When I first visited Cycling Bears’ showroom in East Coast Road back in 2022 , I remember feeling captivated by its exquisite range of fitness equipment. As a beginner fitness enthusiast and self-proclaimed penny-pincher who buys my yoga mats and dumbbells for no more than S$20 from no-frills retailers such as Decathlon, I had seen nothing like it. On display were equipment from luxury fitness brands Ciclotte, Pent, NoHrd, Enigma, WaterRower and more, all handcrafted from materials such as wood, steel and leather.
To put it bluntly, gym equipment can be rather ugly, but everything displayed at Cycling Bears was aesthetically pleasing, yet functional. The eye-watering price tags made my jaw drop, going up to over S$20,000 for an exercise bike made of glass. The showroom, an intimate space measuring 650 sq ft, was located on the second floor of a shophouse and operated on a by-appointment only basis.
Fast forward two years later and the founders, husband and wife duo Debra Tay and Tudi Guillamot, have since moved to a larger space measuring 900 sq ft in Joo Chiat. Located on street level, the new gallery, which opened in April, is meant to be more experiential, allowing clients to test out the equipment before committing to a purchase. They no longer have to make an appointment before coming down.
A sticker affixed to the gallery's glass exterior, bearing the message "Don't just peek, take a few more steps," entices passersby to enter. "We get a lot of curious people who walk.
