Bayou Bicycles

Post Mardi Gras festivities, SIMWORKS IS COMING TO TOWN 🚲🌾

We’re thrilled to host Rie, Masashi, and Steven from SimWorks for their first Louisiana visit. Here’s the lowdown.

Saturday 2/21 — In-store Pop-Up (12–5pm)
Come hang at the shop. Meet the SW crew, see the wares, talk parts, bikes, and riding culture in Louisiana and Japan. We’ll likely continue the festivities at Bayou Beer Garden or Pal’s after we close up.

Sunday 2/22 — Gravel Ride (8:30 meetup, 9:00 roll-out). Come have an espresso from the shop pre-ride. Leaving from Bayou Bikes at 9 am. We’ll go explore some of our favorite marshes, trails, ferry crossings, and backroads. Social pace with a few stops. Likely 40-50 miles. If you’re slightly in doubt, believe in yourself. We do! 🤙 SimWorks Bike Law SimWorks USA

Patrick Marshall siad it best: 26” bikes for 2026.

We couldn’t agree more.

Before mountain bikes splintered into multiple (read: larger) wheel sizes, dropper posts, disc brakes, and electronic drivetrains, they were just bikes—modified cruisers ridden hard by folks like Charlie Kelly, Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, and Wende Cragg bombing down mountains in Marin in the ’70s. Then in 1981, Specialized Bicycles lit the fuse with the Specialized Stumpjumper —and mountain biking went mainstream.

When our shop opened in 1988, all-terrain bikes were already in our DNA. That soft spot never left. (We’re building up an early Stumpjumper in the shop right now.)

Why 26”-wheeled bikes still matter: they’re quick, lively, and connected. They have easily adjustable rim brakes and serviceable bearings. They were built to be used—and many still are, decades later. Add the ’90s era flair—wild paint, anodized bits, component jewelry—and suddenly the hunt is half the fun.

For 2026, we’re making these bikes an intentional focus at Bayou. Think Ringlé, Kooka, Cook Brothers, Syncros, Salsa, Race Face… plus a serious stash of vintage Shimano XT and XTR. We’ll have it on display in the coming days. Come check it out.

And if you’ve got an old 26er gathering dust: all it may take are a few smart upgrades (grips, tires, saddle) and a proper tune to make it fun (and safe) again. Trade-ins welcome too—we need to be selective given our storage limitations, but always happy to help point you in the right direction.

Case in point: Patrick M. rolled in with a vintage Specialized in full Saved by the Bell paint glory. He bolted on some Nitto bullmoose bars, SimWorks tires and cables, a Brooks England saddle, Paul Component Engineering brake levers, XTR drivetrain components, and rode out grinning ear to ear. That’s exactly why we’re excited to stock these vintage parts that still have so much life in them.

So yes. 26” bikes for 2026.

We’re here for it. 🚲 And Happy New Year. 🤙

‘Tis the season to celebrate! Join us at the shop for a festive holiday party filled with good cheer and great company.

When: Saturday, December 13
Time: 1-5 p.m.
Where: 3530 Toulouse Street, NOLA

Here’s what we have in store:
🥂Drinks to toast the season
🎄Mingling with old/new friends and fellow cycling enthusiasts
🎁 Pick up an ornament or some stocking stuffers

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and hopefully see you soon!

Now in stock: Nitto, the beauty of utility.

If you’ve been around the shop, you know we have a soft spot for parts that are overbuilt, beautifully made, and meant to be ridden for decades. Frankly, this stuff may outlive us! That’s Nitto in a nutshell.

We just refreshed our front corner with Nitto and SimWorks x Nitto bars, stems, and posts — including a few of the legendary bullmoose bars that originate from the earliest days of mountain biking. The earliest off-road bikes in the late ’70s and early ’80s? A lot of them were running Nitto.

Nitto has been bending metal in Tokyo since 1923. They still build the old-fashioned way: tubes are bent, welded, and polished by hand, then fatigue tested. Their factory is full of machines whose only job is to try to break their own products. If a bar, stem, or post makes it to the shelf, it’s already survived some serious abuse.

They’ve also long been the only NJS-certified handlebar maker in Japan, which means their stuff meets the strict standards for Japanese keirin racing. Safety and reliability first, always.

Some of the SimWorks x Nitto pieces are limited and can be tough to keep in stock, so we back them up with classic Nitto bars and posts to make sure we’ve always got good options for city bikes, drop-bar road bikes, and vintage mountain bikes.

Come explore, if you’d like. We’d love to see you. 🤙🚲

The new S-Works Epic 8 just landed at Bayou Bicycles. There was exactly one available from Specialized’s stock in the country. We somehow got it for a longtime customer.

As anyone who follows us knows, we’re really into old mechanical things that work well for decades. We’re into handmade products. We’re into patina. This new S-Works has none of those attributes. Instead, it has multiple LED lights on its carbon fork. It weighs in at a svelte 21 pounds. It has 120 mm of electronically controlled front and rear travel. It’s also priced at an eye-watering $15,000.

We cater to all riders and all kinds of bikes, but it’s fun to see what the absolute cutting edge of mountain bike tech looks like up close. We’ll have it on display for the next week before it’s picked up to hit trails. If you’re coming by our shop, check it out in person. 🔥

Remembering Kyle Doerr—younger brother of our founder, Charles Doerr, and part of the Bayou Bicycles family. After a long fight with cancer, Kyle leaves us with stories we’ll be telling for years. Folks will remember his laid-back vibe, free spirit, and the way he lit up talking about his chihuahuas and his wife, Anne.

At the shop, Kyle taught me (Charlie Thomas) what “old man strength” was during our loose-rules wrestling matches. A lifelong mechanic (Delgado grad in the ’70s), he brought deep know-how from cars and natural-gas governors to bikes when he joined Bayou in the early 2000s. Some knew him as the “grumpy guy in the back,” but to us he was a generous teacher and a well of experience.

Kyle was also among Louisiana’s early mountain bikers in the mid-’80s—just a few years after Specialized released the first mass-produced MTB, the Stumpjumper (1981). After long days, he loved a cold beer and a quiet cast into the pond near his house.

He was one of those unforgettable characters who make up the legacy of Bayou Bicycles.

We’ll miss you, Kyle. Until next time. 💚👊

Oh my goodness! We’ve been voted the #1 bike shop in New Orleans. Thanks to our amazing customers who give us a reason to be here. We love being your go-to bike shop and are honored and humbled to be here for you. 🙏 🚲

Most of our Bayou Bicycles crew showed up —not for work, but for something bigger. We gathered to ride in memory of lives recently lost on St. Claude and to call for a safer street for everyone who rides, walks, or drives in New Orleans.

Our city deserves infrastructure that protects its people. We’re proud to stand with our community in pushing for change. 💪👊🚲

Meet Lil’ Gator, our new shop truck at Bayou Bicycles. It’s a 2000 Subaru Sambar—part of the Japanese “Kei” truck class (pronounced “kay”). Tiny, tough, and weirdly lovable.

When Charlie Doerr sold us the shop last year, he asked to keep the old truck. No problem. But finding a replacement led us to this right-hand-drive, 660cc, 4WD workhorse. It tops out at 60 mph with a tailwind—and we love it.

Kei trucks weren’t sold new in the U.S., but now they’re legal to import and turning heads everywhere. The NY Times even ran a feature on them. They’re everything most trucks aren’t: small, simple, and fun.

Lil’ Gator helps us haul bikes, cardboard, and smiles. If you see us rolling around, give a wave. We’ll be grinning already. 😁🛻🚲

On display now at Bayou Bicycles: a 1973 BMW 3.0 CS coupe—fully restored, road-tested, and rocking bike racks.

This Ceylon Metallic classic isn’t just a showpiece. In 2007, it crossed the country in the 3,355-mile Cannonball Run—finishing 26th tied with a Bugatti Veyron. No bluetooth or massaging seats. Just old-school engineering and a whole lot of grit.

Now it’s parked in our New Orleans shop through the end of summer. To celebrate, we teamed up with on limited-edition T-shirts and stickers featuring the car in full bike-hauling glory. Available in-store while they last.

🔧 Built in 1973. Still going.
🚲 Carrying bikes in 2025.
🔥 Proof they don’t make ’em like they used to.
📍Stop by and share our space! 🙏