Rider Profile - Lynten Ong (R3 Cycles Mechanic)

Update 20th March 2018
TR bikes closed down(sadly) and Lynten currently work at R3 cycles.
It's quite an unique setup where u can do ur usual bicycle service and zng-ing of parts.  Also the cool aspect is that for a fee, you can park ur beloved bicycles at the shop where they will take care of it. Esp in our cramped housing conditions, this is quite a cool service.  Do check them out.
*full disclosure- There is not commercial dealing between myself and Lynten. I am just sharing a rider who is also a bike mechanic in Singapore.  Lynten is an all weather cyclist and if u get him talking about bicycle.... u can be assured its going to be interesting and a loooooong chat :)
His daily cycle route is from Fort Road to Tampines. He takes the PCN mainly and its a nice leisurely route.

I met Lynten at TR Bikes, which is located in a quiet neighbour hood. Speaking to them was quite an experience as I felt that they were a very special breed of people.  Not in the exclusive sense but the feeling that they loved bicycles. Old bicycles, not the museum quality kind but real steel bicycles that u can ride. On contrary to popular urban myth, they dun just do Fixies. They also do old Skool bicycles(like my New old bike), Touring, Cyclocross, Fatbikes and 29ers.  Here is my short interview with the legend himself.

Lynten working on a bike

Happy with a bicycle... check out that smile!  Photo credits Ross Valentine Errol

1) An introduction of urself 

– Lynten Ong, 45 years old, father of three, bike store owner of TR bike. .. crazy cyclist.

2) Share with us your memories of cycling. How ur got into cycling. 

 - I have ALWAYS loved to ride, ever since I could balance I enjoyed the freedom the bicycle allowed me to explore the world around me. I remember staying with my Grandparents at Woskel Road, quite a hilly estate, for a 8 yr old but being able to ride up the hills and bombing down was the BEST, no gears than, just a simple Joker bike, banana seat, semi ape hanger bars........... Boy I NEED to find an adult size bike like that again......

3)The trends that came, gone 

- think most have come full circle, like the wheels on a bike, road bikes have ALWAYS been around, then it was BMX, then MTBs, which mutated into other forms, fixed gears, think the bicycle has been 'reinvented' quite often since its invention.

4) Why u started TR bikes. How was it like then.  

- TR Bikes was started when I left TheBikeBoutique (also started by me and a few friends, contrary to what has been printed, but that's another WHOLE story by itself and not worth going into depth) to do I wanted to do, which was to customize bikes like no one else.  

We started out like any other bike store doing whatever bikes but almost had to shut down two years into the business as things got really bad and business was affected. 

A change in the business plan pull us out of the red and into the black when we decided to go the direction in which we are on, which is to 'reinvent' the bicycle AGAIN. We started concentrating on fixed and singlespeed bikes and most thought we were crazy to do so, instead of embracing technology, we decided to go back to simpler times and it worked and EVERYONE else decided it WASN'T so crazy after all and followed........so who's the CRAZY one??????

5) What is your favorite ride, bicycle. Why?

- Boy, that's a tough question to answer but if I had one.......it'll be all the bikes I have ridden. A bike that is built right RIDES nice no matter what sort it is.

6) Words of advice to cycling in Singapore 

- With the recent accidents and deaths, BE SAFE but aggressive at the same time, let the drivers KNOW you CAN'T and WON'T be bullied off the roads, we all have smart phones now and a PICTURE will say a 1000 words.