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Daniel Escobero García is the founder of Bicicletas Leo, a workshop where he restores old and classic bicycles. Soon, open a museum in Brunete
When Daniel Escobero García told his father, Lorenzo, that he was changing his views on his pawns, his father was almost shocked. And not because the young man hesitated or made puns. That man knew what he meant. That’s what his son used to say I left my dental career for bicycles.
Lorenzo didn’t take it well because Daniel was already doing his internship and he had very little left to graduate, but he knew he was partly to blame. As a child, his son had kept an eye on him when he was preparing his bicycles before going out with him through the pine forests of Anguita (Guadalajara). “We would go to his town every weekend and go out with my cousins to ride. I loved watching him adjust the chains, the pedals…” Escobero recalled.
It marked him to such an extent that it became his great hobby. “When I was in college, I started restoring old bikes. I did it at home and in the garage of my girlfriend, who is now my wife. One day, some friends uploaded my work to a blog, and within a few hours I received about 50 emails asking me to restore and paint their classic bikes,” he recalls. After a month, that number grew to 300, and he decided to ask a place in the center of Madrid. “We opened it at 16 Doctor Fleming Street and called the workshop Bicicletas Leo. That was the name of our dog, which we got after falling in love with him and his sad face,” he says.
12 years have passed since then and although the dog is no longer alive, the business is, and probably for a long time. “Since that day, we have not stopped the orders, now I am restoring 19 vintage bikes at a time.“, he says. The time each of them takes can vary from two months to a year. In one case, one job took up to two. “Sometimes, it’s very difficult to get the parts. And I use only originals. I go crazy looking. I do it online, in antique shops, contacting collectors… It’s like completing a puzzle one hundred percent,” he says. Currently there is a 12-month waiting list. A time that, as the entrepreneur says, “is nothing for bikes that may have been in an attic many times. Their owners don’t mind waiting.”
While doing so, they can take the opportunity to visit the Leo Bicycle Museum, Daniel’s new professional challenge. He’s been working on it for a few years, and while it’s not yet open to the public, it will be in a few months. “It is in Brunete, where I also moved my workshop, there are about 100 bicycles; the oldest is from 1887 and the youngest, from the 70s”, he explains.
Many of the pieces on display arrived long ago as useless human waste, and now they are real gems. Some were in antique stores, others in storage rooms or abandoned stores, and there are even some with a surprising story behind them. “At the Leo bicycle museum, we have a Talbot tandem that belonged to a couple. They gave it to them at their wedding so they could travel with it on their honeymoon. There is also a Correos de Madrid bicycle from more than 50 years ago and another one from the Civil Guard, with which the agents patrolled the streets of Leni. Some have allowed us to meet very interesting people. Ramón y Cajal’s great-grandchildren donated to the museum what the doctor gave to his grandson“, says Escobero.
But we can not only see old and classic two-wheeled vehicles in Brunete. In the Bicicletas Leo store, saddles, wallets and leather bags, pedals, handlebars, gloves, jerseys and hats from the last century are on display. Also, the candle lanterns that cyclists put on their bikes to light their way.
Daniel Escobero García’s professional career began with his father’s displeasure. Today, Lorenzo is happy because his son’s bet on Bicicletas Leo was right. “It is also because I have thought about restarting my career in Dentistry.he says smiling.
