Spring
finally came to the state, somewhat. And with summer not too far
behind the skis get packed away and out come the bikes.
--- And
one of the places gearing up to help would be the SLC Bike Company.
Sitting in downtown, the building they occupy today was nothing more
than a restaurant and cheap housing a few years back until a fire
struck the place in early 2006. But rather than make it another piece
of dying property, owners helped put the building back up to make way
for new tenant space and downstairs business. Which the Bike Company
was more than happy to fill, setting themselves up as a major stop of
all downtown cycling. I got a chance to chat with owner Brent Hulme
about the place, as well as a number of other topics, along with
pictures from the tour.
Brent Hulme
http://slcbike.com/
Gavin:
Hey Brent, first off, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Brent:
I have lived in Utah for 20 something years. Approaching a time in
life that we don’t like to talk about our age. Married with
children. I love bikes, food and art. I have worked in the cycling
industry my entire adult life.
Gavin: Where did the
idea come from to start up SLC Bike Company?
Brent: I
watched the downtown market loose a fixture of a bike store and saw
opportunity to put something in it’s place.
Gavin: Do
you feel there's a big cycling community in Utah, or is it primarily
focused in downtown and places with trails?
Brent: The
cycling community in Utah is big and very diverse. I think that there
are more factions within the bike community than one would expect.
The interesting thing is that here at Salt Lake City Bicycle are in a
unique situation to see most of them. The other interesting thing is
that I don’t think that those that are in one faction are
necessarily aware of the other factions. They are all great. The most
prominent factions that obvious to me are the following: Downtown
there are the fixie crowd, AKA “hipsters”, tight pant militia
etc. This is a great group. They love simple bikes and they seem to
be drawn to things that are classic road bike based. I went to a
alley cat race last fall and I have to say that I had a wonderful
time That is a lot of excitement and a little mischief. Since I am a
father I found myself stopping at every light and proceeding with
caution. It was a riot. I am also aware of the race community. Road,
mountain, triathlon, adventure, cross, BMX they all have a core group
of racers that are well known in their communities. In each of the
racing There are the club riders that are doing good and having a
good time. These people do more good for various charities than you
would imagine. Mostly made up of adults that just want some break
from the rat race. I like the commuters—these hard core ride
through all conditions and the interesting thing is that this crowd
always seems more politically active. These guys seem to be the ones
that are really making a difference in society because the are
pushing for things like the 3 foot rule and the upcoming car license
plates that promote cycling. We are all in debt to these riders. They
have and continue to make Utah a better place to ride. Beyond these
groups there are thousands that own bikes and are having a great time
doing events or riding trails and events and planning trips to Moab.
Utah is quite possibly the single best place in the nation to ride
bikes and it is becoming better because of the diversity of the
people that ride them. Funny to think of Utah as being
diverse.
Gavin: Were there any reservations with having
other bike shops downtown, or did you feel there was a market for
another?
Brent: Downtown needs to have a bike shop. In
my previous job I was aware of the fact that cities like Portland,
Seattle, Boise, San Francisco all have great urban bike shops. Why
should Salt Lake not be like that. We have a strong relationship with
Trek Bicycles and because of this I expect other big bike companies
to try to make a presence here.
Gavin: What drew you to
move into the old Stratford Hotel?
Brent: What a great
place. Once you see the building and how we are using the space it
all makes sense. I had pressure to put my business in a suburban
strip mall. I have longed to be more in an urban setting for a long
time.
Gavin: Was it difficult getting set up in the
space or was it pretty easy going after the renovation?
Brent:
It was work. The owner of the building had done some great work to
make this building true to its roots. I think that the building looks
more like it did 100 years ago than it did 3 years ago.
Gavin:
What was that first month open like for you?
Brent: My
head was spinning. I didn’t expect to be so busy right away. I knew
what things I had to do, I just didn’t know how much there would
be.
Gavin: For those who may not know, what kind of
services do you offer for cyclists?
Brent: Of course we
sell bikes, and bicycle accessories. We have a great service
department with talented, experienced mechanics. So we fix bikes. We
rent townie and road bikes. We are hoping to let others see what a
great city SLC is to ride bikes. We do custom bike fitting. I seem to
be trying to get us into anything else that will offer a good cycling
experience to our customers.
Gavin: Do you do many
custom orders or designs? And what's the process like to having those
created?
Brent: Our main bicycle line is Trek and they
have a great road bike program called Project One where a customer
can pick paint, wheels components and essentially put together a bike
that can really be one of a kind. Then with our fitting we hope to
offer one of the best bike buying experiences available. Some of the
Project One bikes can be finished in about a week with no additional
charges. We certainly will try to find special parts for bikes where
we can.
Gavin: How did the decision come about to host
bike maintenance classes?
Brent: Originally it was to
try to help people that had purchased bikes from us. Then we decided
to offer it to everyone. To be honest this is still a work in
progress. I think that we need to ask people to RSVP so that we are
fully prepared.
Gavin: You also do a lunch-ride
program. What's that for and how can people join in?
Brent:
Right now it is on Wednesdays and it is a real ride to about 50
miles. Our ride leader McCool is the greatest. Again a program that
we hope to expand and optimize. Next on the list is a shorter ride
for the novice rider. Chances are I will lead that.
Gavin:
On events, tell us about the upcoming Gallery Roll.
Brent:
This started as a little idea that I had and I shared it with a local
cycling champion, Zed. Zed took my little idea and added some of his
great ideas and evolved it into Gallery Stroll. We decided to put
this in May which is National Bike Month and there are a lot of great
events happening around the state. What I envision is seeing what
artists are doing with bicycles. There are a lot of great pieces of
work in the world of art that have cycling as a theme. We want to
have a venue that will allow those that are passionate about art and
bicycles to show their work. Really I just like art and wanted to get
into the thick of it.
Gavin: A little local, what are
your thoughts on the possibility of rental bikes coming to
downtown?
Brent: I think you are referring to some
large scale loaner bike program, like Paris or something. Anytime you
can get more people riding bikes it is good. Bring it on. I would
love to see our community grow with bicycle use.
Gavin:
Do you feel the use of bikes is growing locally, or is it more of a
fad based out of gas prices?
Brent: Gas prices
certainly got people to recognize that maybe they should consider
alternate transportation. Then gas prices went back down, but many
people have memories of $4 a gallon and they don’t want to get
stung by this again, they are planning ahead now. I think that the
bicycle use in the state is on the rise. Somehow we have built a
society based on cars and It is difficult for many to be as
productive with a bike as they are with a car. As public transit and
traffic planning go on I think that it will get better. But I always
seem to be impatient.
Gavin: What's your take on
extreme sports and how its affected cycling as a whole?
Brent:
I have met some of the top “X-Games” like riders that are here in
the state (another part of the cycling community). These guys are
very talented and they are pushing the envelope every day. Some of
the things that they do make things better in other parts of cycling.
Downhill riders have made suspension better for cross country bikes.
Technology is one of the fun parts about bicycles.
Gavin:
What can we expect from you and the shop the rest of the year?
Brent: We are new and we are hungry. I hope to really
establish the business and see where it takes us. I have
intentionally not tried to designate Salt Lake City Bicycle Co. as
the bike shop for ____. I don’t want to do just road or mountain or
urban. I want to be universal in helping people have a good
experience on a bike. Our goals are to get involved with the
community when it comes to cycling. We are still a business and we
need to tend to that first, but we realize that we can benefit the
community through our involvement and programs.
Gavin:
Is there anything you'd like to promote or plug?
Brent:
It is easy to over simplify lives, but consider the positive effect
that bicycles can have on some of our societal ills -- Dependency on
foreign fuel, transportation, health, obesity, environment -- Bikes
are the answer. What other transportation can you go 50 miles on a
bagel?