If the advent of spring has you dusting off your bicycle, a new home-based business in Stansbury Park has opened just in time to help you.
Tooele Valley Bike Service opened in Aaron Spilker’s garage in Stansbury Park last week.
“There’s a need for a bike shop in Tooele County,” he said. “And I’ve been working on bikes for a long time.”
Spilker started working on bikes in a bike shop in Idaho Falls when he was 13 years old. He kept working on them through high school and continued working for bike shops while in college to pay for school.
A day job as a nurse brought Spilker to Stansbury Park 15 years ago. He’s a member of the Tooele Valley Cycling Club.
“I started working on bikes for cycling club members when they found out that I had the equipment,” he said.
This is Spilker’s second foray into the home-based bike business. He started a bike shop in his garage and had to close it down three years ago because he had too much business.
“I was working two jobs and serving as the bishop of my ward in the LDS Church at the time,” he said. “I took out an ad in the Transcript Bulletin and got slammed with work. It was too much.”
Spilker said he knew there was a demand for a bike repair shop in Tooele County. During the three years he was closed, he fielded several calls a week from people who managed to find his phone number on the Internet and wanted their bikes fixed.
With a regular work schedule in the late afternoon and evenings, Spilker said he is ready to take on the challenge of bike repair again.
His garage is open for bike repair from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, although he suggests that customers call him first at 435-840-0805.
If Spilker isn’t in, his wife can check bikes in and out, he said.
Tooele Valley Bike Service can work on all makes and models of bikes from children’s bikes to road and dirt bikes.
Some repairs may take a couple of days if parts have to be ordered, Spilker said.
Tune-ups are the most popular service he provides and flat repairs are the most common repair. He plans on offering a guaranteed flat repair service, Spilker said.
Owning a full service bike shop is Spilker’s ultimate dream, but that may be more than a little ways off in the future.
“Opening a complete bike shop takes a large investment in inventory as well as a sizable rent payment,” he said.
For now, Spilker is content with working his day job at night and fulfilling his thirst for working on bikes in his garage during the day.
Tooele Valley Bike Service is located at 6739 Old Mill Road, east of the LDS Church at the intersection of Stansbury Parkway and SR-138.