Origin Story: Bicycle Planet

Bicycle Planet Crew: Jordan Machloft, Ryan Oakes, Matt Colonius, Susie Packer & Keith Purser (owner)
Bicycle Planet folks not present for the photo are Lynda Purser and Jim Thompson

Prologue: Everyone loves a good origin story. Stan Lee (Marvel Comics) knows this and we here at GroveTribe  thought so too. As we got to know our local cycling community -and the many bike shops in the area started calling us by name as we walk in- we became curious about how our local cycling establishments got their start and thought you may like to know their stories as well. This is the first installment of our Origin Stories series.

BICYCLE PLANET

When you first walk in the front door of Bicycle Planet you are immediately greeted by the repair shop, an area that is almost as big as the store area itself, and in that first glance, you know where the heart of the operation lies. Every time we go into the Planet there is always activity in the repair shop with wrenches buzzing about the many bicycles. One of those wrenches invariably always ends up being Keith Purser, the owner himself. If you watch him for a moment or two, you can see that he is happiest and most comfortable in the repair shop, working on the myriad of bicycles awaiting care.



Mounted in the shop, a jersey from
Keith's racing days in Italy.



Keith is a quietly friendly and sincere man who has been fascinated with bicycles from as early on as he can recall. As a young teenager living in the mountains of Santa Cruz, Keith began caring for bicycles in a barn which he used to house his first cycling repair business simply named “Keith’s Bikes”.  It was during these early years when Keith was first turned on to road racing by a middle school teacher who was an avid cyclist. Keith remembers those days with a wicked, boyish gleam in his eyes, “Speed was fun.”

Keith is a Cat 2 racer who still enjoys getting out and mixing it up whether it be road races, heading out to the Wednesday Prairie City mountain bike races or taking on some cyclocross action. Keith is a man who lives and breathes bike without prejudice for road or trail; he seems to love them all and even supports and sponsors many races throughout the year. Keith is the beating heart of Bicycle Planet but he readily acknowledges that he wouldn’t be where he is now without his team.

Keith started out as a working stiff like most of us, holding down a full-time job and being a family man but when life brought him to the crossroads of a divorce he found himself a single-father with money from the sale of the family home and a big decision to make: buy another home and remain one of the working masses “in a job I hated” or try to parlay that money into realizing his dream of opening a bike shop.  Keith opened his tiny bicycle shop nine years ago next to a Starbucks (on Prairie City Rd). With feeling Keith admits, “the first two years were brutal. Until people can get to know you and trust you they are reluctant to spend a lot of money on a bike at your shop”.

Keith at work in the shop while Matt mans the office.

With him from the beginning was Matt Colonius, whom Keith admits he is eternally grateful to for being willing to sit in the office at the computer for hours allowing Keith to enjoy the fun of working on bikes. Even with Matt’s help it was tough on Keith, trying to care for his kids while working 60 to 70 hours a week to get the bike shop on the right track.  Within those first two years the shop had outgrown its modest location but had to wait for the end of a 5 year lease before they could move into a larger location right across the street (where the shop currently resides).

The biggest relief for Keith was when he remarried. His wife Lynda, a local school teacher, was able to take some of the pressure of caring for the family and began baking what are now highly anticipated treats for the shop’s customers. (We have Bicycle Planet “liked” on our FaceBook accounts so we get the fresh cookie alerts.) When asked how the business affects his family life, Keith says his kids claim he is “always working” and he has had to make some tough sacrifices, especially working on Saturdays when his children often would have performances or sports events. He would sneak out of the shop for an hour to make it to as many events as he could but would have to rush back to the shop and get right back to work.  He found himself waking up early and getting to the shop around 4 am to try and balance his time constraints and he could work uninterrupted. Although his hours have tapered back somewhat and he finds that he is able to leave the shop more often and longer than in the early years, he still often works 60 hour weeks. Most of that in the repair shop itself.

Keith explains that he knows he doesn’t have the biggest selection of bikes or the fanciest shop in the area but he does hold great pride in his customer service and Bicycle Planet’s reputation for great repair and maintenance service. When advertising with newspapers and fliers didn’t bring in the numbers of customers he found that word of mouth was his greatest ally. His customers loved the service and would send him several more customers to build the loyal Bicycle Planet fan base.  When asked if there was anything more in store for Bicycle Planet Keith smiled and explained that he was happy with what he has built and summed up our interview with a heartfelt “This is my home.”



Susie helping customers with all their bicycle needs.