Pedal Room: What's your name, where are you located, and what do you do?
Name: Paul Ku
Live: Orange County, CA
Job: Founder of City Grounds, its a bicycle shop located in Southern California. I started up the first shop in 2008 in the City of Long Beach, and then opened up one more shop in Costa Mesa, CA. We've recently developed our online webstore, and have other business projects we're working on. Check out our website at www.citygrounds.com
Pedal Room: Tell us a little more about City Grounds. How's that going?
Paul: City Grounds is growing!
What was only a 450 sq/ft store in November 2008, City Grounds has now grown into two retail stores and a 4,000 sq/ft warehouse for our online shop. Online orders are pouring in and our customer base is growing around the nation.
Pedal Room: Nice! How long have you been riding? How often do you ride?
Paul: Started riding a two-wheeler when i was 3 years old, and then like most kids, i got into BMX bikes. Constantly went on bike rides/explorations through middle school and high school with my friends on beach cruisers, and then I bought a vintage Fuji road bike back in 2006 and converted it into a fixed gear. Since then, I've gone through a variety of bikes and frames, and i'm happy with my 3Rensho road bike and Giro Pursuit fixed gear.
Due to my work schedule i hardly get anytime to ride, but I'll either go for a morning ride or late night ride at least three times a week.
Pedal Room: What's your favorite thing about riding?
Paul: Being outside and getting in "the zone". hahaha as corny as that sounds, my ride sessions help me cope with my day-to-day stresses in life. I find myself riding a lot more when I'm stressed out or pissed off, riding my bike is very therapeutic
Pedal Room: We love your 3Rensho road bike...how'd this bike end up in your hands?
Paul: I actually picked up this frame on eBay about a month ago. I hit up the seller, since he was local, and picked up the frame immediately. I swapped out all my components off the Eddy Merckx, and sold off the Merckx since it was a few sizes too small.
3Rensho StemPedal Room: I have to ask because I've never seen one before, where did you find that 3Rensho stem?
Paul: Came with the frameset! The guy i bought it off on eBay used to own a bicycle shop, and bought the frame from his friend who imported it from Japan a couple years back.
Pedal Room: How's it ride? And how often do you ride it compared with your other awesome bikes?
Paul: Framesets a tad bit heavy, due to whole frame being chromed underneath the paint, but it rides beautifully. It's stiff, and the Campagnolo group on it performs great! I'll ride this bike at least once a week.
Pedal Room: What do you love/hate about your current bike setup?
Paul: Love: 3Rensho stem and the Campagnolo Shamal wheelset!
Hate: 22lbs complete. My Eddy Merckx was 20 lbs, but what do i expect when the frameset is chromed and I'm riding with this heavy wheelset?
Panasonic NJS FramsetPedal Room: Do you have any future plans as far as bikes go? New parts for your 3Rensho, new bikes, etc.?
Paul: Just bought a Panasonic NJS frameset, but i have no idea how i'm going to build it up. As for the 3Rensho, i'll probably swap out the Shimano 600 headset with an old-school Campagnolo Record headset.
Pedal Room: Nice, that looks like a fun project. Anything else you'd like to say?
Paul: After looking at your Bridgestone, i'm thinking about couplings now! Totally digging Pedal Room! Thanks for creating/developing such a great website!
Pedal Room: Thanks for joining and talking with us! Ride safe and keep up the great work with City Grounds!