Voted Best Bike Shop in Columbus by Columbus Monthly Readers 2025
Voted America's Best Bike Shop 7 years in a row by the NBDA (National Bike Dealers Association)
Scroll down to read more about why we're the best!
Best bike shop experience I’ve ever had. The staff was so knowledgeable, kind and friendly. As a novice biker, they were very patient with my questions. I had a few repairs and they were all done within a couple hours on a Sunday. They also have an awesome inventory of e-bikes.
- J Warren
Joseph did a fabulous job educating us on the Aventon E-bikes which we purchased. He reviewed all aspects of the bikes including the new Kuat carrier we purchased. This was a very good experience since we had reviewed & tested a number of other bike shops’ bikes. By the way, we love the bikes.
- A & C Rossi
We had a great experience from start to finish. Not surprisingly we had a lot of questions. Joseph was able to answer all of our questions and address all of our concerns. Joseph’s knowledge and expertise gave us peace of mind that we had picked the right bikes and equally important the right bike shop!
- R Przebieda
Our Story
John Robinson didn’t invent the bike, but he’s reinventing the bike shop experience.
Before he was a bike shop owner, John was a suit-wearing, traveling, corporate banking consultant and bicycle enthusiast who was unimpressed by the standard bike shop customer experience. When the company he worked for started downsizing, John started fantasizing.
What if there was a bike shop where everyone was “cool” enough to feel at home? What if you could walk into a shop knowing nothing about bikes and get your questions answered? What if he could spend less time flying across the country to schmooze customers and more time with his own family? What if his “office” included a refrigerator filled with his favorite beer?
With these big questions in mind, John set out to learn about the cycling industry and the ins and outs of running a bike shop. He worked in a shop. He visited shops across the country. He talked to industry experts and manufacturers. And then he was ready. And when John Robinson decides he’s ready, it’s go time.
Within seven weeks he wrote a business plan, emptied out the couch cushions, and raided his retirement fund. Nine contractors, 112 bike builds, and one nervous breakdown later, John threw open the doors of Johnny Velo Bikes with a dance party and a disco ball.
Why Johnny Velo Bikes is different
There are two kinds of bike shops: Johnny Velo Bikes and everyone else. Our reason for being is simple: we want you to Enjoy Your Ride™, and we know you’ll enjoy it more on a bike you love. We’re here to help you find the right ride for the ride you want to ride. Confused? All you need to know is our arms are open to riders of all types, all ages, and all skill levels, including you.
Check out our Why buy your bike from us page to learn more.
Accolades and Awards
People that know me know I am a very humble person and don’t like to highlight how awesome my staff and I are, but due to search engine optimization efforts, we are finding that when you ask Siri or Alexa which is the best bike shop in Columbus, not to mention Ohio, that sometimes Siri or Alexa get it wrong. This is why we have created this page, in order to school Siri and Alexa so that when you ask for “Best Bike Shop in Columbus?” that you actually get the Best Bike Shop in Columbus, Johnny Velo Bikes. Duh!
So our awesomeness begins in 2019, when we hadn’t even been open a full year, and won the 2019 Business Person of the Year by the Clintonville Chamber of Commerce. In fact we had only been in business for 10 months!
Next comes our first national award by the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA), where we won the America’s Best Bike Shops Award in 2019. The NBDA represents over 4,000 independent bike dealers (IBD’s) across the country and less than 200 dealers receive this award! This award takes a very intensive look into our physical shop, our web presence, social media presence, employee policies and procedures, phone and email communication and sends a secret shopper to our location for review as well. The application we had to fill out to begin the process was over 24 pages, but gave us great insight into our business.
Well, it’s 2020 and guess what? We won America’s Best Bike Shop, again!
Now it’s 2021 and we didn’t win America’s Best Bike Shop this year, not because we didn’t try, but because the NBDA renamed the award Bicycle Retailer Excellence Award, because it was easier to say? We don’t know why but anyway, we won that national award too. This time they awarded Silver, Gold, and Platinum Award tiers. Well, we were one of only eight IBD’s in the entire country to receive Platinum level distinction!
Guess what happened in 2022? We won the NBDA’s Bicycle Retailer Excellence Award again, winning Platinum level distinction!
Well all good things come to an end, and in 2023 we didn’t win the NBDA’s Bicycle Retailer Excellence Award. Instead we won the NBDA’s Retailer Excellence Award in 2023, which is the same award, but renamed again, because another company had an issue with the name “Bicycle” Retailer Excellence Award, so the NBDA had to rename it.
Good news, they didn’t change the name again of the national award, and we won the Retailer Excellence Award again in 2024, still maintaining our Platinum level status, but now about 40 IBD’s have now earned Platinum level!
For 2025, we won the NBDA’s Retailer of Excellence Award again. Yes, we won Platinum status again too. But guess what? They changed the actual award from the wood award, to what I like to refer to as the mid-eighties, brass bowling plaque. This time the name of the award was the same, but the plaque is just different because the wood plaque manufacturer went out of business, so I am told.
Also, in 2025, we received our first Columbus Monthly Magazine’s Best of Columbus Award for Columbus’ Best Bike Shop. This is something that we have always known, but we find it extremely gratifying that our customers and Columbus Monthly readers voted for Johnny Velo Bikes!
I haven’t even mentioned social media ratings, but Google Reviews has us at a 4.8 star rating at the time of publication.
Well, as Looney Tunes always exits with Bugs Bunny saying “That’s all folks!”, that’s all folks! At least for now. We will continue to strive to give each and every customer the best bike shop experience regardless of what you are coming in for unless it is a couch and then we really can’t help you. Take that Siri and Alexa!
Meet The Team
John Robinson, Owner, Head Honcho, the Big Kahuna
Pro-nouns: He/Him
Nickname: The Blond Gorilla (Not-so-Blond anymore)
Motto: I don’t walk up hills.
Special skills: Stretching the legs of his pants with his bulging calf muscles, loosening stubborn bolts no one else can, climbing hills with the tenacity of a mountain goat, and chugging a tallboy in one swig.
Ride style: A roadie at heart, John is happiest when mashing the pedals for long distances, although these days you’re more likely to see him heading to work with Raffa the Shop dog on the back of his cargo e-bike.
Bikes: 1976 Huffy Boy’s Stars and Stripes Edition, 1976 Huffy Girls Stars and Stripes Edition, Bianchi Infinito XE, Kona Dew-E, Giant Defy 1 Advanced road bike with Mavic wheelset, Kona Libre gravel bike, Kona e-Ute cargo bike, Pabst Blue Ribbon special edition BMX bike, and a Felt V100 Gravel bike that was stolen.
Lexxi Escusa, Service Manager, Master Mechanic
Nickname: "Hey, you!"
Motto: “Best pizza is FREE pizza!”
Special skills: I can yo-yo
Ride style: Pure chaos
Bikes: 80's Nishiki road bike, Raleigh Furley, Surly Pugsley, Diamondback Assault EX BMX bike... so far.
Joseph Cabalquinto, Creative Director & Assistant Manager (in Chief)
Pro-nouns: He/Him
Nickname: “J.C.”
Motto: “I haven’t met a food I didn’t like.”
Special skills: I’m an artist, I color outside the lines.
Ride style: I consider myself a roadie that dabbles in gravel and mountain. I love long rides and I tend to attack hills like I owe someone money.
Bikes:
Salim Riley, Service Lead, the Bike Meister
Nickname: Salim the Dream
Motto: “It's always something”
Special skills: Eating pizza every day. Track standing with no hands all day. Dropping roadies on a cruiser.
Ride style: Aggressive ferret.
Bikes:
Tony Worral, Service Lead and Road Bike Know-it-all
Pro-nouns: He/Him
Nickname: Hey Tony!
Motto: “There ain't nothin' I can't fix.”
Special skills: n+1
Ride style: Passive Progressive, sometimes aggressive.
Bikes: Giant TCX, Fuji Altamira LTD, BMC Racemaster SLX, Ibis Silk SL, Ibis Hakalugi, State Cycling single speed, BMC URS LT, and a few scattered bike frames.
Ryan Roche, Service Lead and MTB Know-it-all
Nickname: The Roche
Motto: Stay rubber side down
Special skills: Using my hands
Ride style: Defying physics
Bikes: 2016 Kona Supreme Operator build, 2019 Giant ATX Down country build, 2019 Giant Contend "franken-bike", 2003 Cannondale R3000s build, 2020 Cult Dak BMX build, Animal Hamilton BMX build, 2009 Trek Remedy 7 build.... and a few more ;)
Mark Sheahan, Service Lead
Nickname: Pops
Motto: Gears are good! Any day I ride a bike instead of driving a car is a good day.
Special skills: Making something useful out of things that look useless, woodworking, Irish diplomacy (telling someone to go to hell in a way that they enjoy the trip).
Ride style: Mark has been a bike commuter and recreational tourist for 40+ years. He has a crazy fast spin and enjoys 'going somewhere' on a bike.
Bikes: Homemade wood bike No. 1, homemade wood bike No. 2, Litespeed Classic Titanium, Surly Cross-Check; Breezer Doppler Pro
Raffa, The Shop Dog
Nickname: Employee of the month
Motto: Bark bark bark! Bark! Bark bark!
Special skills: Barking at passing dogs, chasing his tail, distracting kids, waiting at the door for the employees to come back from lunch, eating your dropped French fries
Ride style: Tongue out, sweater on, cruising in his doggie basket on the back of John’s Kona Electric Ute.
Bikes: John’s bikes are Raffa’s bikesAre you feeling lucky?
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