Bike Line sells stores to Wisconsin bike maker

Trek Bicycle will buy 12 of regional bike seller’s 16 locations as it adds to its retail operations

WEST CHESTER >> After 34 years, the owners of Bike Line are riding away from the bicycle business.

John and Andrea Graves sold Bike Line to Trek Bicycle, a national brand bike maker based in Waterloo, Wisconsin, that is expanding its national retail presence.

Trek is purchasing 12 of Bike Line’s 16 locations throughout southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.

“The timing was right,” said John Graves, 61, of Tredyffrin. “It’s time for my wife and I to phase down a little bit. It’s a winwin-win, for us, for our employees and for the customers.”

The sale price was not disclosed. The sale was finalized May 4 and Trek will officially take over operating the stores on June 1, Graves said. Bike Industry and Retailer News first reported on the transaction last week.

Included in the sale are stores in West Chester, Exton, Wayne, Pottstown, Lancaster, Warminster, Doylestown, Allentown, and Wilmington and Newark, Delaware. A partner will continue operating two stores in Middletown and Dover, Delaware as Bike Lines. A store in Montgomeryville is owned by a franchisee and may continue as a Bike Line or may become an independent store, while a store in Broomall is expected to eventually close, Graves said.

Bike Line has sold Trek bikes for more than 30 years and has reached $10 million in annual sales, Graves said.

The sale to Trek was the result of “a perfect storm,” Graves said. He and Andrea had discussed the possibility of selling for a few years while Trek was open to expanding its retail presence.

“They are the numberone brand in the country and they are our primary brand as well,” Graves explained. “Trek does a great job. Our employees will

be working for a $1 billion company, the customers will see stores that are spruced up, and for me it gives me more time at the rink.”

The rink is Ice Line, a four-sheet ice rink in West Goshen that the Graves run with their children Michael and Ashley. That facility, popular with ice hockey teams and skaters, is undergoing an expansion for a bar and restaurant.

Following the Bike Line acquisition, Trek will own about 33 stores in the U.S.,

company spokesman Eric Bjorling said Wednesday. For many years, the company has operated two stores in Madison, Wisconsin, near its headquarters in Waterloo. In February, Trek announced it was buying Revolution Cycles, a four store chain in the Washington, D.C., area. It also opened a company-owned store in Berkeley, California, this spring.

Bjorling said Trek isn’t aggressively seeking out brick-and-mortar expansion but is open to moving

into attractive markets.

“It’s a case by case basis where we’re looking at the market” to see if either Trek’s brand is underrepresented or if an owner is looking to move on from the business, Bjorling added. “We have worked with (Graves) for 30 years. He has been a great partner for us.”

Like all businesses, much has changed in the bike business in the last 34 years. In the 1980s, inexpensive road bikes were

Bike Line’s bread and butter.

“Now, a serious biker will spend $10,000 on a road bike,” said Graves, adding that mountain bikes and bikes with electric motors are also popular today.

The area’s commitment to the Rails to Trails program helped his business over the years, he said, because trails give people a safe place to ride.

“And Trek is a very big supporter of that,” Graves said.

The Conestoga High

School graduate said he would miss his employees, some of whom he’s known since he was a student there.

“It’s a real family atmosphere type of business,” Graves said.

Trek expects no interruptions in service or changes to store hours during the transition.

PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Bike Line owner John Graves has sold his business to Trek Bicycle.