Cali’s Bicycle Shop and Botanica

Hardly a bike shop. I fell on my ass while making a turn and when I got up I found out why: my front tire had a flat. I didn’t have a patch kit handy so I figured I should go to a shop. My usual bike shop is Boulevard Bikes but they close at 6 on Saturday and I was a mile away at 5:50 so I decided to walk to this place.
First of all, the door is locked. There’s a sign posted that says to knock so they can come by and let you in. Not a huge problem but they take their time getting to the door.
Once you’re in, you better be able to muster up some of your high school Spanish because they don’t speak much English. My broken spanish was good enough for me to explain my issue and that I wanted a patch kit. They don’t sell the stuff you need to build one but they said they’d fix my front wheel for about $ 17. Not outrageous but I’ve gotten a new tube AND chain lube for less than $ 10 at Boulevard Bikes before.
I decide I’ll chance it and bring my bike in… and they lock the door behind me. I mean, what the heck? Who does that? There’s no room to bring my bike in to the back because of all of the biblical lawn ornaments in the way and the door locked behind me so I struggle just to get my bike to the bike shop section of this weird store. The lady that let me in starts looking at my tire and then ASKS ME for tools to get the wheel off. She didn’t have a simple allen key on her, apparently. I decide I should just get out of there and see if I can rig up a patch kit from my dad’s tools and supplies and do this on my own so I ask the perfect question to get out of there. «Do you take credit or debit cards?» I figured they wouldn’t and I was right so I said I’d just try another place and thanked them for their time.
I can’t speak for their ability to fix a bike but they don’t seem to sell any bike parts or accessories from what I saw. This isn’t so much a bike shop as it is a place to get religious lawn ornaments that also happens to have bike wheels hanging on the back wall and various animals (I think I heard a chicken) making noises in the back room. If you’re West of Logan Square and need to get some parts or need a quick repair I’d highly suggest you just hold out a little longer and head over to Boulevard Bikes instead of trying this place.

This is a great take on the classic Chicago Bike Shop /​Botanica combo. A voice came to me, from somewhere underneath a mountain of plaster angel figurines, and said that they have been in the neighborhood some 40 years. Through a crack in the wall of memorabilia, I glimpsed a garage in the back where they must fix bikes, there were a lot of bikes out there. Anyway, I bought a bike lock. It works like a charm — literally, I think there is some kind of spell on it that keeps people from stealing my bike. I have not yet taken anything in to get fixed or blessed, but I will probably buy some more bike parts or candles here later this summer.