BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — As of Jan. 1, Full Cycle Bikes, one of Boulder's oldest bike shops, has changed hands. Russ Chandler and business partners Ed Kuh and Adam Brodnicki bought the business from Kaj and Karli Gronholm, who owned it for 10 years.
Tom Morris opened the original Full Cycle store on University Hill in 1982. The Gronholms purchased the business in 2005 and added a location on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder. They opened a third shop in Fort Collins in 2006. That location shuttered in 2014.
Chandler, an avid cyclist and a former CEO in the technology industry, met the Gronholms two years ago through Cyclists 4 Community, the nonprofit organization he co-founded in Boulder.
"When the opportunity came along to buy the stores, we acted quickly," said Chandler, who also worked with Catalyst Communications to launch the Bike Life Cities program. "Our goal as investors is to take a well-established but underperforming business and free it of financial constraints.
"We're starting with a clean slate, including working out vendor relationships with Giant and others."
Full Cycle will continue to carry Giant, Kona, Ibis, Felt and Eddy Merckx at its 6,000-square-foot Pearl Street and 2,500-square-foot University Hill locations.
Chandler said no staffing changes were made, and all employees will stay on board. Chad Taylor, Full Cycle operations manager for the past four years, will continue to run both stores, which employ around 15 people.
"We don't see the need to make any big changes at this point, other than to market more than what has been done in the past and improve the services we offer based on the improved financial footing we are on," Chandler said. "I'll work more in the back office, helping with marketing and finding the financing we need."
Minority owner Kuh is a former bike retailer who owned several Cycle Logic stores in the 1980s, and worked for Avid and Maverick Bikes. He currently owns a kitchen and bath retail showroom in Boulder. Brodnicki works in the financial industry.
Chandler said Kaj Gronholm plans to return to his former career in the software industry, but that Karli would continue to run Full Cycle's very successful Venus de Miles women's cycling club.
