Velobahn Coffee & Cycle opens in Silver City area

Local effort took more than 1 year

Bicycle cafe Velobahn Coffee & Cycle is open for business, selling coffee and baked goods at 3618 W. Pierce St., near an entrance to the Hank Aaron State Trail.

And starting in spring, customers will be able to buy new and used bikes and bicycling accessories and supplies, such as lights, brake pads and helmets. The Wisconsin Bike Federation, which has offices in the same building, will sublease an area of the coffee shop for sales and bicycle repair.

Velobahn owners Seth Ogden and Rick Goyette opened the shop last week. It had been in the works for more than a year.

Renovation of the space included exposing Cream City brick walls, building a coffee bar from salvaged wood, installing new windows where old windows had been bricked up and constructing a stage for evening concerts.

The paint was so thick on two of the porous brick walls that the only way to remove it was to use a hand grinder and then seal the bricks, Ogden said. It took six weeks.

“You couldn’t pay anyone to do it, so we did it ourselves,” he said.

The project cost more than $100,000, according to the City of Milwaukee, which supplied a grant, as did Layton Boulevard West Neighbors. The business partners also received loans from the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp., Fund Milwaukee and crowdfunder Kiva Zip.

Velobahn is the only independently owned coffee shop in the Silver City neighborhood, which surrounds W. National Ave. from S. Layton Blvd. to Miller Park Way. The cafe is in an area of “green” organizations, including the Urban Ecology Center and Escuela Verde, a school focused on sustainability.

Velobahn serves coffee and espresso made from Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. beans and cold-brewed coffee on nitrogen from Pilcrow Coffee. Pastries are from Troubadour Bakery, and the shop also sells nut-and-grain bars that would appeal to cyclists.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Besides plans for live music at night, Velobahn also rents the space in the evenings for private events.

In addition to the launch of bicycle and accessory sales planned for spring, Ogden said, the cafe hopes to begin selling beer and expanding hours to 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in spring. Velobahn is online at

velobahncoffee.com and on Facebook. To contact by phone, (414) 249-5657.