January 8, 2017

Meet Kitty Monsalud of Bike Attack

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kitty Monsalud.

Kitty, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Bike Attack is an Independent Bicycle Retailer and popular bike shop with multiple locations in Santa Monica and Playa Vista, California, founded 1994 in Berlin, Germany. Bike Attack is locally owned. Not a corporate chain store.

Bike Attack was a sub-division of the US Army at the Outdoor Recreation Facility in Berlin, Germany from 1992 -1994. In 1999 the location was moved to Venice beach and became a Germany distributor for several high-end US mountain bike products.

In 2004, Bike Attack opened a high-end shop on historic Main Street in Santa Monica and in summer 2015 they opened the first bike shop inside a high-end mall at RUNWAY PLAYA VISTA in Silicon Beach.

Bike Attack became is a favorite to LA’s celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, Gary Dourdan (CSI) Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Mickey Rourke, Robert Trujillo (Metallica), John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Brandon Boyd (Incubus), LeAnn Rimes, David Beckham, Johnny Hallyday, Pamela Anderson, Ross Robinson (Slipknot, Korn, Sepultura), Byron Katie, Jim Muir (Dogtown), Josh Brolin, Diane Lane, Alessandra Ambrosio, Tim Robbins, Robert Downey Jr., Michelle Rodriguez, Zac Efron and much more.

Awards:
Most Loved Award Santa Monica 2014
Most Loved Award Santa Monica 2015
Best Bike Shop in LA Award from Michael Levine 2013
Best Bike Shop in LA Award from Michael Levine 2014
Best Bike Shop LA Hotlist LA, 2nd place 2007
Best Bike Shop LA Hotlist LA, 2rd place 2013″
Best Bike Shop LA Hotlist LA, 3rd place 2014
America’s Best Bike Shop Award 2014, NBDA
America’s Best Bike Shop Award 2015, NBDA
America’s Best Bike Shop Award 2016, NBDA

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
At times it was difficult and we had to make the decision if we want to keep going but in the end, our love for cycling succeeded.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the BIKE ATTACK story. Tell us more about the business.
Bike Attack is a local bike shop with 3 locations in Santa Monica and Playa Vista. We sell, repair and rent everything bike related. All our employees and the owners are cyclists. The love for bikes is what drives all of us. Most of our guys and the founder Ericson itself own a wide variety of all kind of bicycles that they ride often ( most of the times to work too).

We do not hire people who are just doing this for the next paycheck. The love for cycling is a requirement to work for us. Our mechanics and salespeople do not sell you the most expensive bike in the shop. We look what you really need and make sure you have no buyer’s remorse later on.

Over the years, we received many local and national awards, for example, the prestigious “America’s Best Bike shop award” in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

We are known to be the real deal among our customers, many of them loyal throughout the years.

We are the bike shop with the most likes on Facebook in the US.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck plays a big role in everybody’s life. Therefore we are very thankful. But of course, hard work combined with good luck is the best combination.

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