{"id":838491,"date":"2026-03-20T13:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/838491\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T13:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:29:13","slug":"in-glasgow-a-queer-bike-shop-is-reshaping-cycle-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/838491\/","title":{"rendered":"In Glasgow, a queer bike shop is reshaping cycle culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Sylwia grew up in a\u00a0town just outside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huckmag.com\/topic\/warsaw\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Warsaw<\/a>, Poland and got their mitts on their grandma\u2019s bicycle aged seven. They were riding with confidence within the hour. \u200b\u201cFrom that first time I\u00a0rode the bike, the world just opened up,\u201d Sylwia tells me. \u200b\u201cIt\u2019s so much more fun than walking, and I\u00a0could go a\u00a0lot further and still be back in time for my curfew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Back then, bikes weren\u2019t for kids. They were purely functional, a\u00a0way for older people to get their weekly shop faster, but Sylwia soon became a\u00a0hobbyist. They loved tinkering with it. Taking the wheels off, adjusting the brakes, taking it apart and putting it back together. They loved nothing more than cycling off to some faraway forest or lake and when they were 11 they voyaged all the way to their mate\u2019s house in a\u00a0village 15km (9\u00a0miles) away, asking strangers for directions as they went. The episode nearly gave their mum a\u00a0heart attack. \u200b\u201cI left a\u00a0note but it fell off the door,\u201d they remember.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In 2016, Sylwia relocated to Glasgow after meeting some friends based in the city through bike polo. Their first job was at a\u00a0popular bike shop chain with over 50 stores across the UK. \u200b\u201cI was there for six or seven months,\u201d Sylwia says. \u200b\u201cIt was like death by a\u00a0thousand paper\u00a0cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I ask for an example of a\u00a0paper cut. \u200b\u201cI was a\u00a0mechanic, and the guy on the shop floor was a\u00a0sales person. If a\u00a0guy came into the shop, he would naturally go to the man. So I\u00a0would see him roll in with his chain off the cogs, ask how I\u00a0can help, and he\u2019s like, \u200b\u2018No, no, I\u2019m fine. I\u2019ll speak to the guy,\u2019 who points right back at me, and I\u2019m like, \u200b\u2018Okay. Ready\u00a0now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sylwia grew up in a\u00a0town just outside Warsaw, Poland and got their mitts on their grandma\u2019s bicycle aged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7826],"tags":[38443,748,5554,86378,240106,48122,240107,918,4884,806,152145,1232,229114,90694,6586,712,39459,93,16,15,32019],"class_list":["post-838491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-glasgow","tag-alternative","tag-britain","tag-community","tag-creating","tag-dominated","tag-dynamo","tag-empowering","tag-glasgow","tag-great-britain","tag-industry","tag-learn","tag-money","tag-particularly","tag-repairs","tag-resources","tag-scotland","tag-share","tag-sport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-vision"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116261746613133097","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}