With a collective 30 years of experience working in bicycle shops, cyclists Zabi Naqshband and Joseph Garey have launched their own independent version in the southeast Valley. Swanny’s Cycles, which recently soft-opened, serves as an all-purpose repair and retail shop.
The name Swanny’s comes from the French word soigneur (pronounced swan-yé), for the support person on every pro cycling team, the owners explain. “Their objective is to make sure riders stay on their bikes, and they have a really big support role, making sure the riders continue riding,” Garey says. He says the word is also a metaphor for what the co-founders intend to do with Swanny’s. “We want to keep people on their bikes as much as possible. Our job is to make sure that your bike leaves here in the best shape possible, so you don’t have to bring it back.”
Garey was one of the cyclists involved in December’s deadly highway crash near Boulder City that left five dead and three wounded. Swanny’s owners say they’re working with the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition to help promote cyclist safety and awareness.
“Every bike shop is involved with that stuff, but we do get that involvement a little bit more,” Naqshband says. One of Swanny’s Cycles’ partners is SNBC president Rob Hutchinson, who helps draft legislation on bicycle safety.
“He’s been trying to change rules and laws and incorporating us as much as he can,” Garey says. “This whole business idea was kind of triggered by what happened in December.”
The incident, Garey says, “got the gears moving.”
“It just really put things into perspective,” he says. “Life is really too short, and we might as well take the plunge instead of waiting. You might not have the opportunity.”
Swanny officially opens its doors on April 1, but Naqshband and Garey have been taking clients, mainly by word of mouth, since March. “It’s mostly people I’ve already been dealing with hitting me up, [saying] they needed a tuneup,” Naqshband says. “So instead of accepting the bikes at my house, I told them to start bringing them here. We haven’t even been advertising.”
The co-owners says they share a mutual trust and understanding of the way the other one works, stemming from their previous gigs at bike shops in town.
“The first shops where we both worked were for the same guy, and that’s another reason I feel really comfortable with Joe,” Naqshband says. “He started exactly where I started.”
Garey says the Swanny’s difference should feel noticeable. “Every bike that leaves here has our name on it, whether it’s a bike we sell or a bike we work on,” Garey says.
“There’s this great saying, ‘When we do right, no one remembers, but when we do wrong, no one forgets.’ We don’t want to do wrong by anybody. We have a lot of experience under our belt, and whenever a customer leaves, we want to make sure they feel right.”
Swanny’s Cycles 2525 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway #120, 702-483-3500. Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
