GoodSpeed Cycles owner Graham Bolkema will celebrate his shop’s 15-year anniversary May 24 with family, friends, bike enthusiasts, and anyone who stops by the store at 2125 W. 183rd St. in Homewood that day.
To mark the store’s opening in 2010, Graham and his operations manager, Steve Buchtel, are organizing a day-long extravaganza of rides on standard and electric bikes, scavenger hunts, music, food and camaraderie.
But the festivities will commemorate more than a business anniversary. In many ways the event is also a celebration of Bolkema’s life’s work and his dad’s legacy. Bolkema has been riding, fixing, and selling bikes while sharing his love of cycling with other bike enthusiasts for most of his 39 years. GoodSpeed’s success is a result of that hard work, community outreach, and family solidarity, all values Graham’s dad practiced and instilled in his son before he died in a tragic accident.
“My dad, who had worked downtown as a lawyer and who fantasized about quitting that job and owning a bike shop, was hit and killed on his bicycle [in 2008],” Bolkema said. “He was in a rural area and a driver coming home from a third-shift job fell asleep behind the wheel and ran him over. “
Shortly after [the accident], Bolkema said, “Greg Byron called me and said that he was selling his shop. My family said, ‘Do we really have to think about it?’ So, we just did it. I don’t know if you can impulse-buy a business, but that’s what we did.
“That was 2009. I bought their stuff and it [the store] stayed as Byron’s in Cherry Creek for about a year. In 2010 GoodSpeed started as its own entity. I had a lot of great help.”
“Graham has an insane knowledge base about all of the bikes and all of the parts, and what works for repairs, and where you can find those parts.’’ said his wife, Alyss Bolkema. “His next-door neighbor in Munster, Indiana, owned a bike shop called ‘Blazing Saddles’ in Willowbrook. Graham started working there when he was 15. He never really stopped, even when he had other jobs.”
Those other jobs included training for and becoming a certified EMT, a job he left to prepare for medical school. But he always seemed to gravitate to working with bikes and sharing his enthusiasm for the activity.
That enthusiasm permeates GoodSpeed in every way and creates a community where people bond over bicycles and road rides.
“The majority of our customers aren’t competitive,” Alyss said. “They’re going out for fun. They’re riding with their kids.”
Besides fun rides, Goodspeed organizes fundraiser rides that support local organizations. For example, they are sponsoring the “House Walk by Bike” Route during the Flossmoor Service League’s House Walk & Bike May 21. Ticket sales for the bike ride will support the League’s projects.
One of GoodSpeed’s most impactful efforts benefitted Willow School’s “All Kids Bike Kindergarten PE” curriculum.
“They teach kindergarteners how to bike in PE class,” Alyss said. “We took donations for it and paid 50% of the cost to get all the bikes that we needed. Then if they need repairs or replacements, that comes through us. Donations from local businesses paid for the rest.”
The All Kids Bike program helps Willow’s kindergarteners learn to ride on Strider bikes that stand just two feet tall and have no pedals. The program was initiated by GoodSpeed in 2022. A fundraiser helped raise the $5,000 in seed money for the program with a matching one-to-one grant from GoodSpeed. The National Council of Jewish Women donated $1,000 for helmets.
GoodSpeed’s anniversary event will be pure celebration and will kick off with the two “enhanced” Saturday morning rides sponsored by the store. The first will be the 15th edition of the Saturday staple, Barb and Dan’s Ride, and will leave at 8 a.m. as usual, but this one will include a scavenger hunt that involves cyclists stopping along the 20-mile route to find and document items on the scavenger hunt list.
The second ride is an Off-Leash Ride, named after a run-in GoodSpeed cyclists had with a woman who had her dog off leash in Izaak Walton Preserve. That ride starts at 8:30 a.m. and will reward participants with donuts when they get back to GoodSpeed.
The rest of the day’s nonstop celebration will include a tent sale, hot dogs, music, test rides on electric bikes, and a 5:30 p.m. sunset ride, among other things.
Buchtel said there will be a photo opportunity for visitors who can pose doing a wheelie. He said there will be food, music, drinks, and the event will end at 8 p.m.
A plaque hanging near the front of the shop proclaims that the business was named GoodSpeed in memory of Graham’s dad. It reads: “In loving memory of Gerry Bolkema, who drew us all in to share his love of cycling.”
After 15 years, GoodSpeed is drawing quite a following to do just that.
