bike shop blog

Come see our selection of Specialized, Surley, Globe, Sun, and Salsa mountain, road, and commuter bikes, as well as Eastern and Stolen BMX bikes. In addition we carry a full line of accessories. (See our links to the right.) Enjoy the 2011 summer biking season in Cook County on the North Shore! Come do our thousands of miles of northwoods trails, gravel, and pavement!

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Here’s a classic Gitane owned by Lenna Sobanja:

She got it here at the shop. This classic bike has a lugged cro-mo steel frame with down-tube shifters, center-pull caliper brakes, and a classic-style double chain ring crank set. We added cross-style brake levers to help the smaller rider.

Mark’s Raleigh Sports is a classic from the Nottingham, England company Raleigh Bicycle Company founded in 1887. Mark’s Sports is an original English manufacture bike from 1959. Classic example of a sturdy, all-purpose, all-weather bike for local commuting, errand-running.

2011 Salsa Casseroll made for long adventure rides on smooth or rough roads. This bike will be great for errand running or loaded touring. Its full cromoly(Chromium Molybdenum eh?) frame has just enough give to soak up the bumps but its stiff enough to get your energy to the pavement. Dave plans to use it for all the above.

Seven of the ten riders on our weekly after work ride. We are on the top of Pincushion Mountain which is accessed by a very technical ride or hike from the Pincushion Mountain loop of the Pincushion Mountain Ski trail system.  The view behind us is the shore of the Big Lake looking east to the horizon.

Don Hammer (far right in light gray sweatshirt), welding instructor and metal artist, built this bike rack for the Cook County Higher education office, funded by an Arrowhead Regional Arts Council grant. His work mimics a cedar stump and roots.

Schwinn 3-speed Racer

Mike Bauer outside of SNOC/Velomarais

Mike Bauer of Grand Marais with his restored Schwinn Racer 3 speed. He delivered papers on the same bike as a youngster. This bike was in near perfect condition we helped him disasemble the crank and straighen the chain wheel.

Met up with Nora Richards who peddles the bike and the bakery wares from Lola’s Sweet Like Bakery here in Grand Marais. Nora is usually peddling about on Friday’s and Saturday’s. She starts fairly early in the morning and goes until she sells out of baked goods. As we understand, all of her goods are fresh-baked the morning of the sales.

South-side Chicago native Nora Richards works the mean streets of Grand Marais where only the strong survive.

When asked about her rig, she says the hills are torturous and a bit scary since the heavy trailer tends to overpower the Specialized comfort bike. Nora tells us that she is currently a massage therapy student and was previously at St. Mary in Winona studying theater. She and her partner, Elliot Doherty-Noyce are here for the summer. They are also musicians and will be performing this weekend at the Arts Festival.

This tricycle “truck” was put together by Velomarais/SNOC originally for the local group Harbor Friends. They donated it to the Grand Marais Visitor Information Center. The house was built by Ken & Molly Hoffman.

Mandy and Anna from the Grand Marais Visitor Info Center

This cool old Schwinn roadster was seen recently parked at the CCCo-op. The owner was never identified. Hope he/she’s not in some witness protection plan. . . .

Mark’s putting this old thing back together: A old, no-name Schwinn with accoutrement par excellence.

Old iron on the rack

Accoutrement par excellence. . .

Heavy metal: Kick backwards as if to brake to change gears