Meet the Owner: Jerry Emerson of Peak Bicycle Pro Shop

Jerry Emerson says the customer service at his Douglaston bike store, Peak Bicycle Pro Shop, will literally leave a longer lasting impression than at any other of its type in the five boroughs.

The shop, which Emerson co-founded 14 years ago and now runs with his wife, Joani, offers lifetime maintenance and repair free of charge for its customers.

“We’re the only bike store in Queens or Long Island that offers lifetime free tune-ups,” he said.

Emerson said he originally founded the store, located at 42-42 235th St. in Douglaston, because he was an aficionado.

“I got started because I was addicted to mountain biking and was tired of paying full price to other bike stores,” he said. “So, I said to myself, ‘I’ll open my own.’”

Peak Bicycle sells every type of bike except tricycles or recumbent bikes. The store offers a wide selection of mountain, road and hybrid bicycles as well as bikes for kids, parts and accessories.

“There are a number of family oriented bike shops in Queens, but we’re more for advanced riders and offer custom building,” Emerson said.

Customers can start with a frame and choose any parts they want to add onto the bike. Emerson said custom-built bikes can range from $1,500 to $12,000.

Most of the bicycles at Peak cost between $385 and $3,500.

In addition, mechanic Kenny Schmitt gives bike lessons and teaches classes on flat repair, while Emerson and his wife lead group rides around Fresh Meadows’s Cunningham Park every Sunday at 8:30 a.m.

“It’s more of a social ride,” Emerson said of the one-hour and 45-minute ride. “And it’s on the first legal mountain bike trail in the city.”

His store raised and donated $25,000, which the city’s Parks Department gave to CLIMB (Concerned Long Island Mountain Bicyclists). That group helped to create the bike path at the park.

Emerson said Peak is the only city bicycle shop outside Manhattan that rents road, mountain and hybrid bikes.

Customers can pay $10 an hour or $50 for a 24-hour period, but they must have a license and credit card as well as be at least 18 years old.

“Most bike shops won’t let you test ride bikes, but we can because of where we’re located,” Emerson said of the store’s scenic locale. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

He said he and his wife are hoping the city’s Parks and Transportation Departments will continue a bike path from the Cross Island Parkway in Bayside to Douglaston Parkway and Northern Boulevard.

“We’re hoping in 2014 and that they will widen sidewalks and make it a continuation of the bike path,” he said. “It would open up Douglaston to Bayside. Our business should grow because more people would be down here. It would open our world to outsiders who don’t know we’re here.”

Peak Bicycle Pro Shop, which has been awarded the best bicycle shop in the city by MTBR Mountain Bike Review, is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For more information, call 718-225-5119.