Moses Lake Cyclery moves downtown

MOSES LAKE — It’s typical for a bike shop to see some down time in winter.

Especially in a place like the Columbia Basin, where winters can be cold, snowy and long.

But Moses Lake Cyclery, which has recently relocated to a downtown storefront, hopes to be a little busier this winter than your average bike shop.

“We’ll pick up for emergency repairs,” said owner Dawn Witthuhn. “We’ll fix bikes for people, and pick them up if they need it.”

The internet is “open 24 hours,” Willhuhn said, “so are we.”

Moses Lake Cyclery used to share a space with Moses Lake Music in the Vista Village shopping center, but Witthuhn said she wanted to move the business somewhere a little more central with a little more traffic. So she set up shop on Third Avenue in a small storefront in September.

“It’s a bigger space, and downtown, and there’s lots more traffic,” she said. “It’s not really busier, but it’s a process.”

Witthuhn said she started the bicycle shop 18 months ago when she was having little success finding work. Her husband William had worked in a bike shop some years before, and decided to help her open the shop and teach her how to build bicycles.

“My husband shows me how to do repair work,” she said. “He’s retired, and he’s my mentor.”

And the shop is well stocked with a combination of used bikes and new, from mountain bikes to road bikes to cruisers with fat, knobby tires. Witthuhn also sells scooters and skateboards.

“Our top seller is scooters,” she said.

Moses Lake Cyclery also advertises a $25 tune-up — adjusting brakes and gears as well as cleaning and lubricating and getting a bicycle ready for a season of riding.

“I’m happy with what I’m doing, and I like interacting with the community,” she said. “I’ve made some new friends doing this.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.