Holiday News from Wheelhouse Detroit

Dear Friend-of-Wheelhouse,

By now, you are probably exhausted from shopping, baking, cooking, eating and drinking but, if you are anything like us, there is still a few more gifts to be gotten. Enter — we hereby humbly offer — Wheelhouse Detroit’s Holiday Sale!

There are four more days for our Downtown Holiday Pop-Up Shop in the Compuware Building, and we are offering a bunch of deals as we bid a farewell to our holiday pop-up location and, most of all, entice you to spend some of your final holiday dollars with us! We are open Wednesday 12/21 through Friday 12/23, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 12/24 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Best of all, we offer parking validation with any purchase for up to three hours , so come by and shop Wheelhouse before a meal at Texas de Brazil or ice skating at Campus Martius!

It might not be bike-riding weather for most of us softies, but it sure is prime bike-buying season! We have cut prices on any remaining bikes so drastically that it is almost scary. If there is someone on your list with a hankering for a new ride, this really is the most logical time to make that purchase. Here is a rundown on what we currently have available:

• The Origin 8 Cutler is sleek, simple and affordable. We have a 56cm 7-speed for $255 (Reg. $330) and a 56cm single speed for $225. (Reg. $299)
• The Sun Drifter is comfortable and surprisingly light. We have a 7-speed step-through in blue for just $310. (Reg. $360).
• Sun also makes an adult trike perfect for an active senior looking for stability. We have a single-speed with a rear basket in pearl white for $330. (Reg. $370) It can be made into a 3‐speed for an additional $120, or into a 5‐speed for an additional $160.
• Looking for a perfect bike to travel with? How about an Origin 8 Folding Bike? We have a 7-speed for just $300 in-stock! (Reg. $320)
• The Origin 8 Brutus has a hub that can flip between single speed and fixed-gear. It is strong and solid, and you can nab it for just $375. (Reg. $500 – yup, that’s $125 off!)
• We love Kona bikes, especially their “Asphalt” line. We ride them, we rent them, we sell them. We have two excellent hybrids in stock: a 46cm Dew for $375 (Reg. $429) and a 22in Smoke (with fenders) for $350 (Reg. $429).
• We also have a super-sharp Kona cyclocross, a Jake, in 58cm marked down to $599!!! (Reg. $899)

And for the rest of our stock, all this week, everything is marked down 20%! That’s accessories from Planet Bike and Dimension; locks from Master and Kryptonite; bags from Jandd and Timbuk2; baskets from Wald and Dimension; bike racks from Topeak and Axiom; auto racks from Saris; tools and pumps from Pedro’s and Park; tires from Kenda and Continental; and tubes from Michelin and Q…and much, much more. To get some good gift ideas, check out a sampling of our in-stock products…all on sale!

We are also carrying some locally designed bike-themed t-shirts — from Wound, Bikes & Murder and Detroit Bicycle Co. — and handmade basket liners and scarves, great gift ideas!

Gift Certificates! Give the Gift of a Wheelhouse Bike Tour

Looking for a great holiday gift? We offer gift certificates that you can purchase at our pop-up shop that are good for any Wheelhouse item or service: retail, repair, rentals or tours.

You can also buy a gift certificate on-line that can be used towards any tour in our sure-to-be-spectacular 2012 tour series! Most tours cost $25 or $35 with a bike rental, so you can choose the number of people and/or tours that you want to gift! For example, two people on a tour riding their own bikes would be $50. One person using one of our bikes? $35. Head to www.wheelhousedetroit.com to purchase with Paypal or any major credit card! Give the gift of Experiencing the Motor City on Two Wheels to your favorite cyclist, explorer or Detroit-lover!

We can’t thank our customers enough for a wonderful 2011, and we can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!

Have a wonderful and peaceful holiday season,
Your Friends at Wheelhouse Detroit

Map to the Compuware Building
wheelhousedetroit.com
Keep up-to-date at Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop‘s Facebook Page!

Do you think Wheelhouse is a Bicycle Friendly Business?

Wheelhouse Detroit has an application pending with the good people at League of American Bicyclists to be recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Business. The review process includes a local survey that is open to customers, employees, etc. It is available online at http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e367rwaxgh55tu8f/start and should only take about five to 10 minutes.

If you’d like, feel free to check out our application and the BFB scoring guidelines. You can download them as PDFs at the embedded links.

Please note: the deadline to participate is Feb. 11. We really appreciate your input and support!

Sale This Friday @ GifteD

We have two more Fridays to go at GifteD – A Holiday Boutique, located at 99 Monroe Street, between Farmer and Broadway, just east of the Compuware Building.

To entice you to come visit, we are holding a crazy one-day sale this Friday, Dec. 17, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. What’s so nuts about it? Well, all bikes are $100 off, all accessories are 25% off and gift certificates? Well, you pay us $40 and we will hand over one that is good for $50 worth of products, services, rentals or tours!

Bikes in stock include Kona Smoke (reg. $425 – $325 12/17 only); Kona Honky Tonk (61 cm – Reg. $899 – $799 12/17 only); Kona Humu (Reg. $425 – $325 12/17 only); Sun Drifter 7 (reg. $360 – $260 12/17 only); Sun Kruizer (reg. $330 – $230 12/17 only); and Origin8 Cutler 7 (reg. $300, $200 12/17 only). Photos and information on each of these bikes can be found at Bikes For Sale page.

Additionally, Wheelhouse’s entire stock of accessories is marked down. That means helmets from Bell, Lazer and Protech; locks from Kryptonite and Master; saddlebags from Axiom and Jandd; auto racks from Saris; and lights from Knog and Planet Bike. There is also a selection of tubes, patch kits, bells, racks, baskets, gloves and more that is guaranteed to satisfy any cyclist. Find more details about our products at our Facebook Page, which includes photos and (pre-sale!) prices.

Stopping by means that you can also get great presents from the other GifteD retailers, including Bureau of Urban Living; Re:View Contemporary Gallery;City Bird; Rags; DSE @ Grand; Wound Menswear and Motor City Sewing; and
Leopold’s Books.

Keep up-to-date with the pop-up shop at the GifteD Facebook Page. Remaining hours of operation for GifteD are Friday, December 17, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday, December 24, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. So, yeah, we will be open for last-minute Christmas Eve shopping and…you know what, the sale prices will still apply then, too! It’s total madness, we know.

Ride Reports

Three rides went off this week worth noting:

• Our fourth Wednesday night ride hit Brush Park, Wayne State, Woodbridge and North Corktown, across the cool corkscrew pedestrian bridge and then – bam – right up to the gaping hole at Tiger Stadium. highly recommended perspective for maximum emotional impact. We finished up by riding down the “old” riverwalk that runs between Rosa Parks and 8th. Remember, 9 p.m. every Wednesday at the Wheelhouse

• The Bike Riders United victory ride on Friday toured downtown with approximately 25 riders – including Chief of Police Ella Bully-Cummings. Check out m-bike’s slideshow. Next step: drafting language to amend the city’s bike licensing ordinance.

• On Saturday, Karen rode in the send-off for Rock CF‘s City to City Ride. After coffee at Campus Martius, about 30 cyclists headed down Michigan Ave. to send off Emily and Kevin to Chicago. Be sure to check in to Rock CF’s site to read about their progress!

City to City Ride August 2

Join us Saturday, August 2, 2008 on Detroit’s Ride for Cystic Fibrosis !

Beginning at Campus Martius Park in Detroit, participants will ride to Dearborn for a 20-25 mile group ride along Michigan Avenue and then loop back to Detroit. What a great reason to get out on your bike on a summer Saturday morning! Check in begins at 8:00 am and and the Ride begins at 9:00 am. Helmets are mandatory!

This is your chance to help make a difference in the fight against CF. Come out and be a part of a great Detroit event. Register today.

Parking liberation

Breaking News: The parking lot adjacent to Rivard Plaza is back to free!

Sport Utility Bike + City Council Rally + Fresh Booze + Tour de Troit

Here’s a great article in Salon about a guy who had an Xtracycle installed on his bike so that he could haul groceries — and his two kids — around. We installed one for a customer recently, and the whole thing is pretty cool. Thinking about ditching a car completely raises some issues, like groceries, pets, other large objects. The Xtracycle solves some of those problems.

On Monday, July 28, there is meeting with Bike Riders United and other local cycling clubs at Detroit City Council chambers at which Detroit’s bike ordinance will be re-examined. Be there, on the 13th floor of the Coleman A Young Municipal Center, at 9:45 a.m.

Last evening’s night ride was pretty awesome. We rode out to River Rouge down W. Jefferson and stopped in for a quick one at Fresh Booze — on the scenic shores of the Rouge River — then back downtown via W. Fort. A good time was had by all. Join us next week — Wednesday, 9 p.m.

Finally, pre-registration for this year’s Tour de Troit is on-line at tour-de-troit.org. It is set for September 20, and the route is shaping up great.

Vote Wheelhouse in ’08!

Wheelhouse is competing in Channel 4′s “2008 Vote for The Best” in the category of best bike shop. Vote for us here!

There is a Bike-A-Thon scheduled for Friday, August 1 at 12:30 p.m. It starts across from Bert’s in Eastern Market and will celebrate the non-enforcement decision of the Detroit Police Department with regard to licensing. For more info, call 313-422-3617.

Some license clarity at last!

From the chief herself, the license ordinance will be used as a voluntary measure, not as an enforcement hammer.

From m-bike:

It was not her intent to have officers write tickets. The police are not looking to enforce the penalty portion of the licensing issue.

The Chief did acknowledge that is was a mistake to not work with community groups, including cyclists prior to issuing the initial press release about the licensing.

We are still working to sell the licenses here, but as of yesterday the DPD was out of them and not expecting more for about a week.

Parking Announcement

There is now a $2 charge to park in the lot adjacent to Rivard Plaza. If you are dropping off or picking up a bike for service, please pull into Rivard directly south of Atwater. Sometimes the gate is open for the free lot otherwise, you can just pull up to the fence.

We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience and we are doing our best to figure out a better long-term solution to this problem.

UPDATE: At least for now, the lot just west of the building is being kept open for our customers.