08/03/2026
Alright, a lot of you have called me out on the heavy atmosphere of the shop as of late and I figured it was time to address it. This is in no way looking for sympathy or making excuses, just in the interest of honesty, transparency, and accountability with our customers and friends of the shop.
Since starting this little gig in my basement almost 2 decades ago now, the shop has grown, accomplished, and became more than we ever expected it to. It came with A LOT of late nights, missed dinners and bed times with the family, and a lot of compromise for my kids not being able to do the extracurricular sports and activities they should have been able to do. It was always hopefully for a means to an end. We loved it, it was fun, and it was great to know we were meeting our goal of putting the best product out there without gouging the customer. Our goal for this place was to have an old school shop that everyone felt welcome and turned out work and service that would set us apart. We accomplished that and it grew organically on just what was coming through the door. No business loans, no selling stuff to make ends meet, very minimal overhead. We're very proud we were able to do that and create close friends and groups of friends just from this building existing.
Having said all that, it costs almost 5 times what I initially signed up for to exist now. To keep the lights on, the amount of work at an honest price that has to be done is staggering. Because of escalating operating costs, quick, routine maintenance jobs, by necessity, took precedence and shifted the direction I've always wanted to go with the shop.
Krystle and I have 5 kids ranging from 23 to 2 years old AND a 2 year old grandson that I will continue missing time with if I am to keep this up, not to mention the time I miss with my wife. Beyond that, it's just an unrealistic pace to keep up after decades of doing it. I'm not getting any younger, and my body is definitely starting to show some wear after 30 years of injuries.
Over the last few years between injuries, Krystle starting Basis (and the mental and financial stress of her separating from unsavory investors, those of you that know, know), and our ever growing family I've definitely been spread far too thin and the shop and work load has definitely suffered. The mental and physical exhaustion has been massive. With that being said, I know in the last year or so the turn around times have been more than sub-par and some of the long term projects have been here FAR too long term. Not only is that fact not lost on me, it eats at me daily and it's time for us to acknowledge and address that. Moving forward, our plan is to forgoe any large jobs to allow us to dig out and complete those jobs over the next couple months. Bear with me, these bikes are getting done and once they are, the shop will be getting moved to a better location and get a well overdue reset.
To be clear, we are not going away and will keep everyone updated on our plans and progress moving forward. We plan to come out of this little reset refreshed, motivated, and ready to take the next step.
Starting in 2 weeks, we will be having "moving sales" every Saturday from 11-1. We have acquired a lot of stuff over the years, many of you have seen what the upstairs looks like and I would just rather not move it!
If you're still here reading my rambling, thank you and all of our loyal customers.
- Dan
