Fresno Famous

Phillip Arellano and Alex Te Amo see it like this: bicycles are fun.

Sure, they’re all about fixed-gear trick and track bikes, but Skid and Destroy Bike Shop isn’t looking to discriminate. The shop, which the pair opened in February in the newly minted uptown  section of Fresno, caters to the trick, track, fixed-gear and BMX crowd — offering both repairs and retails parts and accessories.

But if you like bikes, you’re welcome here.

“You can be on a unicycle,” Te Amo says. “It doesn’t matter.”

Most of the bicycle scenes in town are niche and serviced by a particular store, Te Amo says. Rubber Soul is a racing and road-bike shop. Tower Velo serves the old-school commuter types. Herb Bauer does a bit of everything. None of them do fixed-gear trick bikes, a fact Te Amo discovered while putting together his bicycle. Not only was there no one in town that carried what he was looking for, there weren’t many shops within the state. So, most of the lines the shop carries — 1/8 Inch, Resist, Volume — are exclusives.

Indeed the scene — which includes everyone from trick riders to bike polo players — is underground. It’s in phase one, like skateboarding was in the early ’80s or BMX in the early ’90s.The shop’s name and logo are a play off the old Thrasher magazine line and the preferred braking method on a fixed gear bike.

“People don’t know really what it is,” Arellano says.

That’s not entirely true. Some people know. Arellano has connected with most of them since he got back in town from living in Seattle. But there’s been plenty of people who took up riding because of him, too, he says.

Then he smiles and backpedles some. “Well, I won’t say I’m responsible, but ...” 

Along with sales and service, the pair hope to use the shop as a meeting place and somewhere to host events. Already it seems to be meeting its mark, as evidenced by the wooden frame display in the center of the store. It had been stocked with bicycles. A pair of forks is all that’s left for sale after its second week.

“I just want to get kids on different kinds of bikes,” Arellano says.Skid and Destroy is open from noon to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday.