Everyone at Bike Tek refuses to conform to the new Bicycle Shop industry standards. What does this mean to you?

We can all remember, whether it was us, or from the stories our parents told, of what it was like to be a kid passing by the local bike shop storefront. The local bicycle shop always had the coolest bike in the window that we had spent countless hours starring at and trying to convince Dad to by it for us. We promised to mow lawns and be on our best behavior for eternity, what ever it took to convince our old man that the bicycle in the window wasn't a "want" but rather a necessity. If we ever wanted to be popular, if we ever wanted to be someone, or even if we just wanted to impress Sally or Billy (depending) to get our first kiss, we needed that bike. Then there were some of us who just wanted to feel the open road and the wind in our hair, and frankly, at the age of ten a motorcycle was out of the question. What ever our drive was we needed to get pops into that store. Finally the day came for us when we walked into that store with our old man and we had to hold back our excitement just enough that we didn't annoy him and play off like we hadn't been in the shop 18 times already that week. We all can probably get an understanding for the story and we all have different memories of what our first, or favorite bicycle was. Lets face it, when we were ten, our bicycles for a lot of us was the best thing we had. It was our freedom, our chance to get away from the parent, our transportation to the sandlot for a pick-up game of baseball, etc etc. We all had our different motivations and our diverse emotional connection to our bicycle.

 So again, what does it mean that Bike Tek refuses to conform to "Industry Standards"? Plain and simple answer is: We are not a dealership, but rather a shop. The whole concept of a bicycle shop has greatly diminished. Bicycle shops have become dealerships, bikes are being sold like cars, repairs are being handled like automobile service centers, and accessories are being sold as add ons to help the commission. This concept has helped many bicycle shops to have nice pretty million dollar buildings, fancy advertisements, and 48 different pieces of apparel with there name on it. If anyone has been in Bike Tek recently they can instantly notice a change, that it is cleaner, more organized, and even smells better. Product, staff, and appearance has changed. This can all be noticed without the wood flooring, stainless steel accents, fancy countertops, plasma TV's, so on and so forth. It is the belief of everyone at Bike Tek that yes, plasma TV's are pretty and wood flooring and stainless steel accents look cool, but having them does not create knowledgeable staff, certified mechanics, and better product. Some people will relate better to having the fancy luxurious look, that is great and certainly understandable in respects. However, the whole concept at Bike Tek is rather than having those car dealership aspects, we would prefer the type of personal feel and interaction that creates the same feeling you had that brought you into the shop when you were a kid. For many of us we have not biked since we were young and didn't have a car, others have been biking forever. What ever the case is, when you passed that shop window as a child, nobody told you the right bike for you, it wasn't a sales pitch nor a clearance item that somebody convinced you was exactly what you were looking for. You chose the bike and the bike chose you. That is the exact feeling we all should have still. We aren't being forced to ride, we walk into a bike shop because we choose the activity. Riding is not our daily job, but rather an escape from it. So with all this being said, stop in to Bike Tek so you can find your bike, not have one pitched to you because we like it, or it had a good review, or a cool ad in a magazine. We realize we cannot pick your bicycle based on ours, or companies opinion, much the same as we can't pick your spouse because we think they are just swell. Come in, you'll find what you need, if you don't then you don't, but at least you were able to look around and have any of our highly trained and knowledgeable staff answer any questions or concerns that you might have.  We take pride in what we do and take pride in making certain we have all the truthful answers to your questions. We wanted you to have pride in what you want and pride in the decision you've made for yourself.

If you all don't know me by now, my name is Christopher Rensman and I took over ownership of Bike Tek in January. I have been a mechanic for ten years, I would like to think I know what I am doing and certainly want you to think the same. I own a shop and actually ride a bike, apparently that's becoming a paradox in this industry.  Stop in and say hello already!

Thanks to everyone that have already been in and everyone else in advance for the help in returning bicycling into what we love and not what we can market

Now if you see anything incomplete or a mistake on the website, plain and simple, I'm doing this stuff myself most of the time at two in the morning because I have so many bikes to fix and other bike type stuff. Which is frankly great. So I rather make a mistake here than on more important things, like your bike! Some people were kind enough to inform me that last month I had a sale on everything in "sock". I'm not sure what was on sale in my socks but thanks for the heads up!

If we can't have a sense of humor about life we would all be at a standstill with frowns upon our face. Those of you who can't seem to find your sense of humor, keep your frowns out of my store, the shop is a happy place with pretty bikes and a lot of cool stuff! And you will upset my dog, who is also a pretty happy gal!

~bye for now, thanks for listening to my story!

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