Nelo's Cycle Shop owner Nelo Breda

For the dedicated roadie, Nelo’s Cycle Shop is a little slice of heaven. Whether its the Italian racing frames, pro-cycling posters and banners, or the expert coaching and bike fitting advice of owner Nelo Breda, there is plenty to like if you run with thin wheels whether solo or tandem.

Pro-Racing to Pro Shop

When it comes to bike racing, Nelo Breda is no posser. Racing from an early age in his native Brazil, he raced pro starting in 1969 through most of the 1970s. South America’s road racing scene has been much stronger and deeper than the U.S., and Breda was able to parlay his Cat 1 racing success into a pro contract with the Bianchi continental team in Europe. Missing his home and needing to recover from the intense European circuit, he returned home after a few years to continue racing and eventually coach. In the early 1980′s, Breda served as the coach for the Brazil National Cycling Team and eventually went on to manage the national federation.

With things going well, Breda was invited to move to Texas to coach local pros during the 1986 Tour of Texas. At the time, he was happy where he was in Brazil, but he would be knocking on the same doors just a few years later after he married another pro cyclist. Not wanting to put his bride through the vigors of European pro racing, Breda instead suggested that she race the U.S. circuit. He was able to find work with the same riders that has previously offered him a job and would continue to coach through the 90s.

As often happens, Breda sought to take the passion for cycling and his immense knowledge and put it to use helping the general cycling population get out on the road well fitted and on great bikes. In 2000, he opened Nelo’s Pro-Cycle and settled into digs on Anderson Lane. In the last year, he and his business partner decided to part ways, and Breda moved the shop to Mesa and Steck in May 2009 under the slightly different name Nelo’s Cycle Shop.

Colnago’s, Quatro-Assi’s, and tandems abound

Though his professional background is very much rooted in the New World, Nelo Breda runs a shop with a very Old World feel. There are posters and banners from great classic races like the Giro d’Italia and Ernesto Colnago. While he does carry Cannondale, you are more likely to see smaller European brands like Colnago and Quatro-Assi as well as U.S. botique brands like Caffee and Merlin. There is nary a knobbly tire to be seen.

While the feel is Old World, Breda stocks his shop this way for a very modern reason. “Large bike companies and distributors want numbers” he explained. “They want a lot of turnover, but I only want to sell what fits and works [for the cyclist.]” This is also why he only sells medium and high level bikes. Breda wants to spend the time getting it right for his customers and the low margin, high volume model is not compatible with his way of doing business.

While his passion is road cycling, he has not limited his show room to just regular drop bars. Nelo’s has expanding its offerings to time trial/triathlon bikes as well as a whole section dedicated to tandems (including a very cool looking all carbon Caffee tandem.)

First class fit and service

Since Breda is not running on razor thin margins, he’s had the ability to cultivate more service in his shop. He is a master bike fitter from his coaching days, and he includes a 60 minute fit session with each bike purchase. “I try to do the fit first before suggesting a bike,” he says. “If a customer comes in and says he wants a specific bike, I will sell it to him, but I prefer to do the fit first then look at the bike choice.”

Fit is mighty important to Breda, and he doesn’t have to sell you a bike to get you comfortable on your ride. While he does provide fitting services for a fee, he told me a story of a customer he had who was trying to get a bike he didn’t have in stock. She called to order the bike but was upset that it was not readily available and complained about her current bike. Breda probed a bit and found out that she had just purchased a new carbon Trek Madone but could not stand to ride it. He told her to bring it in, took one look, and realized the bike had not been properly fitted to her. With a few adjustments, she was a happy camper and out riding again.

When fitting a rider, Breda looks at the three contact points the body has with the bike as a starting point. Changing the foot, seat, and hand positions allows for a compromise between comfort, power, and aerodynamics. His free fit advice: look to your saddle first. “The saddle is the most important contact point,” he told me. When in doubt, throw it out and try something new.

Breda also strives for high quality bicycle repair with quick turn arounds. You certainly don’t get the feeling you’ll get blank stares when talking about the peculararities of Campagnolo components as I’ve experienced in other shops in town. He opens early at 7:30 on weekdays so a cyclist can drop off a bike in the morning and sometimes get it back that afternoon. Breda works to keep repair turnaround to a day or two, not weeks. He’s even thought about experimenting with hiring graveyard shift mechanics to work overnight so you could drop off a bike at midnight and get it for a race the next evenings. That sure would make mechanicals on the Moonlight Ride more bearable.

Hoping for another Lance Effect

Breda’s business appears to be solid, but he did share that things have slowed with the recession. He hopes like many other LBS owners that Lance Armstrong’s return to pro-cycling with bring back interest in road cycling. Regardless of the membership of the peleton, you get the feeling that someone as hard working and dedicated to the sport as Nelo Breda will continue to help cyclists get on the road riding the right bike.

Nelo’s Cycle Shop
8108 Mesa Dr. B-105
Austin Texas 78759
Phone: (512) 338-0505
Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30 am-7 pm, Sat 10 am-6 pm, Sun CLOSED
Brands: Caffe, Cannondale, Colnago, Guru, Marin, Merlin, Quatro-Assi, Santana, Tommasini