A bicycle gets a tune-up at Wheel and Sprocket on July 27.
From left, Tessa Kegel, Fitchburg Mayor Aaron Richardson, Noel Kegel, and Amelia Kegel participated in a ‘chain cutting’ as opposed to a ribbon cutting during a grand opening event at Wheel and Sprocket on July 27.
A bicycle gets a tune-up at Wheel and Sprocket on July 27.
A bicycle gets a tune-up at Wheel and Sprocket on July 27.
From left, Tessa Kegel, Fitchburg Mayor Aaron Richardson, Noel Kegel, and Amelia Kegel participated in a ‘chain cutting’ as opposed to a ribbon cutting during a grand opening event at Wheel and Sprocket on July 27.
A bicycle gets a tune-up at Wheel and Sprocket on July 27.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Mondays through Fridays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Website: wheelandsprocket.com/about/fitchburg-wi-pg666.htm
A love for recreational bicycling and passion for bicycle culture is strong in many families, but arguably there are few families for whom it’s stronger than the Kegels.
Chris Kegel, founder of bike sales and service store Wheel and Sprocket in 1973, promised his four children he’d pay for their college education – if they rode their bikes to college.
His kids took him up on that offer, but they didn’t make it easy for themselves. As young adults, the four Kegels traveled from the Milwaukee area to Montreal, Texas, Montana, and British Columbia on two wheels, while their parents would haul all their belongings in a car.
“A 10-day journey is the coolest way to show up to school,” Amelia Kegel told the Star.
She serves as the Wheel and Sprocket Chief Culture Officer, as well as being a co-owner along with two of her siblings Noel and Tessa. Their father passed away unexpectedly in 2017, and they’ve decided to continue on his bicycle-loving legacy. By chance, Amelia had already left her plant ecology studies at university behind to come work with her dad every day for five years before he died.
Older brother Julian is carrying on a different family legacy as the proprietor of a century-old, Bavarian-style beer hall and German restaurant in West Allis named Kegel’s Inn.
The Kegel clan’s passion for living life on two wheels has now spread into Fitchburg, as they have taken over the assets and inventory of Fitchburg Cycles from long-time owner, Edwin Benet.
Benet contacted the Kegels “out of the blue,” in April, Amelia said. His lease at his 7,000-square-foot bike shop located at 2970 Cahill Main was coming up for renewal, and Benet decided he did not want to continue operating Fitchburg Cycles.
He asked if Wheel and Sprocket was interested in buying him out, which had not been on the Kegel’s radar, but they decided their business philosophies aligned and took the leap.
It’s now the second Wheel and Sprocket location in the Madison area, with another in Middleton. Fitchburg is now the 12th Wheel and Sprocket location overall, with nine in Wisconsin and three in Illinois. They have been opening or acquiring one new store a year. The first location was opened in 1973 in Hales Corners, Wisconsin
The transition from Fitchburg Cycles to Wheel and Sprocket was exactly one week. Fitchburg Cycles marked its last day of business on June 30 and the space reopened as Wheel and Sprocket on July 7. There wasn’t much that needed changing inside, but Kegel said they cleaned things up in a way that feels more spacious and fits more bikes.
The acquisition worked out nicely, she said, as Benet carried a lot of Giant brand bikes already, which Wheel and Sprocket does, as well. Trek is another one of the brands the business primarily carries.
Other brands they carry for bicycles, electric bikes, and recumbent trikes include Salsa, Surly, All-City, Catrike, TerraTrike, Tern, and Riese and Müller.
“Our general motto is ‘bikes for everyone,’ instead of mountain or triathlon bikes,” Kegel said. “We have a lot of something for everyone. We have to know a lot about a lot which is to our advantage.”
She said that a big part of Wheel and Sprocket’s success story is that it shares product between its 12 stores, with multiple weekly truck runs between locations swapping inventory. And she said Wheel and Sprocket’s diversity of products is one its strengths.
“There are a lot of Trek-owned stores or shops where the selection is narrow,” she said. “We are proud we have diversity. We try to offer the best of the best of each product category by brand rather than just 80% Trek.”
One of the growing sectors of its business is electric or ‘e-bikes.’
E-bike sales have “blown up,” Kegel said and are doubling every year, but sales have still only just started to scratch the surface, she said. Europe has gone to around 70% electric and 30% ‘acoustic’ (non-electric) bicycles, but those numbers are inverted here in the United States. However, Wheel and Sprocket is witnessing a shift.
“Electric bikes are taking people who never thought they could ride again and helping them do that,” Kegel said.
For herself, her former 90-minute acoustic bike commute has been shaved in half to 45 minutes. And as a mom with a six-month-old, she said that’s critical to ensuring she chooses her bicycle over her car for her drive to work.
Kegel doesn’t just sell bicycles, she loves to ride, and across its 12 locations, Wheel and Sprocket participates in over 100 local biking events a year, she said.
That’s why she has adopted the title of Chief Culture Officer.
As she grew up in her dad’s stores, she spent lots of time helping with everything from merchandising to vacuuming to cashiering.
“I have a new age title, it’s true,” she said. “But new business books are really finding that the people are an important part of retail and hospitality-focused businesses. We can have great products, but if we don’t have great people, we miss the mark. This is a family business through-and-through. I’ve always enjoyed working here, it’s an amazing work environment.”
An important part of that is the bicycle service department, which Kegel calls “the heartbeat of the whole organization,” as they service bikes beyond those they’ve sold themselves.
“It’s not exclusively a family business, but we treat employees like family,” she added. “We have a great tie that brings whole communities together – a love of bikes. A love of bikes can be for people of any age, or ability level, and whatever side of the political spectrum. If you like bikes, we’ll like you.”
A nonprofit arm of their business, called the Chris Kegel foundation in honor of their late father, aims to boost under-served populations. It will be installing bicycle fix-it-yourself kiosks on some of the bike paths in Fitchburg.
They also aim to be involved in community action, engagement, and political advocacy by joining boards such as Bike Fitchburg and Wisconsin Bike Fed, to help influence bicycle-friendly legislation and funding.
“We do try to make genuine connections in the markets we serve,” Kegel said.
Reporter Neal Patten can be reached at npatten@wisconsinmediagroup.com
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