どうも！全力20%のヒューです！
Hello!! My name is Hugh Yamada! Not Your Mother but YaMaDa all the way from Japan!!
今回はBurlingtonで見かけた素敵なお店を紹介したいと思います！
Today I would like to introduce one of the coolest shops that I went in Burlington VT!!
OLD SPOKES HOME
ADDRESS：322 N Winooski Ave, Burlington, VT 05401
OPEN : Mon-Sat 10AM-6PM, Sun 10AM-5PM
https://www.oldspokeshome.com/
自転車屋さんでございます！
It's a bicycle shop!!
今回の旅では様々な街の自転車屋さんに顔を出していますが、ここの自転車屋さんは特別です！
On this tour, we've been going to lots of bicycle shops on our way through towns. However, this particular bicycle shop is something special.
何が特別かというと理由はいくつかあるんですが、
１つ目の理由は、２階が自転車博物館になっていること！
There are a couple reasons that make it so special.
First one is that they have a bicycle museum on their 2nd floor!!
1866年から1905年にかけて、自転車は様々な形を見せて進化していきます。
1905年以降は今のモデルに近い自転車が主流となり、昔見せた前輪が異様に大きく、後輪が小さい自転車などは滅多に見なくなりましたが、ここではそれを沢山見ることができます！
The bicycle evolved a lot in between 1866 and 1905.
After 1905, bicycles seem to be modeled the way we have today. Therefore, nowadays we hardly see the old type of bicycles such as the one that has a huge wheel on front and one very small wheel on rear. However, they have it in here. A LOT.
驚いたのは実は1868年頃の自転車の方が今の自転車の形に近いということ。
What made me surprised is that the bicycle’s model in 1868 seems closer to today's model than I thought.
先ほど述べたような前輪が大きく、後輪が小さい自転車が現れたのは1876年頃。
I was thinking the one which has a huge wheel on front and small wheel on rear was the earlier bicycle. However, it turned out to be those came out around 1876.
そしてチェーンが現れ始めたのが1888年頃。
Then chains came out around 1888.
それまでは前輪のホイール自体にペダルがついていて、一輪車に後輪がついたようなイメージの自転車だったようです。
Until then, there weren’t chains and pedals were on the front wheel, just like the unicycle with another wheel on the rear.
これまでもこういったクラシックな自転車は絵などで見たことはありましたが、ペダルが直接、しかも前輪についているということには愚かなことに今日まで気づきませんでした。
I've seen lots of art and pictures with these classic bicycles before, however I never really noticed or thought about the fact that the pedals were actually on the front wheel until today..
しかしこうやって間近で見て、当時の写真や絵なども見ると、いつかこういう自転車で街中を走れたら楽しそうだなと思います。
It was really nice to see these historical bicycles in person with photos and art from those periods. It made me think and want to ride those bikes on the road one of these days. That would be fun :)
注意)自転車歴史博物館というよりは、ここにある自転車一つ一つの歴史博物館です！
(Instead of a general history of the bicycle, it’s more like the history of each bicycle that they have)
２つ目の魅力！
それはOld Spoke HomeがNPOであり、多くのボランティアスタッフが関わっているということ。
The second reason that makes it so special is that they are a NPO and lots of volunteers from the area are involved in their organization.
これまでアメリカで見てきた自転車屋さんは日本で見かける自転車屋さんとは比べ物にならないほどお客さんの出入りと修理依頼が多いです。
From what I've seen in the United States, bicycle shops in the United States seem to be a lot busier than Japanese bicycle shops. There are lots of people coming in and out, asking for repairs.
日本では高校生の登下校がターゲットになっている地域が多いのではないかと感じますが、アメリカでは大学生からそれ以上の方々の方が多く来られています。
In Japan, at least to me, it seems to be bicycle shops are targeting mostly high school or junior high school students because they commute to school with bicycles a lot. However, the customers in the United States seem to be mainly targeting more college students or even older people than younger generations.
Jayが働いていたBostonでの自転車屋は凄く小さい自転車屋でしたが、それでもお客さんがいない時間なんて珍しいというぐらい、ひっくりなしに修理依頼のお客さんが入ってきていました。
The bicycle shop Jay used to work at was a small bicycle shop. However, there were tons of customers coming in and out, asking for repairs. There wasn't much of the time that they didn't have a customer in their shop.
ここのお店も同じく、次から次へと沢山のお客さんが自転車修理、及び、質問などをしに来られていました。
Same for Old Spokes Home; they have lots of customers coming in and out, asking for repairs and some questions regarding bicycles.
ただし、ここのお店は店員さんたちが自力でお店を回すのではなく、子供達を作業場に呼び入れ、修理の仕方を子供達に教えてあげたり、地域の方がボランティアスタッフとして修理仕事に参加されていたりと、地域密着型でお店を回しているという印象を受けました。
However, instead of repairing all by themselves, they ask kids to come into their workshop and help them learn how to fix their own bicycles. Many volunteers from the area come in to help repairing for others. I was surprised by how much a bicycle shop actually connects to their community.
僕らも今朝作業場にお邪魔させていただき、自分たちで修理したい箇所を修理させてくださりました。
Even for us, this morning they let us use their equipment and workshop to fix our bicycle problems by our own. That's awesome, right?
去年の秋からは Fall Fundoという大勢の自転車好きの方々を集めてみんなでサイクリングをするイベントを始められたそうです。
Since last fall, they started a event called "Fall Fundo" and it is happening this fall too.
At this event, they gather the community to cycle around Burlington together as a big group.
Fundoという言葉はファンドレイジング(募金を募るイベント)という言葉から来ていて、集まったお金はOld Spokes Homeが提供する様々なプログラムに使われるそうです。
The word “Fundo” came from fundraising and they are raising money to run the programs they offer in their community.
このイベント自体も多くのボランティアのお陰で成り立っているようで、Old Spokes Homeはただの自転車屋ではなく、街にとって誇れる自転車好きのためのお店として愛されているようです。
This event itself seems to be happenning with lots of volunteers’ help.
Old Spokes Home is a bicycle shop.
However the community here is proud of it and it's beloved by all bicycle lovers and their communities.
自転車好きの方には是非オススメしたいお店です。
If you like bicycles I highly recommend to go there:)
それではまた。
That's it for today. See you next time!
