Musical Bike Shops

Locals’ Favorite Bike Shop Plans Move

By Dylan Tucker, 4-13-06

	The new digs. Photo by Dylan Tucker

The bell on the door rings, and a middle-aged man in khakis and fleece walks into the Bike Doctor, pushing a mountain bike with one hand. Under the other arm, he holds a twelve-pack of Bayern beer.

“Hey Don,” he calls into the shop, and past rows of bikes waiting to be fixed, Don Gisselbeck calls back a hello.

“Must be springtime,” Gisselbeck says, pointing at the muddy bike. After a quick look at the bike by Gisselbeck, the customer hands over the bike and the beer. “This needs a tune-up,” he says, “and this is something to ease the pain of your move.”

Gisselbeck accepts the beer and the bike graciously, and is soon back to work cutting a U-lock off of a bike after the owner locked it on and lost the key.

Gestures like that aren’t uncommon in Missoula, and the guys at the Bike Doctor are practically heroes to some Missoulians. As spring brings locals out of hibernation, rusty chains and loose brakes abound and the shop today has a healthy line of bikes waiting repairs.

For the past six years, the Bike Doctor has served Missoula’s active bike community from their downtown location. Nestled next to Taco Del Sol at 420 North Higgins, the small shop averages 10-20 bike repairs a day. They are twelve-time winners of the Independent’s Best of Missoula awards. Whether it is a broken chain off of your junk-hauling tricycle or derailleur trouble on your full-suspension stump jumper, the Bike Doctor was the place. In coming days, the Bike Doctor will move to the corner of Toole and Scott streets, bringing the repairs with them - although some of the guys are not sure how.

“We’re just gonna have a big-old truck to move everything,” Herb Hogen says, smiling from behind hip, black-framed glasses. The owners are the only ones who know the plan for moving all the repairs, he says, but they aren’t telling.

“Why can’t we get a mob?” Gisselbeck jokes. “We’ll have everyone ride their repairs over there and do the move by bike.”

Gisselbeck and Hogen are both active Missoulians. With a graying beard and an almost perpetual goggle tan, Gissleback is an avid skier who makes backcountry turns even in July and August. Hogen skateboards at area skateparks like a kid half his age, when not repairing bikes or working his second job.

All of the Bike Doctor’s employees, and co-owners Marlana Kosky and Eric Cline, are active cyclists, and the shop reflects their community values. Pictures of locals covered in mud, blood or both decorate the shop, making visitors feel like part of the family.

Customers are addressed by name, and sometimes even nicknames. Shorty, in overalls and a long grey beard, is there to repair a six-foot long chain for his tricycle.

“I take it out whenever I have to tow a load, “ he says. “Compost for my garden, scrap, whatever.”

He has been visiting the shop for years, and doesn’t plan on changing just because it moves. The new shop will give the Bike Doctor the room to breathe. Today, rows of tires and rims hang from the walls, and a giant case with dozens of drawers sits behind the register. Labels on the drawers read like code describing the parts they contain: cant studs, threaded cotter pin, and toe caps. Mountain biking videos are stacked haphazardly on top of the case, and everywhere are bicycles in various state of repair.

With a new shop, employees of the Bike Doctor are looking forward to a busy summer. After rents in their downtown location went up and a Starbucks began to move in next door, owners became more optimistic about owning the space for the business, and the lot on Toole Ave. provided ample opportunity for a unique spot in the Missoula scene.

Owning the shop’s location for Kosky and Cline means being able to make big changes. The lot sits only three-quarters of a mile from the current location, and will provide great visibilty. The building has large front windows, and better parking. Kitty-corner from the Toole Ave. Food Bank, the building used to be marked by a high chain link fence, and a weedy yard. The fence is gone now, and under the new owners' supervision, the new spot is quickly becoming as unique as the old.

In coming months, owners will bring the yard to fruition with landscaping and even an on-site test track. Renovations on the new site are coming along nicely, and the shop’s move and expansion will change the location, but not the spirit of Missoula’s favorite bike shop.

"We'll be operating much like we do here," Hogen said. "Only better, I hope."

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