Name: Tim Moore
City of residence: Lyons
Occupation: Sales director at REEB Cycles and Hooptie Bike Lounge
What is your role at the bike shop?
I do a little bit of everything, but my title here is sales director, so I spend most of my time answering email questions and selling people bikes. Since we’re a small crew of five full-timers and a few part-timers, we’re all doing a lot of everything. I’m also shipping and receiving, helping out in the bar every once in a while and doing some fabrication.
How would you describe the shop and what it offers?
There are two halves of the business. We have REEB Cycles, which is our bicycle brand. We fabricate bikes with steel frames, and some aluminum, on one side of the shop. That’s start to finish in house, from raw materials to completed bikes, including the powder coat finish. The other half of the business is more of a bike shop for everyone. We work on any bike someone might have, not just REEB Cycles. And then we have the bar, which is a nice place to grab a drink. We have clientele who might come in for a flat tire fix and get a beer while they’re here. There are also people who aren’t that into cycling and just want a cool place to hang out.
What is the connection between REEB Cycles and Oskar Blues Brewery?
REEB Cycles started in 2011 as a bit of a marketing strategy for Oskar Blues. Dale Katechis, the founder of Oskar Blues, wanted to give back to his employees by giving every employee a bike after two years. Right around that time, his bike was stolen, and he was having trouble finding stuff made in the U.S., so he wanted to start a bike company. He hired a welder, then I started in 2012, shortly after REEB began. At that point, we didn’t have a bike shop. Since we didn’t really have a place, I was meeting people at the brewery, talking about bikes and selling bikes right there in the brewery.
Since then, it’s evolved a lot. We opened a bike shop in 2014 called CYCLHOPS Bike CANtina, which was an Oskar Blues-owned restaurant. We had tacos and tequila on the restaurant side, and we had our bike shop in there, so REEB finally had a home. We weren’t fabricating the bikes there, though. We had our fabrication shop over in Lyons for quite a while, in the old barn next to the Oskar Blues restaurant.
Our current building in Longmont is the first place where we’ve had it all together, so it feels like it’s finally come together. Dale still owns REEB Cycles. This whole beer/bikes thing is his brainchild.
Is there anything fun happening at the bike shop soon?
We always have something going on, like we have a gear swap soon. The Hooptie Bike Lounge’s social media is probably the best way for people to see what’s going on because we do have events planned here.
REEB Cycles has new models coming out this year, so that’s going to be really fun. Over the last year or two, we’ve expanded what we do in order to get some more budget-friendly options in the lineup. We’re working on some new prototypes and new versions of bikes we’ve made. We’re always trying to make things better when we can. Since we make most of our stuff here in house, we’re making little tweaks along the way, but once in a while, we’ll release a new model that really changes things up.
What are some of your hobbies? Are you a big biker yourself?
I am, but I like just about anything outdoors. I think that’s what got me into riding bikes originally back when I was a kid, and I fell in love with it again in college. I still ride my bike a lot. I also ride a motorcycle and hike with the dogs. I love anything I can do outside. My family and I hiked Sawtooth Mountain yesterday. Getting up high is fun too.
I’m also starting to get into live music again. That kind of went away when my kids were young, but I finally have time for it again.
What do you love about the Lyons and Longmont area?
I live in Lyons, and I love it. When I moved to Colorado, I first moved to Nederland and then Boulder. My wife and I were looking for a house in Boulder, thinking that was the end-all. But we found a place in Lyons, and I’m really glad we did because the small-town vibe is great.
It’s a really cool small town, but we don’t have everything there, so most people work in Longmont or Boulder. I really enjoy coming to Longmont, where I can get everything done. In this whole area, you have access to everything you could want. It’s quick and easy to get to the airport, and there’s high country access.
In what other ways are you involved in the community?
My kids are both at Lyons Middle/Senior High School, so we volunteer with their programs. My daughter is a cheerleader, and my son runs cross country, so we’re all over the place. We go to those events and help out when we can.
If you had a friend or family member visiting for the weekend, what are some things you would take them to go do?
We have some favorite places in Lyons. My son works at Mojo Taqueria, so we hit that spot a lot. Oskar Blues is still a favorite in Lyons; the vibe is cool. Usually whenever I have friends in town, we’re trying to do something outdoors.
It’s always fun to pedal around Longmont. It’s a really pedal-friendly town, even though it might not seem like it on the outside. Here at Hooptie, we lead a cruiser ride the first Sunday of every month. My family and I did that last Sunday, so that’s always fun too. We like the taco tour and that sort of stuff.
Do you and your family do anything fun for Halloween?
We love Halloween. I haven’t picked a costume yet, but I’m working on that. It’s a big holiday in Lyons; everybody goes all out. The Lyons Halloween parade is really fun. Everyone is sort of in it. You stand there on the side, then you might join the parade. We do that every year. Even though my kids are getting older, they’re still into trick-or-treating. We usually have something fun at the Hooptie Bike Lounge, too, like we’ll do the Oktoberfest beers and that sort of thing at the bar.
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