‘Communities That Are Bike Friendly Are Better Places to Live’

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As the number of bicycles on city streets continues to grow, Wheel & Sprocket has kept abreast. Last December, the Hales Corners-based chain moved its headquarters to their new Milwaukee flagship location. The Bay View Wheel & Sprocket (187 E. Becher St.), occupying the former Cream City Iron Works, is an airy, expansive place with exposed metal support beams and Cream City brick walls. There is ample space for bikes and accessories, as well as offices for bicycle advocacy groups. Off the Cuff caught up with co-owner and vice president Amelia Kegel for a conversation about the business and meaning of selling and riding bikes.

Did you and your siblings “grow up” in the business—were you working at Wheel & Sprocket from an early age?

Noel and I, along with our two siblings Julian Kegel—who now runs Kegel’s Inn German Restaurant—and Tessa Kegel—who is W&S’s creative director—all grew up in the bike shop. In our young years, we helped out in any way we could—from helping pump up tires and fix flats on our weekend ride support events to working in the shops as cashiers, salespeople, mechanics, anything that was needed as soon as we were coordinated enough to do so. It was a wonderful experience—the bike shop always was a place to learn, interact with amazing people and help out the family. We always joked that farmers have kids to help milk cows, and our family had kids to help provide amazing customer service to bike folks.

How has business of cycling changed over the past few decades?

Wheel & Sprocket has been growing slow and steady since 1973. We started as a one-shop operation in Hales Corners to a seven-shop retail chain when our dad passed away in 2017. Since our father’s passing, Noel and I wanted to send the message to our staff, vendors and customers that we are here to stay and have been going “pedal to the metal” with a “one shop a year” growth strategy for the next decade.

We truly believe that W&S has a special business model, and our aim is that in every community we serve, we help make that area more bike-friendly. We believe communities that are more bike-friendly are better places to live and recreate in. Our father was very involved in bike advocacy on a local, state and national level, and Noel and I have vowed to follow in his footsteps. Between the two of us, we sit on a variety of boards and committees that aim to improve cycling infrastructure and make the world a better place for bikes, because we believe bikes make the world a better place.

We believe that selling bikes isn’t good enough. We need to make sure people love riding and have safe, accessible places to do so for bikers of all ages, abilities and ambitions. This wave of increased ridership since COVID has only amplified this need. Last year, we sold a record number of bikes in all of our markets and have never seen more people riding—not just adults, but kids too! We think that this is just the beginning of a phase change in our culture for families and folks who are enjoying the outdoors and staying active.

Nowadays people can buy bicycles on Amazon. How does a brick-and-mortar bicycle shop compete with the global giant?

It is true that you can buy virtually everything online these days. We believe that bikes are a category where people still really benefit from interacting with traditional brick-and-mortar stores. There’s a common bike industry meme stating “the internet can’t fix your bike,” but it’s more than that. Biking can become a lifestyle for folks that transforms their lives in the best of ways. The more you ride, the more you appreciate the high-quality products that only bike shops can offer.

A and B brands of bikes sell exclusively to bike retailers because we offer professional assembly of bikes which cannot be guaranteed when a box arrives on a customer's front stoop. Turns out bikes are a bit more complicated than an Ikea box. In addition, bike shops are community hubs for all things bikes. Bike shop employees enjoy educating and getting our customers excited to ride more. From recommendations of all the necessary accessories to enjoy their rides to great suggestions of places to ride, sometimes there is nothing better than just talking to a real person and creating genuine connections. When it comes to bike repair, there is nothing like the peace of mind knowing that your bike has been professionally worked on by career mechanics who stand behind their work.

Until you opened the Bay View shop, your Milwaukee area venues were in the surrounding suburbs. What prompted the move into the City of Milwaukee?

Wheel & Sprocket has always run under the motto “bikes for everyone.” We truly love serving the whole family of riders. While some bike shops cater to more niche categories such as triathletes or pro-mountain/road shops, Wheel & Sprocket has always loved being able to have bikes for riders of all ages, abilities and ambitions. Many bike shops can give off an aura of intimidation, and we have worked really hard to create shops where everyone feels welcome.

As Milwaukee is growing, we were seeing demographics changing as more people are now living in the cities. In addition, bike infrastructure here in the City of Milwaukee is improving as well with more bike lanes, bike paths and road engineering making more safe and fun places to ride. It’s great, and we are really excited to have our flagship Bay View location have more of an urban focus and product offering.

Our vision for this new Bay View location is to be a hub for all things bike. In addition to our 10,000 sqft bike shop, we have the Joy Ride Café, offering great food and drink from local vendors that is tailored especially to bike riders—with all profits going to the Chris Kegel Foundation, which supports bike infrastructure projects—two bike advocacy organizations the Wisconsin Bike Federation and Rails to Trails Conservancy, as well as Wheel & Sprockets operations headquarters with all of our office employees. We cannot wait to host group rides from our parking lot and host bike events in our event space. My hope is that a person who is not yet into riding bikes walks into this building and gets inspired!

2020 was an especially challenging year for most businesses and a tough year for any business to contemplate expanding. Did you ever consider postponing your move into Bay View?

2020 was incredibly challenging. The safety of our staff and customers was in jeopardy, and there were extremely tough waters to navigate. We worked extremely diligently to come up with a plan to take health and safety very seriously, while being able to keep up with the huge wave of demand for bikes.

Many outdoor industries saw interest spike this year in a way we have never seen before. Availability of some products sold out completely last summer. We are excited for the upcoming season and to head into spring with our stores well-stocked and having bikes back on the menu! Opening our Bay View location in December of 2020 was certainly an anticlimactic time to open to the public, but we are excited for the season ahead.

Wheel & Sprocket is accustomed to hosting big events, sales and big grand openings, and we know that once it’s safe to do so, we will celebrate opening this new store with our community in a fun way. Until then, we welcome folks to come check it out for themselves in smaller groups. We are extremely proud of the result of this three-year construction project. It’s been an amazing journey breathing new life and relevance into this historically impressive space. As bikes and biking become more relevant and intertwined with our communities, Wheel & Sprocket is proud to help make a positive difference in our community.