Brian Gluck, the 33-year-old co-owner of Red Lantern Bicycles in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, knows a few simple truths: People who like bikes also like coffee. And people who like bikes and coffee also like beer.
That’s why Red Lantern (345 Myrtle Ave.; redlanternbicycles.com, 347-889-5338) — a spacious shop that opened last summer, named after the “lanterne rouge” honor given the last-place rider in the Tour de France — doesn’t just tune up fixed-gear bikes and sell helmets and chains. It also roasts its owns Ecuadorian coffee beans and has the unique distinction of being the only bike shop in the city with a beer and wine license.
Bottles of PBR ($3), select craft beers ($5), and coffee and espresso drinks are on offer, alongside the bikes and gear. There’s also live jazz on Fridays and big-screen viewing of live cycling events, like the great race from which the shop takes its name, via a wall projection.
The mash-up makes perfect sense to the cycling enthusiast and beer- and coffee-lover who grew up in Kensington and has bicycle tattoos running down his left shoulder. “The coffee and the espresso, the biking and the beer — it’s just part of a culture,” he says. “So let’s put them into the same room and do it together.”
It seems to also make sense to those living and hanging in the mellowly hip, brownstone-lined neighborhood. Even on a rainy Saturday afternoon, the shop is busy with a varied clientele. As cyclists in helmets and athletic shorts file in and out of the shop with bikes in disrepair, more relaxed customers in jeans and sandals linger over cappuccinos and Coney Island Pilsners at wooden high-top tables, on a worn leather couch or at the small bar.
“I think it’s a great addition to the neighborhood,” says Dawn Thompson, 41, a Fort Greene resident who had come into the shop to read the paper and sip a brew, despite the fact that she doesn’t bike.
Others take advantage of the shop’s double personality. Gregory Addo, a 24-year-old videographer from Clinton Hill, sipped an iced coffee with a friend while he waited for his bike to be repaired. Another patron, Kimmy Wentling, a 25-year-old teacher from Harlem, initially came to sprawl out on Red Lantern’s plush leather couch and share a few beers with a friend who lived nearby. While lounging in the cafe, she remembered she needed to get her bike’s seat elevated, so she had it serviced while she enjoyed her drinks.
Moderation is also key to Gluck, who is quick to note, “This is a bike shop first.” He has no plans to serve hard alcohol, as it might make customers a little too rowdy — or too tipsy to ride home. Gluck’s insurance company recommended that the bike shop close two hours before the bar, and that’s fine with him.
“I’m not interested in running a bar,” he says. “This is a place to hang out, and I don’t think Jack Daniel’s will add anything to that.”
Open Monday through Sunday. Coffee shop hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bike shop hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Bar open until 11 p.m.