In Their Wheel House

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — The Wheel House Bike Shop is having a party to celebrate their grand opening. Many may be familiar with the 12 Plains Road location in Claremont as it has been the location of the Claremont Cycle Depot for many years. While the new owners of the shop intend to continue the traditions started by former owner John Lambert, they look forward to putting their own spin on the location.

The owners Rob Walker, Matt Hall, and Eli Burke each come from a background of cycling. Walker worked as the manager for Claremont Cycle Depot for nine years. Hall had worked at cycling shops, and Burke worked at a multi-million dollar bike shop in Breckenridge, Colorado. With their combined knowledge,experience, and love of cycling, they knew they wanted to make this their career.

“Finding cycling sometime after college, finding a culture that I wanted to be a part of. I had a 9-5 shirt and tie job that bummed me out and I wanted to be around cycling. I became a fixture at my local bike shop and helped my friend start a bike shop. Spent a lot of time racing and that’s how I formed relationships with my two business partners. Through all of that experience I got the nod to come and run this bike shop,” said Walker.

The Wheel House is excited to be part of what has become a growing bicycle hub in the Claremont area. Professional riding trails can be found within 15 minutes of the shop including several trails at Moody Park and Arrowhead. The starting line for the annual Vermont Overland Biking Race is a mere 20 minutes from the Wheel House front door.

“We want to serve the cycling community as a whole, whether its a kids first bike to someone that may have stopped wanting to ride and found an ebike.” said Walker

The owners are proud to say that the Wheel House is a full service bike shop. They build, sell, and repair bikes, in addition to providing maintenance services and selling biking equipment. All three are also very active in building and maintaining local trails. In 2021, Walker, along with other cyclists, created a World Qualifying Gold Cup Enduro Trail at a site on Arrowhead. This expert level trail brought elite cyclists to the city of Claremont as they advanced in competition. The free to ride trail, still on Arrowhead, isn’t for novice cyclists and similar types of trails typically cost money to ride on.

The shop services roughly 2,500 bikes a year for local communities and people traveling from as far as New York City via train. They currently are housing over 100 different bikes at the store when, at this time last year, they had roughly 30. Supply chain issues have created shortages in the cycling industry.

The three owners/employees want to create a welcoming experience to anyone that is considering coming in to get a bicycle.

“We’re not necessarily trying to be salesmen, it’s really about helping people get the bike that fits them. Consulting is the number one rule, asking the right questions. People come in with questions but we are probably going to have more. We just want to make sure everyone feels comfortable and feels confident in their experience,” said Walker.

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the shop begins at 10 AM on Saturday, June 4th, with rides taking place at 10:30. Everyone that visits the shop will be put into a raffle for door prizes and the shop plans to have different games and contests including a “huffy toss” for people coming to visit. Epic Food Truck will also be parked out front selling food to guests.