Who We Are

Jimmy Lizama is a bike messenger -- his message: Ride Your Bicycle! Whether presenting at el Congreso Nacional de Ciclismo Urbano in Guadalajara, Mexico about the importance of shifting our personal transportation paradigms or flowing a stream of consciousness story of bicycle epiphany next to David Byrne of Talking Heads or sharing his story about living his life car-less in Los Angeles in the film Watershed, Jimmy has been constantly moving for over 20 years spreading the good word of bicycling for mobility as a means to heal our polluted cities, mend our broken environmental relationships and reconnect our modernized hearts. He is the founding member of Relampago Wheelery and The Bicycle Kitchen/La BiciCocina along with being on the leading organizing team for an epic Bike!Bike! 2018 Conference. Today you might catch him bike messengering through downtown L.A., climbing to Griffith Park Observatory with his son on a pie and ice cream expedition, installing a dynamo lighting system in the shop or fabricating a cargo bike from recycled materials in our youth program Re:Ciclos. All of this powered by local tacos and propelled by the love of community.

Kyla (she/her/hers) is a recipient of the 2018 QBP Womxn's Bike Mechanic Scholarship and UBI graduate. She has been heavily involved in bicycle activism for 15 years and car-free for the last 7. She has occasionally raced bicycles but prefers focusing her time and efforts on making change behind the scenes. Kyla spends most of her time tinkering, enjoying the city by bike, and exploring new avenues for personal growth.

WhatWe Do

DYNAMO LIGHTING AND CHARGING

Dynamo Generators for bicycles are simple little electrical generators that utilize an armature of magnets and copper coils activated by your bicycling input. Dynamos are nothing new -- they’ve been around longer than bicycles themselves! But dynamos are to bicycles what ice cream is to pie; great individually, mind-blowing together.

At Relámpago Wheelery we are dedicated to helping you kick the battery habit! Dynamos last almost forever. We have a working Sturmey Archer dynamo hub from 1956! With today’s Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs you’d have to bike for 50,000 hours before having a problem. We carry a variety of dynamo generator (mostly in hub form), head lamps, tail lights and hardware to install them on your bicycle.

Email us for an appointment and we can talk about your lighting needs, your budget and what would work best within those parameters.

WHEEL BUILDING Hand-built bicycle wheels are art in motion. With well-selected components to match the application and a consistent build approach, we build wheels that will last, look fantastic and match your and your bicycle’s personality. We wield our builds with pride and love.

TUNE UPS, CUSTOM BUILDS AND A BICI-WHIRLIGIG TO RUMMAGE THROUGH

We mostly focus on getting dynamo lights on your bicycles, but along the way you might find some bicycles here at our bicycle studio that might interest you. We do not currently carry new bicycles as we find that recycling is sufficient for the purposes of building city-worthy urban warriors. We don’t have anything against new bikes, it’s just not our focus at the moment. Send us an email if you have an interest is checking out a frame that we can build up for you!

And whether you’re getting a bike from us or just need a tune up or your bike is acting kinda funny, we wrench a bit over here and would love to help you out! Drop us a line and we’ll get you in here to see what all is up with your bike to make it road or dirt ready again.

We also have a bike parts whirligig you can whirl around. There’s gems in there that just might match your two-wheeled steed. While you’re at the shop, take a gander! You just might find exactly what you’ve been looking for!

Re:Ciclos

It’s not about bicycles, it’s about building.

Re:Ciclos is a multi-disciplinary build project utilizing bicycle technology and recycled materials as its foundation for education, expression and community engagement.

Re:Purposing, Re:Imagining, Re:Fabricating, and Re:Designing discarded bicycles and bicycle parts, the program is formatted to matriculate students through a build process, whether it is jewelry, bicycle-powered machines (bici-maquinas) or cargo bicycles and tandems.

Re:Ciclos teaches basic to advanced art, mechanics, fabrication and engineering with the aim of populating communities, individuals, organizations and businesses with bicycle technology in their everyday lives.

Rosy The Cargo Bike
Blog post now up!

Bici Parranda

currently ON HOLD. Check back soon for details on an upcoming online Biciparranda!

Charioke

Oh what a magical creature! It’s simple really and an easily repeatable formula.

Ingredients
1 part bicycle-towed karaoke stage whirled up with mics and sound system
2 parts karaoke via tablet steeped in love
3 parts Ángelino ready to rock
2 hardy helpings of tandem (to tow the stage)

Voila!: mobile karaoke bike party!!!!

The Charioke comes out to play after the BiciParranda sometimes and you might catch it at your local international Bike!Bike! Conference and definitely at a CicL.Á.vía or tu. Maybe one day you might be able to rent it, but for now come here to see when it might make its way to the mean streets of L.Á. ready to bring it down to its knees with sheer out-of-key love.

Get in Touch...

140 Bimini Place
Koreatown, Los Ángeles, 90004

For appointments

Phone/Telefono: 213.216.2132
info@relampagowheelery.com

There is limited car parking available at Relámpago Wheelery. Please plan your trip accordingly. We are conveniently located close to the Beverly/Vermont Metro station and on several bus lines.