This month we’re celebrating Crank Revolution as our October Retailer of the Month. Crank Revolution are a retailer based near Chicago, serving their local communities’ passion for cycling through organising fun group rides and demo’s with their wide range of products. Read on to find out more about how they have recently got their hands on some Reid Fat Bikes, the challenges they have overcome as a store and their mission to encourage people to “Ride More Bikes.”

Introduce yourselves…

Crank Revolution is a Bike Shop located in Hoffman Estates, a quiet suburb outside Chicago off I-90. Crank started in 2014 as a dream of its owners that one day they would retire and open a bike shop together based on their friendship and shared cycling adventures. In 2019, Northern Illinois saw the closing of all the local Performance Bicycles as well as many local bike shops. Jeremy called up TC and on a call the bike shop was made a reality. We opened in August 2019 and never thought our first challenge would be a pandemic. We were faced with the same challenges as so many other shops. Faced with bike shortages and parts shortages we started focusing on each individual rider and how we could best service the community. We were lucky to have roots with such passionate staff and a group ride community that we had an amazing core group of riders before the store opened. Our first partner was Specialized and we now carry Specialized, Sunday, Moots, And Reid!

Where can your store be found?

Our store is in the North West Suburbs of Chicago located off I-90 in Hoffman Estates IL.

What does cycling mean to you?

Cycling is an outlet for so many people for different reasons. Almost everyone has special childhood memory with a bike. At the end of your day riding your bike can be a refreshing way to decompress and reset. If your goal is training, you have a time away from your devices to dig deep and feel that training “high” as you shout “Shut up legs!” If you have a goal of weight loss the bicycle allows a low impact outlet that you can do at any level of skill or ability. Riding a bike is a magical thing. Life is better with a simple message “Ride More Bikes”.

How do you integrate with your local community?

Our local cycling community is everything to us. Near the end of the summer we had 200+ riders a week involved with group rides from our shop. Road, Mountain, bike touring, cyclocross, commuting, training and family rides are all important to us. We opened this shop with people who all met through bike adventures and miles shared together. Bike memories shared with friends are great memories of all of us. We welcome everyone of any level to “Come Ride with Us”

Do you have any interesting store stories that you can share with us?

Crank Revolution chose Mike Nichols as our first sponsored rider.  Mike’s life changed when he had a massive heart attack. He adopted cycling during his recovery and completed his first century. Cycling has become a big focus in his life. Since then Crank has had the pleasure of helping Mike complete the Natches Trace 444 twice. 444 miles in 44 hours. We’ve learned driving behind a cyclist with the hazards on for 444 miles has its own challenges.

How long have you been a Reid retailer?

We only recently took on Reid Bikes. Ray Pecora from Olympic showed us the Reid Hercules Fat Bikes as well as other available bikes and we were excited to partner to help fill out our line up.

What is your best selling Reid product?

Reid fat bikes have been our best selling. So many bike production companies during the pandemic shortage focused on getting their core bread and butter offerings back to market. Reid having the “Hercules” available has given our riders that exciting taste of what’s been missing in the market.

How has your experience with Reid been?

Our experience with Reid has been great! With new MTB Trails across the street we have been able to offer bike demos on the trail.

Finally, what advice would you give to those who are considering getting into bike riding or perhaps have never tried it before?

Best advise we can give is “Ride More Bikes.” If you’re new to cycling test ride more than one category of bike. Take the time to see what makes you smile and feels right. There are so many reasons to take up cycling and so many different adventures to be had.