Drink and ride here

Drink and ride here

Poke your head into this shop space and you will be greeted by the aroma of coffee wafting through the cosy cafe.

But don't think that's all there is to it.

Walk in further and you will see that it is a haven for cyclists. Think walls lined with foldable bicycles, helmets and other bike accessories.

LifeCycle's owner, Mr Simon Siah, 41, decided on the cafe-retail concept with the intention of using the cafe to attract people.

"Not everyone is a cyclist. But everyone drinks a coffee," he said.

Mr Siah, who used to be in advertising, jokingly said that it was merely a convenient excuse to combine his two favourites - coffee and cycling - in his business venture, now made up of two outlets in Singapore and one in Beijing.

Two outlets

The two outlets here are at Rangoon Road and Upper Serangoon Road and opened in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

On the sidelines, Mr Siah does various brand collaborations as well.

"Brand collaborations is the way to go these days. It makes sense. This way, we leverage on each other's strengths."

For instance, the coffee blend served at LifeCycle, aptly named Fuel, is the result of a collaboration between LifeCycle and artisan coffee roaster Papa Palheta.

"People know us as the bike guys. How are we going to serve coffee? So I work with someone who does coffee well," Mr Siah said.

Mr Siah also has a "grand plan" to start an island-wide bike rental service.

Cafe Loysel's Toy and the Red Dot Design Museum are some of the partners who have hopped on board.

"The point of getting more people on board this plan is to offer people multiple bike return points," he said.

"This is in line with my philosophy when I first started LifeCycle - that the bicycle is the medium to go to places," Mr Siah said.


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