Occasionally you meet someone who gives you the immediate sense that they get who you are, what you like and what you’re looking for. But surely it can’t just be because you both love cycling? Because you both have the same hunger to get outside, to explore on two wheels and discover hidden roads, switchbacks and climbs? Whatever it is, Javier Maya, the founder of PAVÉ, gets it – and the results are spread across a wallet-damaging 700 square metres of goodness.

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If ever there was someone to prove that a bike shop can take a sidestep within retail and offer some much more added value, then it’ll be him – here, in this old warehouse, in a run-down district on the outskirts of Barcelona.

It almost feels like a disservice to confine Barcelona’s PAVÉ under the label of a bike shop: it’s a community, we’re told as we pull up outside, uniting riders through high performing products, heritage and the joy of riding. As we enter, it does feel like a myriad of things: stepping into the pages of a high-end magazine; a visit to a familiar building celebrating all things cycling; a homecoming.

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It’s late afternoon as we pull up in the car park of an unassuming building in the less-than-affluent district of El Prat de Llobregat. One large window betrays the contents, marking the start of an aspirational and inspirational sightseeing tour for any cyclist. We’re greeted by Maya, busy gesticulating at the wares lying around the cash desk. It’s an old warehouse, he explains, that was vacated in mid-2010 having belonged to his parent’s construction machinery rental business – the same company that Maya spent a decade working for before creating PAVÉ. The newly vacant premises were the catalyst for a long-harboured idea of his to come into being, a vision realised with the help of architect Joan Sandoval. Waist-deep in bikes since childhood, Maya’s transition back in 2011 to fledgling bike shop pioneer happened fluidly. “Perhaps it’s exactly that abysmal gulf between my previous job and PAVÉ that built the foundation for today. A place like PAVÉ had long been a fantasy that I’d played out in the comfort of my dreams. After all, dreaming is free and being able to have these sweet dreams was a very pleasant medicine.”

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At first glance (if you overlook the shop’s eponymous cobbled entrance), PAVÉ might just seem like a fashionable store stocking regular and more high-end brands, selection of road cycling’s best, although Maya is quick to stress that his chosen brands are part of the PAVÉ family: sharing the ethos that he believes will fulfill the wishes of all his clients, whether they’re after performance, prestige or just pleasure.

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But take a closer look and you’ll see that it is not all well-known brands. Spot the small American sock brand Stance, the blindingly cool Poler Stuff cups and sleeping bags, even some notably non-mainstream running and cycling magazines. In fact, these are the same magazines that lead Maya to invite us out for a 21km run the following day. A run, you might raise an eyebrow, but it’s February and we’re short on time. Plus just like the freedom of two wheels, Maya adores the simplicity of running. He’s strong too, we discover as he sets a blistering place, enamoured with the freedom of the fresh air and that unrivalled glow of the early morning sun. We’ll bet he’s an even stronger cyclist too, having won the leg-burning race over the notorious 310 km ‘Assassin’s Stage’ of the 1910 Tour de France that runs from Bagneres-du-Luchon to Bayonne.

As we weave along little-used, dusty trails near his parents’ home, he chats openly about his stance on marketing (brands have to get it right), the current cycling boom and the steps that led him to where he is today. So where is he today? He’s right where he wants to be, bringing cycling and running to an audience who are fully tuned in, aligned with his values and receptive to his philosophy of cycling.

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For Maya, bikes have always been at his core, and the shop is essentially an extension of his soul, where the bikes are displayed in a manner not unlike an exclusive gallery; it’s uncluttered and a far cry from the stacked-up bike shops of days gone by. Each product and brand has their own space. You’ve got ASSOS dominating one corner, a few stylishly illuminated rails of Sportful, POC in the entrance, a partioned-off Le Coq Sportif section, De Marchi, and a hip, yet historic Oakley area amongst others.

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Then there’s the huge bike workshop at the back, a café (naturally), bookshelves (where have you taken us, a library?), custom bottles of wine (very nice) and a shower room. It’s not crammed, everything has its place and there’s space to roam. It’s hard to deny that it’s a winning formula for whiling away the hours off the bike.

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Should you turn up by bike, expect to bump into Maya leading out group rides – these happen almost daily from March. There’s also an exclusive PAVÉ club (or three if you count the women’s one and the one with the utmost exclusivity too), with stylishly understated jerseys to boot. GRAN FONDO recently clocked PAVÉ leading out a Christmas-themed, ASSOS clad night ride, a sidestep during the typical layoff through the dark nights of winter. And – why not? – they’d even got Miguel Indurain for company.

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Given the rise of online retail, PAVÉ was always going to face an uphill battle – but as a cyclist like Maya knows, uphill grinding can pay off. Eighteen months after opening, it had already started catching people’s attention, and The Guardian cited it as one of the world’s best shops. It’s kept people’s attention ever since.

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There’s an earnest purity in cycling that Maya has managed to capture, distil and imbue every aspect of PAVÉ with. The ongoing emergence of beautiful and long-lasting road gear and the development of bikes that are a celebration of design and function helps, but more than this, the pure spirit of cycling is engrained in the fabric of PAVÉ, a reflection of the romantic views of the man behind it. Maya truly loves riding. “Cycling should be a simple sport in which sensations are prioritized over the performance of materials. But this is a thought that’s at risk of being lost in our world today.”

This somewhat sentimental exchange, GRAN FONDO discovers over the course of the interview, is typical of Maya, who brushes off the emergence of disc brakes on road bikes, putting forth his opinion that we’d be better integrating bike lights into bikes to increase cyclists’ safety. For Maya, you can’t pinpoint the best ride – after all, the best routes haven’t been ridden yet. If you ask for his preferences, he underlines his fondness for narrow, traffic-free roads through quiet villages where disc brakes and electronic shifters are products from another universe.

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But whatever your take on the role of technology in cycling, PAVÉ is something refreshing in the world of bike retail, a place where the volume and algorithms of the internet bike mega stores are exchanged for a reverence toward all things bike and a consumer experience that is rivaled by none. Finally, the bike shop has been brought from grimy garages to something that is so much more – and we welcome it.

More information can be found on the Pave website.


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Words: Emmie Collinge Photos: Klaus Kneist, Christoph Bayer