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Stolen bike
A stolen fixie -- the second high-end one stolen in Detroit in the last month -- this time from outside CAID on Friday night. It was custom built and painted by our very own Ron Shelton. It belonged to Vanessa Miller for less then a week. Pics and more info up at Fixed Gear Gallery. It is a gorgeous bike, and we hope that it is recovered.
Countdown to techno
It's less than a week until this year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival and Wheelhouse is preparing its ears for beats 24-7 for 3 days straight. We can't wait to see a bunch of crazy techno kids riding around on our bikes. Check out some cute pics at Metromix. A couple documented their "Detroit is for Lovers" date-night that included dinner at Slow's, a bike ride at the Wheelhouse, bowling at the Magic Stick and drinks at the Park. (Sounds like an awesome date BTW!)
Summer hours
Starting Friday, May 23, we will roll into our full summer hours. Wheelhouse will be open:
Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Afribike
Wheelhouse is sponsoring the 1st semi-annual Afribike, a group ride that will benefit Giving Spirit, an organization that works to provide education to at-risk youth in South Africa. Afribike riders can rent an Africa Bike for $15, a discounted rate. We will open at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 17 for the event. The Afribike ride has been rescheduled for May 31. Unfortunately, Wheelhouse will be unable to participate due to the Red Bull Air Races taking place the same day.
We're blushing
Thanks to Nicole at D-Tales for literally the nicest blog post ever about the Wheelhouse.
Weekend 1 Report
We rented 27 bikes this weekend, not too shabby considering Friday and Saturday were rainy days. But Sunday was beautiful and we were super busy all day -- at one point, all of our rentable bikes were out! We're still working out some kinks with our fleet and we still have some construction to do, but we are feeling really good about the Wheelhouse's success...
We're open!
Come down and see us this weekend. We're open Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bring your bikes for the fixin' -- keep our bike tech, Ron, busy! Our first tours will take place Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. in partnership with Inside Detroit. The Saturday tour is 2 hours of Downtown and the Sunday one is 3 hours and will head up to Midtown. Join the ride!
Thanks to all of our friends who helped us get open -- it's been a crazy week. Gracias to PT, Jerry B, Joe L, Jason H, Jay B, Hillary, Kati K, Greg G, Pete K, Jack, Randa, Eric W, Mike T, Olga, Johnny Saco, Betsy, Andy K, Raymond, Andres, Steve R, Liz, Claire, John G, Matt G and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. Thanks to Bill at the DRFC for helping us tie up all the loose ends in our space, and to Caroline for helping us get the word out.
Status Report
Our bikes have arrived...we have 2 built and they look and ride great! Our floor is done, so tonight we start moving stuff into the shop. This morning was the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy's media day, which really helped us get the word out to television stations and newspapers. You might just see us on the news...
See you at the Wheelhouse on Friday!