By Joe Mosley

The Register-Guard

In more ways than one, Paul Moore is Arriving by Bike.

Bicycling is Moore’s primary mode of transportation, and he says he’d like to help others embrace two-wheeling as an acceptable, all-occasion means of getting around town.

To that end, he’s opened a new bike shop in south Eugene: Arriving by Bike, which he refers to as an “urban cycling outfitter.” It is a full bicycle repair shop with a range of cycling accessories, and will soon add bike-friendly clothing and a few lines of transportation-oriented bicycles to its inventory.

“The focus of the whole store is on all the accessories and parts and clothing and trailers — all the bits and pieces, small and large — that one would need to make using your bike work well,” Moore says.

“There are a lot of things that can stand in the way (of riding a bike) — weather, carrying a load, wearing the wrong clothes,” he says. “All those are obstacles for people, and what our store is about is removing those obstacles.”

Moore is no stranger to the cycling industry.

Before moving to Eugene, he owned Two Wheel Transit Authority in Huntington Beach, Calif., from 1976 to 1990. A Los Angeles Times story from 1987 put annual sales for Moore’s former store at $5 million and described it as one of the largest bicycle retailers in the nation.

“I came to Eugene not intending to open a bicycle store, but then after a few years I began toying with the idea,” Moore says. “How could I open a shop that focused on bicycles for transportation and as a utilitarian thing?”

“One reason I sat on my idea for over 10 years before really taking action was that there are a lot of bike shops in Eugene,” he says. “Why come in and beat your head against everyone else? But I thought I could do something focused on transportation.”

Arriving by Bike’s current inventory ranges from handlebar bells and mirrors ($7 to $12) to conversion kits and factory-completed bicycles from Xtracycle (as much as $1,200) that create long wheel-base platforms for serious gear-hauling.

Moore says an Xtracycle kit “turns a regular bike into kind of like a minivan” that can accommodate groceries, camping supplies or even a couple of children.

The shop also carries what Moore describes as the largest selection in town of Hood River-made Detours panniers and bicycle bags, at prices ranging from $30 to about $200.

Paul Adkins, president of the nonprofit cycling advocacy and recreation group Greater Eugene Area Riders, agrees with Moore’s assessment that there is no shortage of bike shops in town.

But Adkins points out that Eugene boasts the second-highest rate of bicycle commuting in the country, according to the U.S. Census, at 8.5 percent — second only to Boulder, Colo.’s 8.9 percent. And he says Arriving by Bike may be well-positioned to take advantage of that trend.

“I’d say some of the other bike shops are realizing the market’s changing a little bit,” Adkins says. “But Arriving by Bike has certainly got an opportunity to meet a need.

“Bicycling is a growing mode of getting around,” he says. “With the way the economy and the state of the world is right now, it seems to me it’s only going to be getting bigger and bigger — and especially in the realm of transportation.”

Moore shies away from terms such as “commuter bike,” because of the connotation that such bikes are only to be ridden to and from work. Instead, he wants to promote what he calls “urban transportation bikes” that can be used “not just to go to work, but to go to the coffee shop, the grocery store or out for dinner.”

As he adds clothing to his inventory, it isn’t likely to resemble what most people equate to biking attire.

“Our clothing won’t be Spandex, it will be casual clothing … and it just happens to fit well and some of it is even designed for bicycling,” Moore says. “Our clothing selection will look more like an REI selection than a typical bicycle shop selection.”

Arriving by Bike — at 2705 Willamette St., diagonally across the street from Turtles Bar & Grill — is in a 2,500-square-foot space previously leased by Bounce Gymnastics.

Moore has repainted his space and outfitted it with fixtures, but says he is unable to estimate what it cost to get up and running as he continues to build inventory. “That’s still up in the air, actually,” he says.

The shop has three employees in addition to Moore, and is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. It is closed on Sunday.