The Wheel House Bike Shop opening April 29

The burgundy and turquoise racing stripes that run the length of the crisp white wall inside the newly renovated space on Murray Avenue have already started to attract the attention of people passing by on their way to the post office or Whistle Stop Park to get a look at the new Wheel House Bike Shop adjacent to The Wheel House bar.

"I should give credit to Eric," said Pete Brandes, the manager of The Wheel House, speaking of the bar and the former Wheel Works' prior owner Eric Bergeson. "Because it's the color that is on the outside of the building. If you look, there's a giant stripe. So when you walk in, you're going through the stripe, and then you walk up to the counter where it goes in corners and around." The new logo, designed by Mikaela Goff, is prominently displayed in the center of the stripes.

"Lots of hours have gone into this for sure," Brandes said. "It used to be the storage facility for the bar and bike shop. That was basically it. Lots of lots of stuff up there from over the years, some really great stuff, some stuff we decided to get rid of and clear out. We put a lot of time into cleaning the walls, painting, putting new fixtures in, replacing some old light fixtures, stripping paint off of old wood posts, and giving the floors a good cleaning.

"Since it was the old piano shop, they would paint in the warehouse. There were some vents on the ceiling that we didn't need anymore. So that was the first thing we did--we took them out, and it made the whole ceiling, the whole building, seem bigger and more open. This made the skylights much more prominent. We refinished the stairs and repainted many of the old metal brackets securing the huge, fabulous wood beam and wood posts that support the second floor."

Plans are well underway for The Wheel House Bike Shop's grand opening. "We plan to open on the 29th of this month," said Brandon Thomason, who will be managing the day-to-day operations of the bike shop. "And then we'll have that grand opening party on May 3rd, with the festivities happening from 12:00 to 3:00 pm."

"Darragh Craugh, who is currently cooking for us, will be making hamburgers, hot dogs, things like that," Brandes said. "And Skratch Labs is going to come in as well and offer drinks-a big cooler full of their electrolyte drinks, and they're going to have prizes to give away. We're trying to get a couple more companies on board too. There should be a whole lot of fanfare."

Thomason, an "avid outdoorsman," came to work for The Wheel House Bike Shop toward the end of the remodeling. He joined REI while studying physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, graduated in 2019, and continued to work at REI for almost nine years, managing the rentals operations and handling its fleet of bikes. From there, he moved down to the REI bike shop, and worked his way up to become the senior mechanic, taking advantage of all the different training opportunities REI offered and learning the business side of cycling.

Thomason said his physics degree helped prepare him to build bikes, design bike frames and design snowboarding gear. He said, "My passions have definitely been for outdoor endurance sports. So getting to share that with people, and making sure the gear that they have is making them happy, is very much where I come from."

"I hope to make it (The Wheel House) very community focused," he said. "I really see this as a place for commuters to be able to stop in. I've gone into other shops, and you definitely feel the intensity of the people behind the counter. I think this bike shop is a place where people will feel invited to come in. I want to be able to teach people some of the skills they can learn by offering classes. Trying to be an advocate for cyclists, I think, is our main goal."

Brandes said one of the shop's goals is to reinvigorate and bring in the younger generation of Niwot. "I know there's a lot of young families like ours, and that's the goal of this whole space, to develop that community and have people be able to come by get their bike fixed, get a nice burger when the restaurant comes in, and maybe get a drink if it's been a long day at the park with your kids."

There are plans to host events like movie nights, and the shop offers bar stools where people can come and hang out. "That's where these bar stools come in," Brandes said. "You can hang out at the table, watch your bike getting fixed, and ask Brandon questions."

The staff will offer workshops and short and long local bike rides for riders of all ages. The bike shop has already scheduled two events. The first event is a 10-mile ride on Sunday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m. It will be a mostly gravel ride led by a local bike enthusiast. Participants are asked to meet at The Wheel House Bike Shop by 4:15 p.m.

On Thursday, May 15, the shop will host a workshop for anyone interested in learning how to change a tire on the trail. The workshop will be held at 4:00 p.m. To attend, or for more information, call (720) 340–2979, or stop the shop at 101 2nd Avenue in Niwot.