This article first ran in the June issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Grand Performance, the Twin Cities’ bike shop that gave birth to an industry aero wheel pioneer, closed in May when owner Dan Casebeer retired. Steve Hed founded Grand Performance in 1983, building carbon disc wheels at the shop before he sold the business to Bill Skogen and Casebeer. Hed stepped away to found the HED Cycling brand in 1985. He died in 2014.
“Steve gave me a job and eventually made me an owner when my racing days were behind me,” said Casebeer, whose career in the industry began when he started working at Carbondale Cycles, an Illinois bike shop, in 1973. The next year, at 14 years old, he began racing bikes. As a member of the U.S. National Team, Casebeer spent several years racing for the national program and in many international stage races. “I was racing all over the U.S. when I moved to the Twin Cities. Then I started working at Grand Performance and helping Steve build wheels. He wasn’t just an innovator in aerodynamic bike wheels. He was a good, smart man.”
“I stopped in Grand Performance to get some things I needed for the IRONMAN World Championship in 1983. Steve was the most welcoming person I’d ever met. He even gave me a Basso bike. He and Dan loved importing the Italian brands. They were the first people in the Midwest to import the most prestigious European bikes,” said Anne Hed, a former pro triathlete who took over as CEO and owner of HED Cycling after Steve Hed passed away. “Ever since he started fixing bikes out of his garage in high school, owning a bike shop was Steve’s dream. I can’t tell you how many people still mention that they got their first bike at Grand Performance. The shop was really dear to me and important to the HED Cycling brand.”
In 1984, Hed asked Casebeer to manage Grand Performance and sold him part of the business. And Skogen sold his share of Grand Performance to Casebeer in 1987. As the first bike shop to sell HED Wheels, Grand Performance’s own legacy became synonymous with the brand that pioneered modern aerodynamic bicycle wheel technology, high-performance carbon wheels, wide rim designs, and wind-tunnel testing.
Under Casebeer’s leadership, however, Grand Performance became an institution in its own right. The shop not only sold HED Wheels but also road, gravel, and mountain bikes from brands like Bianchi, Colnago, Kona, Moots, and Wilier.
“The only thing we avoided were e-bikes, with the exception of pedal-assist,” said Casebeer. “We only sold six upright bikes in four years. We had to pretty much give them away.”
In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Grand Performance sold everything in the shop. According to Casebeer, the retailer struggled to restock everything and never bounced back.
“I took out a big loan to keep the shop going. I wasn’t making any money. I should have quit then, but it was my life,” Casebeer said. “The shop was down 30% from where we needed to be. Taxes, salary, smaller margins, and increasing costs finally caught up to us.”
Anne Hed agreed. “After the pandemic, the inventory pressure was unbearable,” she told BRAIN. “But Grand Performance lives on through HED Cycling and all the folks who hold it close to our hearts. We’re so grateful to all the cyclists who had their HED Wheels serviced at Grand Performance over the years. They’re an integral part of this legacy.”
According to Casebeer, there are still other bike shops in business in the Twin Cities, but the number is shrinking. “There used to be around 120 shops. Now there are about 40 left. I love the industry, but it is not favoring the bike shops right now. We're getting nickeled and dimed,” said Casebeer, who shared some advice for the bike shops that are still open or entering the industry for the first time: “Grow slowly, be careful, own your inventory, and don’t get extended. It’s too fickle of a market.”
Casebeer said that he offered to sell Grand Performance to his employees, but no one stepped up to buy the business.
“They are the best employees, but they know how hard it has been because I showed them the books. They don’t want to buy the business and I don’t blame them. So I have closed up shop and I am selling the building,” said Casebeer. “Over the years, we started junior racing teams and were the title sponsor of the St. Paul Bike Racing Club. That club was founded the year I started managing Grand Performance. It’s rooted in this shop and isn’t going anywhere. And HED Cycling is still going strong. It’s proof that the joy of cycling is still alive.”
