 (Photo by Linda Arntzenius) Charles Kuhn |
(Photo by Linda Arntzenius) Charles Kuhn |
Although Kopp's Cycles has had several different Princeton locations over the years — from Nassau to Chambers to John Street and then to Witherspoon Street, before settling into its present spot on Spring Street in 1989 — it will always be Kopp's. Storeowner Charles Kuhn has no plans to change the name after 115 years of being Kopp's. Mr. Kuhn has been surrounded by wheel hubs, inner tubes, chain rings, cranks, saddles, and sprocket blocks for as long as he can remember. Purchased in 1948 by Mr. Kuhn's father Fred (Fritz) Kuhn, a cycling coach at the national and Olympic levels, the business goes back to 1891. Mr. Kuhn was born into it and is proud of his father's legacy. In 1995, he received the Fritz Kuhn Medal from Britain's Cycle Engineers Institute, of which he was elected an honorary member the year before. With just one full-time staffer besides Mr. Kuhn, and 3 part-timers, his is a small enterprise with a big history.
I sold my first bike when I was five, in 1963. I'm the youngest of six, and my father brought me to work with him all the time.
I try to come in early before the rest of the crew gets here. The first thing I do is to put all of the task tickets from the workbench in order; these are the repairs that need to be done. Then I take bicycles outside. Space is a big issue, but we have plenty of room outside and putting them out in the morning is not a big deal.
I like repairing bicycles but it's the customers that make my job. Some of them go way back to my dad's day. It's fun seeing children and even grandchildren — second and third generation customers — coming in for their first bicycle.
My dad bought the store in the late forties from the Kopp family, which founded the store in 1891. A few years ago, I saw an article in the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer about a shop in Salt Lake City that was started in 1907. The owner thought it was the oldest in the country so I called the magazine and they figured out that Kopp's is the oldest. I was surprised. I always thought there'd be older bike shops. The oldest one in Canada was founded in 1898.
It was special receiving the medal named for my Dad. It takes a unanimous vote of the Institute's directors and it was the first time a medal had been awarded to someone related to the person for whom the medal was named. My dad was much more involved as a coach and was known as "Cycling's Johnny Appleseed." I've only developed one or two riders myself, one local, Dean Ellison.
We have customers from all over. When they come from abroad, I tell them to let me know if they find a bicycle shop older than Kopp's. I haven't yet had a call or an email.
Things change as time goes by, you need to stay current in the market, but some things have returned to the way they were done during my father's day. Filing catalogs, for example. One of the changes I made after my father died and my sister left the business was to do everything electronically instead of using paper and forms. It worked for a little while but then I found it easier to go back to the paper method. When locating a particular bicycle, I have material on hand to show a customer right away.
You get to know your customers over the years, when professors who've come to Princeton for a few years leave it's a big goodbye. I always make sure that I'm here for reunions.
One Saturday in 1977, when I had just got out of high school — dad used to say it was like a faucet shutting off things got so slow — dad sent me home and I answered an ad about being a photographer. I worked as a photographer for a year. It was fun but the following year when I saw how busy dad was, I said, "Hey, it's time to come back."
I still do photography, but I don't have a dark room any more, it's all digital. Sometimes I bring in old photographs to let Mike [employee Mike Joseph] see what some of our customers used to look like. Mike applied for a job here about five years ago. At that time I didn't need anyone but when I did I called him.
Cycling Know-How
Our busiest time is always just before school starts and right now when we get students from the university. People bring their bikes in for a tune-up and repair. When one customer came in to pick up her bike and I handed it to her, she insisted it was not her bike, it looked like new. I had to show her the serial number on record to prove it.
When people buy a new bike, we do a lot of fitting. I observe their posture and, after so many years, I can get an impression of where they like to be. The best position is the one they are most comfortable in.
Once a customer came to have a puncture repaired. He had an unusually configured mountain bike with high handlebars and a nice broad seat that he found very comfortable. As I repaired the puncture, he wandered around the store and asked about a $3,000 dual suspension mountain bike. Generally the more expensive bikes are configured rather aggressively with low handlebars and a high seat. After taking it for a ride, he said, if you can configure this bike like mine, I'll buy it. I had to scratch my head for a few days but I did it. It's unusual to have an "exotic" mountain bike, or any mountain bike for that matter, configured in such a way. The more you ride, the more you want to lean over. It's a very natural thing. It's not just aerodynamics, it puts your body in a position to maximize muscle power.
Most of our repairs are punctures because people don't inflate their tires appropriately. We must have repaired tens of thousands over the years. Frame mounted pumps are useful in an emergency but a floor mounted pump with a gauge is better, or come by the shop — we always keep a pump by the door as a service to our customers. People come by all the time to have seats adjusted, small things like that.
Cleaning is another thing. With the towpath here, there's very fine brown dirt that gets stuck to the bike. You should wash lightly with a hose, not a power wash, and use a bucket with some liquid soap in it, to wash the bike down. When its dry use a bicycle polish, that will keep the dirt from sticking somewhat.
Kopp's serves the normal Princeton people. Albert Einstein would come in. My father used to say that he had an off-in-the-distance look to him. But everybody gets treated the same. Once an actor from the Star Trek series came in and it was a particularly busy time when people were waiting for 20 minutes to be served. He left before anyone could wait on him, but everybody gets treated the same; that's our rule.
The beauty of my job is that I get to ride any bike I want. My favorite bikes to ride are by Litespeed; light weight titanium bikes that are very classy, very fast, and also very comfortable.
I don't cycle as much as I used to though. My wife, Margo, and I ride on weekends. I used to cycle the 18 miles from my home in Levittown, Pa. Mike who lives in Morrisville (Pa.) bikes in once or twice a week. At one point I had hoped to travel around the world, a combination of walking, horse riding, and cycling. Margo and I love to travel. Now that Mike is taking good care of the shop, who knows.