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" Due to the sheer volume of road cyclists in the tri-state area, myself included (sorta), Manhattan is blessed with a large number of top-notch bike shops. However, amidst this bounty there&amp;#039;s a dearth of outfits that actively promote that put-your-bag-down-and-hang-a-while vibe you&amp;#039;d find at, say, a cool indie record or men&amp;#039;s shop. Enter Rapha Cycle Club. Opening July 3 in the East Village, this three-month pop-up will serve as a way for the London-based, gentleman cyclist brand to &amp;quot;share enthusiasm for the sport in a tangible way that isn&amp;#039;t just with merchandise,&amp;quot; says manager Mike Spriggs, who&amp;#039;s also the man behind the sharp velo-inspired T-shirt line Gage &amp;amp;amp; DeSoto. &amp;quot;Watching racing, celebrating those races in a communal way \u2014 there aren&amp;#039;t many actual bike races to watch in the U.S. as in Europe \u2014 are key to the Club.&amp;quot; Meaning there&amp;#039;s no excuse for you to relegate yourself to your laptop and some crappy Belgian online feed to watch the Tour de France this weekend. Not only have the Rapha boys installed a Citroen H Van as a dressing room, they&amp;#039;re partnering with Humberto Ricardo&amp;#039;s Third Rail Coffee, whose baristas will be serving up fresh Stumptown coffee through September. Caffeinated race fans can hang to watch as many stages of the Tour as they want on the 52-inch flatscreens. In addition to high-powered joe and hi-def peloton action, Spriggs &amp;amp;amp; Co. will be serving up screenings of bike film classics like Sunday In Hell and Stars and Watercarries, art shows with photogs like Daniel Sharp and Peter Rubijono, as well as leading weekly group rides.   &amp;quot;The Cycle Club will also be a way to educate yourself,&amp;quot; says Spriggs. As such, he&amp;#039;s bringing in some ephemera from 1950s and &amp;#039;60s Tours, copies of L&amp;#039;Equipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport newspapers will be on hand, and of course, Rouleur, Rapha&amp;#039;s elegant cycling glossy. Not to mention plenty of Rouleur photographry books that have been published over the years. And should you need a little retail fix, Rapha will be selling a special edition Tourmalet jersey and various Cycle Club accessories (think cap, T-shirt, silk scarf) as long as they last. &amp;quot;Fans can come watch a race stage, and try on something they&amp;#039;ve only ever seen online,&amp;quot; says Spriggs. &amp;quot;We hope to be accessible and inviting, and maybe some of our genuine love for the sport will be left behind.&amp;quot; For a brand that&amp;#039;s already teamed up with Savile Row&amp;#039;s Timothy Everest and Sir Paul Smith (some of which will be for sale here), we&amp;#039;ll consider this another step in the right direction.   Rapha Cycle Club, open July 3 through September 30, at 352 Bowery, NYC, rapha.cc/nyc  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a7887/rapha-cycle-club-new-york-070110/>