Rio Grande Bicycle Service
Del Norte, CO | EST. 2023
(Rio Grande Bicycle Services in Del Norte! Custom bike rack by Ike Manobla.)
Rio Bikes was born out of the need for a bike shop in the town of Del Norte. Del Norte is a small town in the San Luis Valley in South-Central Colorado. We are located at the headwaters of the Rio Grande in the rain shadow of the south San Juan mountain range in a high alpine desert environment. There is a plethora of great riding to be had here. There are multiple zones with great single track for mountain biking from 8,000-13,000ft. elevation in the area, as well as endless gravel riding. The town of Del Norte has had a few bicycle repair shops over the years, but they were not always committed to being open or providing the services that the area desired. The previous shop in town, Sendero Bikes, sold their building and left town for greener pastures, leaving Del Norte without a bike shop for the time being.
(Bike touring in Colorado)
My friend Kevin Suellentrop who is a long time local mountain biker purchased the plumbing business from his boss which included a 5,000 sq. ft. warehouse right downtown. At the time I was working for him as a plumber's helper (not even an apprentice!) and he said "Heinz, you don't want to be a plumber. You should open up a bike shop in the plumbing warehouse!" After thinking about it for a bit I decided that was a great idea. Kevin offered up the front of the warehouse space and it took about 6 months to renovate the front end—there was 30 years of dust, junk and old plumbing parts to clear out of the shop. After working on the shop build out all spring and summer we were able to open full time at the end of July 2023.
(Henry and Ike)
(Biking with pals)
What's niche do you fill in your community? I.e. What's your jam?
Rio Grande Bicycle Service quite simply put fills the need for a bike shop in Rio Grande County! We are the gateway to the south San Juan mountain range and the community is psyched to have a full service shop here once again. Rio Bikes will service all types of bicycles, but our speciality is mountain bikes. Our staff are all passionate mountain bikers, so that's what we feel most comfortable with!
(Fresh Oveja Gear!)
We are also located along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) which is the off-road bike tour from Canada to Mexico. We are the last bike shop on the tour for about 500 miles until Silver City, NM. We tell the bike packers that this is your last chance for parts and service before a very remote stretch of trail—the "Last Chance Saloon" if you will.
(World Cup in Brazil)
What’s your favorite trail to ride on your home turf?
For some awesome technical ascents and shredding descents in the San Luis Valley, I think the loop at Penitente Canyon takes the cake! It's an awesomely fun climb through cool rock formations with a ripping descent through a boulder field with rock drops, wall rides and natural rock booters. You just can't beat it! Also some of the high country riding here in the summer is pretty dope!
What’s a bike packing route or trail you have your bucket list?
Being a shop on the GDMTR I work with bike packers all the time who are on the route. I have ridden sections of the route, but I would love to have an entire summer off to finally check out the whole route!
(Bikepacking in Dinosaur Park)
What’s your favorite Oveja Negra bag to use and why?
I really like the 1/2 Pack frame bag! It holds my entire repair kit and raincoat and I can also stuff it full of beer! I like that I can run water bottle cages with it.
Have a fun trail story to share? Something funny/amazing/unbelievable that’s happened while out riding your bike or bike packing!
In 2013 some friends and I did the big one—we bike toured from USA to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was an adventure of a lifetime totaling 10 months on the road cycling through Central and South America on a 1984 Schwinn High Sierra. This bike was awesome for Latin America as it was super easy to find replacement parts. From the highest highs to the lowest lows, we experienced it all. This was in a time before iPhones and GPS were standard bike packing gear. We navigated by maps and just asking people along the way for directions. The most amazing part was the kindness of strangers helping out along the entire route, from housing us to feeding us to just being awesome human beings.
(Bandit camping at Lago Como)
What’s your current favorite bike to rip and why?I don't currently own a gravel bike, but I think it would be fun to have a Salsa Cutthroat with 2.2 tires. Most of our gravel roads around here are a bit chundery, so I think that would be a cool bike to ride. I also test ride a lot of the Divide riders' bikes when working on them and that one seems to be the rig of choice for the route.
In the ever-changing world of bike shops we feel that some shops are becoming more and more sterile and sanitized, or seem like a turn-and-burn fancy car dealership! All of us here at Rio Bikes take a very chill outlook on the bike scene. Our shop has a foosball table, dog beds and a lounge for people to hang out at. Some folks says it reminds them of an old school surf/skate shop. We are a hole-in-the-wall bike shop in a small town in a great area—and we love to ride our bikes because it is just too damn fun!
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