, the monthly rental option is most popular among the shop’s large clientele of tourists and students. Rentals start at $10 per month, with a three-month minimum. — Sam Dangremond