Wheel Simple is closed now. I have downsized my workshop and moved into Southside. The shop is renamed FarFar Wheel & Frame and it focuses on frame repair/alteration/fabrication, wheel building, and custom bike building. The building at 2225 E. Clay St. will be taken over by another bike shop proprietor in the Spring, and he will open a bike shop there then, so Church Hill will not go without for too long.

I am asking for $5,900 to cover immediate commercial liabilities in Q4 2025. This is not going into my pocket, and it's not paying any debts. It's just the shop's immediate costs in its final quarter, bills, rent, closing expenses, etc.

Commercial rent @Clay St. - 1/3 raised

HVAC repair I can't afford $6,800

Moving help $200*

Repairing/cleaning Clay St supplies/materials*

New space security deposit and rent*

Insurance policy down payment*

Buildout materials*

Final overdue bills

Final payroll*

Final invoices from distro's*

In November 2024, I called it. Decided that my bike shop was not going to turn a profit, the market share would not grow quicker than expenses, quicker than interest, anymore, and my salary was only going to take another hit the following season. It was all just too much squeeze for now juice and I was beyond defeated and burnt out with running a bike shop. I just did not have what it takes to play the game the way it demands being played, and it is a game. Honestly, I don't think that reflects poorly on me. So I spent the 2025 season working two other jobs and trying not to let the shop's debt balloon any further, with the goal of closing in September. Alas. It was a rough year, as you might expect, but here we are. Thanks to everyone who supported, and who spread the word. I appreciate it.

I am, of course proud of what I was able to do with so little. So, thank you for the opportunity.

Trying to help:

My sister proofread this and said I should explain what I mean when I referred to the shop's social utility.

Beyond just providing service and repair, my shop's "outreach" or "community engagement" functions were most visibly centered around my Repair Fund. There was a lot of other little stuff that other shops don't seem to do, which added up to a lot of help, but the fund is the best idea I had, and the most replicable. I began developing a community repair fund in 2018 when the shop was still Cyclus. I didn't know of anyone anywhere doing this, and I wanted to pool some resources from my clientele to then redistribute within it in the form of services to those who don't really make enough money to pay professional rates. I realized that over the 2017 season I had given away a lot of work but only took home around $12.5k that year wrenching at 2 for profit shops, a volunteer coop, and building wheels in my basement for clients and some take home work. There was obviously a real inability to pay for services in the immediate proximity to any shop I chose to work at. Instead of restricting access, I worked on how to expand it.

To solve this problem, I came up with a “fund” that was official and more or less became a proper success in 2020. It ran through July 2025. It has been amazing to try this idea out and see so many people support one another through it. A lot of people benefitted from this. Other shops have adapted funds of their own, and it has been incredible to watch.

The fund pools contributions from the clientele in the form of unassigned gift cards. The gift cards are then applied to folks' balance when they can't afford proper repair and they depend on their bicycle. It's beautiful to see neighbors helping neighbors. I mostly assisted seniors in fixed income, those without housing, service workers, and kids living in Mosby Court. Still. I was relatively bad at adhering the system I created! I would imagine the repair fund record only accounts for 60 to 65 percent of all the "assistance" that went on, and that I just ate the rest of it.

As for what will happen with the fund, it's currently at a deficit. Meaning I let it run out this season close to closing time and then ate a bunch of cost helping people after, so. In the future, the concept will reboot and look different. I will be moving it to Patreon and it will basically source parts like cables, pads, tubes and for youth, tires as well, for BikeTown, which I'll be launching in the Spring.

What next for me?

-Running Ride 2 Reentry at the OAR of Richmond

-Launching FarFar Wheel & Frame, a independent frame and wheel and custom build workshop housed in the Bicycle Factory

-Launching Bike Town, a free repair event starting next season. Stay tuned

What's next for Church Hill's bike shop

-Joel from Richmond Re-Cycles is taking over the lease here and opening a new shop here in the Spring. I wish him luck, and welcome him to the neighborhood!

Thanks for contributing, even just considering! It means a lot. It's hard to let go of something you love so it won't pull you under.

Robbie Wood