Photography by Matt Kile
When Matt Hartman opened up Spoked Bikes and Stuff on Cherokee Street in 2014, he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to compete with the larger shops featuring “$3,000 race wheels and carbon fiber bikes.” Instead, he says, he “wanted to focus on what we were more passionate about, which is just being outside in a non-competitive environment.”
That, and the “and Stuff” part of the shop name, which refers to skateboard decks and other recreation equipment.
“It’s a really hard industry; it’s us versus the internet every single day,” he says. “Unless you build some sort of shop and brand loyalty, why would I come to your shop and buy a tire for $20 when I can get it on Amazon for $15?”
Hartman is building that customer base through a separate business entity called Spoked Adventures. Guests meet at the shop and embark on a trip together, often an unexpected one. He partners with Big Muddy Adventures, for example, for rides next to the Mississippi River to Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area along the Missouri River. From there, cyclists leave their bikes with staff and hop into canoes. They then paddle east to the confluence of the two major rivers and downstream to Mosenthein Island, a forested strip of land across from the riverfront downtown.
Photography by Matt Kile
This reporter took the trip last June. As we camped on the island that night, I had a unique view of the illuminated skyline featuring the Arch—a monument I’d only seen from land or from an airplane. When the wonder subsided, staff grilled meat and cooked noodles and vegetables for a stir-fry, and we sat around the fire and drank beers from local microbreweries until a storm rolled in, and we retreated to our tents.
Photography by Matt Kile
The next morning, we canoed over to the riverfront in front of the Arch, hopped back on our bikes, and rode back to the store. It was an experience in the unfamiliar, one I had assumed I’d have to buy a plane ticket to acquire.
Hartman has since increased his adventure trips: This year, he plans to offer 10, including day trips from the shop to local farms and overnight trips to places like Pelican Island (in the Missouri River, north of St. Louis). The trips to the nonprofit farms cost $20, which covers expenses, a donation to the farms and includes a harvest of their vegetables. The overnight island trips cost $175.
Spoked Bikes isn’t alone in trying to build loyalty among customers by offering activities in addition to merchandise. For example, Big Shark Bicycle Company’s staffers teach classes and lead trips on weekend mornings from three stores around St. Louis.
Hartman’s trips, though, do seem to be unique among local bike shops, in that he partners with other businesses and organizations for programming. Soon he’ll offer a trip on which guests ride about 20 miles from the store to Eckert’s Family Farms to pick peaches, which staff will then drive back to the store and deliver to Earthbound Brewing, also on Cherokee Street.
The brewery will then brew peach beer for the trip participants. About a month later, those who took the trip will be given their beer and a tour of the brewery.
“I like the idea of people being involved in certain processes,” Hartman says. “On the farm trips, you’re picking something that you’re going to make dinner with, and you’re also supporting a nonprofit.”
You’re picking peaches that will find their way into a beer—how sweet is that? And it’s a beer you will have earned, because you picked those peaches after a long and convivial bike ride.
Photography by Matt Kile
