Toowoomba City Centre — Ruthven Street and Margaret Street

We recently took a quick trip to Toowoomba for a meeting. I spent a couple of hours in the Toowoomba City Centre. Following are a few photos from Ruthven Street and Margaret Street.

Ruthven Street in Toowoomba -- looking at City Hall

Ruthven Street in Toowoomba — looking at City Hall

Toowoomba Regional Council building, next to City Hall

Toowoomba Regional Council building, next to City Hall

Cycle lanes in Margaret Street, Toowoomba -- there were a surprising number of bicycles around at the time that I was there. The cycle lanes seemed to have no continuity through traffic lights.

Cycle lanes in Margaret Street, Toowoomba — there were a surprising number of bicycles around at the time that I was there. The cycle lanes seemed to have no continuity through traffic lights.

Beautiful old sandstone building in Margaret Street, Toowoomba

Beautiful old sandstone building in Margaret Street, Toowoomba

Beautiful old sandstone building in Margaret Street, Toowoomba

Beautiful old sandstone building in Margaret Street, Toowoomba

St Luke's Anglican Church in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba

St Luke’s Anglican Church in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba

Giant bike store in Ruthven Street

Giant bike store in Ruthven Street

Kids' racing bikes in the Giant bike store

Kids’ racing bikes in the Giant bike store

Cool singlespeed bicycle parked in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba

Cool singlespeed bicycle parked in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba

Cell Bikes fixie frame makeover — before and after photos

I have had this bike for a while — see the Wonder Woman tag. I built the bike up from a Cell Bikes fixie frame along with many parts that I had in a box from other bike projects. The intent of the bike was to use it around town to run down to the shops, post office and local cafes. The bike was a parts bin special that I had built for less than $200 that I could happily leave at the front of a store without worrying too much if it was stolen.

The bike has a 46 tooth chainring and a 17 tooth freewheel — that actually makes it a singlespeed, not a fixie. In this configuration — but with Shimano SPD pedals, not the flats in the following photo — I have riden the bike around the Brisbane River Loop at an average speed of more than 29 km/h.

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With the next Brisbane Style Over Speed ride fast approaching, I decided it was time to modify the bike to make it more of a sit-up bike — a bit more style and a little less speed. The main change was the Velo Orange Milan handlebars. I decided the deep V rim wheels of the original build did not go with the stylish look, so purchased a set of Marvinator wheels from Gear Shop Brisbane. The final change was a set of VP Components  VP-X92 double sided SPD-compatible/platform pedals. I reused the handlebar grips, brake levers, freewheel, tubes and tyres from the original bike build.

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Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar looking for new tenants

Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar looking for new tenants

Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar looking for new tenants

Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar looking for new tenants

Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar looking for new tenants

I was disappointed to see a lease sign on the Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar today. Unfortunately, the business never really did flourish. If I were a new business owner, what would I do differently?

  • Open early in the morning to tap into people commuting to work. Close early afternoon. Make sure your opening and closing times are clearly stated and you keep to them. Several times we rode by around 7am in the morning looking to stop for a coffee and Bikeway Coffee Juice Bar was not yet open!
  • Offer a reusable travel mug that fits in a cycle bottle cage — cyclists can grab a coffee and keep on riding!
  • Tap into the cycling market — offer some incentives for ride groups to start and finish their rides there.
  • As part of the new lease, get Brisbane City Council to construct some sound barriers between the roadway and the café. It actually was not very pleasant sitting there with peak hour traffic only metres away.
  • Provide some shade in summer — even early morning, if someone has just finished a 40 km ride, they will be looking for some shade.
  • Combine the juice and coffee bar into one booth (they used to be separate booths, meaning both had to be staffed). This will cut your staffing costs, but also allow the other booth to be used for other purposes.
  • Use the spare booth to offer bicycle servicing and tube/tyre/spare part sales — people can drop their bike there on the way to the CBD and pick it up on the way home. Offer loan bikes so that people can complete their ride into the CBD.
  • Employ a great barista! The coffee wasn’t bad, but cyclists are highly mobile so will ride to the café that serves the best coffee, has the best atmosphere, etc.
  • Get some cycling memorabilia and hang it around the place — cyclists love to look at other bikes.

Whoever takes up the new lease, I wish you well. I love to support facilities that support cyclists.