Velo Club is one of the very first, established and real underground bike-repair workshops of Yerevan, which can easily be called The grassroots cycling activist hub of the city.
It’s located in the underground parking area of a Soviet era building in the center, on Sayat Nova street, and it’s not easy to find if you’ve never been there. But almost every single cyclist, advanced or beginner, knows this place. Emil, the founder and leader of it, is a very enthusiastic young fellow who manages to learn anything related to bicycles and other “wheeled creations” on the go with such speed, that even if I enter his garage with the most modern bicycle, mechanical or electric, urban or mountain, thin or fat – he’ll have a quick look and ask me to leave it there for a brief check-up. In all cases, so far he’s fixed whatever problems my bikes have had, and I’ve learned a lot from him.
You can also rent or buy bikes here. But Velo Club is not just a workshop garage: it’s a big family and a growing network of environmentally conscious young people of all ages (yes, youth has many ages), which is active and dynamic in all possible ways. They organize regular cycling trips inside and outside Yerevan, they participate to all sorts of cycling and other activities and projects, they share knowledge and skills, and they certainly play a huge role in transforming the Armenian society into a more bicycle-friendly one.
