Bike stores are not always friendly places. Some turn up their noses at customers looking for anything less than a $4,000 racing bike. In others, the air is so thick with messenger machismo, it can be difficult to breathe. But Bicycle Habitat is as unpretentious as it is capable, selling and servicing bikes for cyclists of every stripe from the same Soho storefront where it opened 34 years ago. Urban biking has come a long way since those early days, and as New York enters a golden age of cycling, Bicycle Habitat is growing, too. A fancy showroom a couple of storefronts up caters to the high-end patrons, and there's also a recently opened satellite shop in Park Slope. But the beating heart of the Bicycle Habitat remains dreadlocked mechanic Hal Ruzal, who maintains a constant stream of friendly banter while changing flats and adjusting breaks and leads a weekly Thursday ride open to all comers. 244 Lafayette Street, 212-431-3315, bicyclehabitat.com (10012)