As a bicycle owner in East Lansing, Emmett Dacey knows the wear-and-tear that a college campus causes on his ride.
“My bike has flat tires and the handle bar pads fall off, and it has a little rust from the rain,” said Dacey, a finance freshman. “It makes it a little difficult to ride around campus.”
Dacey, as well as other local cyclists, might benefit from a new bicycle repair shop, The Bike Shop, 412 Albert Ave.
The store is scheduled to open March 1, said The Bike Shop’s owner, Trek Vandecar.
“I live in East Lansing and I love the city,” Vandecar said. “I come from a long family of bikers and I’ve worked on bikes since I was 6 years old. Now I’m branching out to do my own thing.”
Vandecar has raced bikes across the country and worked with his uncle to open bike repair shops in DeWitt, Mich., before deciding to open his own shop.
“I think I’m pretty prepared,” Vandecar said. “I’ll cater to anyone who wants to just ride everyday.”
Vandecar said he wants to offer students and East Lansing bikers a quick, reliable, convenient service at the best prices he can. The price of a basic bike tune-up will cost around $49, he said.
Down the street from The Bike Shop’s location, the owner of Evergreen Cycles and Repair, 314 Evergreen Ave., Hunter Seyfarth, said having a competing local business never helps his sales.
“There’s always going to be some form of competition,” Seyfarth said. “We’ll continue what we’ve been doing the past few years: giving our customers a quick turn-around time with high quality work and just try to keep everything on hand that people would need.”
“Hopefully my customers will continue to come here,” Seyfarth said. “But that’s the competitive part of business.”
East Lansing Community Development Analyst Tim Schmitt said he doesn’t necessarily think opening The Bike Shop will have a negative impact on the other biking shops in East Lansing.
“(East Lansing) has a pretty strong biking population,” Schmitt said. “It’s always good to have a little competition.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
