This weekend after a lovely walk with my wife and some of our friends (and about 10,000 other Reno-ites), we decided to check out a new coffee shop downtown that I’d been dying to see. It’s called See See’s Motor Coffee Co., and this is their second location after the success of the initial shop in Portland. It’s a hipster sort of place with great coffee and a wood/exposed brick decor motif that resonates with my generation, apparently. Being that there was a lot of foot traffic in the area on Saturday, the shop was a bit full and the lines were a bit long, but it ended up being worth it. It was nice to have a place to warm up and it also helped to have some cool bikes in the shop to check out while there. Click the jump to see some bikes and cool gear in a coffee shop.

 

Reno can use all of the cool downtown shit we can get. The city is experiencing a bit of a renaissance with an influx of tech and warehousing jobs to the area. When combined with low housing costs and lower taxes, there are a bunch of people moving here from California and the Pacific Northwest, bringing their culture and arts and shopping habits. Downtown is seeing a lot of great progress as well, with new department stores and small independent shops like this one. I liked See See, so I won’t complain if it means more ratty, home-built bikes start tearing up the streets and more good coffee is coming from Portland.

I ordered a Latte because I’m a filthy casual coffee drinker and can’t handle pure hot bean water. It was delicious. I’m actually drinking a caramel caffeine concoction as I type this.

Admittedly I don’t know much about bikes, I just know I like to ride and I like to look at them. This big single off-roader looked right up my alley. I would love the opportunity to put a few dirt miles on a ride like this one. It was very nicely built with an appearance of quality, and while it was on display, it did appear to have been ridden.

While the Portland location does sell KTM motorcycles, the Reno shop is just apparel and accessories right now. Whether they plan to expand that, I’m not sure.

Here’s another display bike parked in the middle of the floor. Again, this one has seen the road a bit but remains clean. It’s a minimalist approach to motorcycles, and I really dig it. There’s something about a low-handle bike and fat tires that makes me just want to jump on and scream around for a while. I probably would want more butt padding, though. Becuase I’m soft.

The third and final bike on show at the shop was this old mismatched desert bike. While the tank says 125 Yamaha, the engine is actually a Honda big single two-stroke. I’m no judge of size, but it had to be around a 400cc (get it? cc? see see?) pumper. And yes, the sword is attached to the bike’s shifter. This one was beat to hell, but in a good way. It’s obvious that this bike has been ridden hard and frequently.


Dotted around the walls of the shop were a few art-helmets with designs from independent artists. This was a really cool aspect of the coffee shop. It seems that See See does an annual helmet art gallery, so hopefully these will change out from time to time with new designs.

Some of this apparel is pretty awesome. I dig this shirt.

Nice job See See. Welcome to Reno.
[Photos copyright Bradley C. Brownell/Hooniverse.com]