With the first month of 2023 coming to an end, it’s time to highlight our January Reid Retailer of the Month. This month we interviewed Berlin Bikes, located in the beautiful capital city of Iceland, Reykjavik. Read on to find out about their mission to encourage people in Iceland to consider integrating cycling into their everyday commute. They believe cycling is for everyone and can be done in normal clothes, not just lycra!

Introduce yourselves…

Reiðhjólaverzlunin Berlin is located in, what was, an old gas station at Haaleitisbraut 12 in the capital city of Iceland, Reykjavik.

Berlin was founded by two bicycle enthusiasts who wanted to change the cycling culture in Iceland by offering great commuter bikes and focussing on enabling people to commute by bike in everyday clothes.

At the end of 2018 the current owner took over Berlin. Jon Oli started a bike store called Gotuhjol in 2017. Gotuhjol had a similar focus as Berlin. In 2019 these two bike stores were merged under the name Berlin. With the merger we can offer a variety of bike models to our customers looking for bikes for commuting.

Where can your store be found?

You can visit Berlin at Haaleitisbraut 12, 108 Reykjavik, Iceland. We are located in an old gas station. This is one of our four locations since 2012, but this location is the biggest and best of them all.

What does cycling mean to you?

In three words, cycling is: lifestyle, freedom and adventure.

How do you integrate with your local community?

We hold a few different group rides. For example, Tweed Ride Reykjavik where we dress up and ride in the city centre on old vintage bicycles in the beginning of June. We also hold Night Ride; we ask people to put as many lights on their bikes and ride in the city centre in the beginning of February. We also make sure to schedule at least one bikepacking trip over a weekend in mid summer.

Do you have any interesting store stories that you can share with us?

When we were starting a bike store, we had received 20 bikes. However, we didn’t have any location for our store yet so we had to store the assembled bikes in our home. Our home was 70 square metres and the only condition the wife asked for was that the bikes wouldn’t block the TV!

How long have you been a Reid retailer?

We started working with Reid back in 2016. We started with only two models but today we have 12 different models in our store. We have vintage, road, gravel, mountain and ebikes.

What is your best selling Reid product?

Our best selling products are Ladies Classic Lite, Gents Roadster, Original Gravel and Ladies Classic ebike.

How has your experience with Reid been?

Our experience working with Reid has been great. They have been helpful when we have asked questions about different models or getting more information about products. We were very lucky to have the opportunity to visit their office in the UK and talk about bicycles and our vision for Reiðhjólaverzlunin Berlin.

Finally, what advice would you give to those who are considering getting into bike riding or perhaps have never tried it before?

When we get customers into our store who are considering getting into bike riding we always try to ask what they are looking for and if they have anything special in mind. 

Here are a few things that are good to keep in mind when looking for a bike.

-How are you going to use the bike? e.g. commute, have fun, training or competition

-How do you want to sit on the bike? There are three common positions on a bicycle. Upright almost 90°, 60° or closer to 45°

-Ask any questions you may have about bikes or bike riding. In my mind there is no stupid, silly or wrong question when it comes to bikes

-If possible test ride different styles of bike to find what you like and don’t like