Winooski Wheels helps keep city bikers rolling

Outside Winooski Wheels bikeshop, Canal Street

A radio plays yacht rock in the background of Winooski Wheels, but the loud rush of the Winooski River behind the store drowns out the music. In front of the new bike shop on West Canal Street, people chatter as they walk by and stop at nearby shops.

Winooski Wheels owner Dan Hock embraces the cacophony. Wearing cutoff jeans and a grease smear on his left arm, Hock takes a bike down from the ceiling hooks. “It’s a ’70s Schwinn Suburban,” he says. “I'm helping clean it up and get it ready for spring. So it's in for a tune-up and some additional work.”

Winooski Wheels opened in January to sell, repair and custom-build bikes. Hock keeps the door open, so Winooski residents and others in town can peek in and see that they now have a local shop in the center of the city where they can buy or bring their bikes.

Many Winooskians rely on biking as their daily mode of transportation. The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission is creating a comprehensive Walk Bike Plan for the city with the help of a South Burlington-based consultant. The plan will outline suggestions for a comprehensive network of walking and biking infrastructure in Winooski — part of the city’s larger goal to enhance sustainable transportation.

Hock, 36, has biked and worked on bikes in Burlington and Winooski for 16 years. He envisions Winooski Wheels playing a role the city’s push toward more sustainable transportation and providing needed services for the residents who rely on travel other than cars.

“There's a lot of people that we're going to see that use bikes every day,” Hock says of his potential customers. “I want to be able to bring services to them.”

Hock, who has relied on his bike to commute during his years in Vermont, knows the challenges for those who live farther from resources. “It might be difficult for them to bring their bike all the way to a shop in Burlington or South Burlington.”

Bryan Davis, the Walk Bike project manager for the regional planning commission, said he considers Hock and his business a “great resource.” In particular, Hock has mapped out trails in the area for Winooski bikers.

Hock moved to Vermont from New Jersey in 2005 when he enrolled in Saint Michael’s College to study political science and Spanish. After graduating, he immersed himself in the two-wheeled world and worked at Old Spokes Home, a non-profit bike shop in Burlington, learning about the business of bike repair.

“Part of me was always curious about what it would be like to provide business and run my own shop,” he says.

Hock started at Old Spokes Home as a volunteer and became an employee later. In 2015, he and a few coworkers helped purchase the store to convert it into a nonprofit organization that tries to make bikes more affordable and accessible to adults and children.

Hock began to see biking as a political statement, as a way to not only support a community but also to create a more environmentally sustainable society by encouraging people to get out of their cars.

“Studying political science helped me to understand how the world works and, pardon my French, it’s fucked up,” he says. “This is something that I can do every day that's going to help people make better choices for themselves and for the planet.”

As part of that emphasis on sustainability, many of Winooski Wheels’ bikes are recycled and refurbished. Hock finds old bikes at garage sales, on Craigslist and sometimes “out in the countryside, on the side of the road, in a pile.”

For Hock, biking has also served as a vehicle to explore the world. Bikes, “have taken me to really cool places,” he says.

Before he opened Winooski Wheels, Hock toured Latin America on two wheels with his friends. He has spent as long as six months and traveled up to 5,000 miles by bike to explore Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile, carrying no more than two bags mounted on a rear-wheel rack. Just a month after opening, Hock snuck away to Colombia for a three-week bike tour. In Vermont, it was the biking off-season, so he could close Winooski Wheels while he was away.

Starting in April, Hock gets out on the road with the Winooski Bike Gang, a component of the city’s Bike and Run Club that is supported by the Recreation and Parks Department and a few residents. Riders of all ages and abilities start at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Winooski Wheels. They can ride a shorter 12 to 15 miles or take a longer ride for up to 30 miles.

Winooski Wheels has 45 bikes for sale, as well as a few T-shirts. Hock offers free repair estimates and, in late April, had 12 bikes in his workshop. He also was building 10 bikes from the frame up for individual orders.

As the biking season heats up heading into summer, Hock expects the shop to get even busier. “I must be ready to help people test drive, or whatever,” he says. “Lot of balls in the air — but I like juggling!” Even with the juggling, Hock puts a premium on the customer experience. “I think with me being such a small service and sales shop, I can really communicate effectively with each customer and make sure I'm meeting their expectations,” he says. “And it allows me to kind of streamline things and perform service a little bit quicker.”

The community reception has surprised Hock, and he says he enjoys working in a business that gives customers a reason to be happy. “It's kind of like selling ice cream,” he says, “Most people aren't upset when they come in and get their bikes fixed.”