Bay Area Life & Style Magazine | Summer 2021

SPOKE BIKING COMMUNITY:
BROKEN
MORE THAN PUTTING ON MILES
Written By: Emily Giebink
Photography by: Brandi Krause
When you really enjoy something, it's natural to want to
share that love and passion with others. It was the same
for George Kapitz, who is the owner and founder of
Broken Spoke Bike Studio. A love for riding a bicycle is
what brought him to working in a bike shop for more
than eight years before opening his own in 2010 in
Manitowoc.
Four years later, he would open another shop in
downtown Green Bay. The shop features all types of
bikes including new and used city bikes, road bikes,
gravel bikes, mountain bikes and fat bikes. They even
offer repairs and have a bicycle and electric bike rental
program. George built his business from the ground up,
starting in his garage.
"I used to fix up old cruiser bikes from the 30's, 40's, 50's
and 60's and we would fix them up and go cruise
around," said George Kapitz. "It just kind of kept growing
from there and then fat bikes got on my radar, so I built
up a fat bike and the first thing I did with it was a beach
ride and at that time the water level was really low so I
was able to bike all the way down to Sheboygan and it
was just this really cool experience where I thought
everyone needs to try this so I just started taking people
on fat bike tours,"
Wanting to share that experience is what started the
free, growing group rides for bikers. The groups of about
30 to 50 people connect on social media and have
scheduled rides of different distances with meet up
spots every day of the week so they can fit into anyone's
schedule.
"For me it wasn't just about selling bikes, but sharing this
experience," said Kapitz. We want it to become apart of
your lifestyle versus just buying a bike,"
Encouraging a growing community of avid bikers to
explore our local communities, but to also give back and
support several local causes such as ‘Miles for Matches’
which benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters.. Broken Spoke
Bike Studio has been a proud sponsor for the past three
years.
"It just felt natural even from the start to be involved in
the community," explained Kapitz. "It was great to have
the cycling community to give back, we're a pretty
strong community and we can do some pretty neat
things in numbers,"
The growth and love for biking is also what helped the
business expand. "We're excited to be coming to
Ledgeview. We have a lot of customers and friends that
live in the area and it's a great spot," said Kapitz.
The third location will open in July in the Old School
Square near Bleu Restaurant off Dickinson Road in
Ledgeview. George says they always want to see more
people on bikes and getting started can sometimes be
intimidating, but he offered some simple and
encouraging advice.
“Just have fun with it and don't take it too seriously, just
go out and ride your bike, don't worry about a personal
record. We've all been there where we just started and
we just want to get you confident," explained Kapitz.
You can learn more about Broken Spoke Bike Studio and
their group rides on their Facebook page.