MARIGOT--Cyclists on the island, and particularly those resident on the French side, will be pleased to know a new professional bike ship named “Ca Roule” has opened on Rue de Hollande, Marigot.
The shop officially opened for business on Monday, March 9, and fills a void left by the departure of Tri Sport. The owner is Dean Hodge Jr, well known to the cycling community and himself a competitive cyclist and mountain bike rider for many years.
“From the day I said I was going to do it until the actual opening day, it's been five months of preparation,” says Dean. “The bike brands I am working with are Giant, a German brand Cube, and Look who do bikes, pedals and accessories, and new to Saint Martin, BMC, a high end road and mountain bike company. I wanted to give riders a different choice of brands.”
The shop naturally has a complete service department with all the appropriate tools. All the equipment needed has been bought brand new.
“This is something I always wanted to do. With the traffic situation as it is, the less you have to drive the better so Marigot really needed a bike shop for the convenience of cyclists. Younger kids can’t drive and so the shop is accessible to them.”
Dean admitted finding a good location for the shop was particularly hard. “Especially in Marigot trying to find a location that’s reasonably affordable is not easy, and that’s what took the longest to solve, besides all the ordering. But it's on the main road coming into Marigot and easily visible.”
For now Dean is taking care of sales and mechanics/ servicing. “For sales I’ll stay by myself for now, but I hope to get some good news in about a month or so for a good mechanic to help me out.”
Dean noted Tri Sport Simpson Bay owner Susy Piscione has been very nice and supportive of his venture. “ When I was getting really serious about it I went to see her and talked about brands she wants to keep or doesn’t want to keep. We had an open dialogue. We know each other well and I did work for her in the shop in the past.
“The friendship is still there. I wanted to be as open as possible and not do anything harmful or negative to anyone. A good working relationship is important because the island has only two proper bike shops, and at some point we will have to work together and I’m very happy and pleased to do that.”
“Ca Roule” is located at 102, Rue de Hollande, Marigot, and is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10:00am to 5:00pm, and on Wednesday and Saturdays from 9:00am to 1:00pm. The phone number is (+590 690) 30.55.06.
