Backcountry Bicycles pedals great service

Frontiersman

PALMER — Like many children, Tony Berberich grew up riding bicycles with his brother. They raced on an old track in Palmer, cruised local trails and even had a makeshift bike shop in their backyard. Now a 38-year-old businessman, Berberich has transformed his childhood pastime into a way to pay grown-up bills.

Berberich, along with his wife, Julie, opened Backcountry Bicycles this month in Palmer. Since opening the doors to the public, customers have been pedaling to the shop at a surprising rate.

“It’s amazing how busy we’ve been in the first two weeks,” Berberich said.

Berberich said the new bike shop stems from his other bike-based business — Alaska Backcountry Bike Tours. After 10 years of running the tour company, bike parts, tools and gear was piling up at home.

“Our garage was full of stuff and my wife said, ‘You know, it’s time for you to find a bike shop.’”

Located at 101 E. Arctic Ave., Backcountry Bicycles is tucked away in a small strip mall on the outskirts of Palmer. Similar to other businesses in the city, the shop is small, but not short on service. Berberich said his shop provides an array of tuning and repair services. Whether one rides a $100 Huffy or a $1,000 Kona, Backcountry can repair it.

“Basically, we do all service on all bikes,” he said.

When it comes to buying a new ride, the shop carries an assortment of mountain bikes that range from $250 to $600. The shop’s brand of choice is Kona, but other brands like Surly are also available. Not only does the shop have some nice pedal power rides in stock, it can also order a few different brands to better fit a customer’s needs.

“The things that we have are the things that we use in the backcountry and on the road,” he said. “We’re trying to sell practicality in the sense that when somebody comes in, I want to know what kind of riding they’re going to do, not how much money they want to spend.”

In addition to new bikes and repairs, Backcountry also carries parts and gear for the do-it-yourselfer.

Although many businesses focus on sales, Berberich said there is more to Backcountry Bicycles than making money.

“For our shop, what we’re trying to do is be more of a community shop,” he said. “Not so much just sell people bikes, but we’re going to have group rides out of here and we’re going to do some technical workshops.”

Berberich plans to organize community rides in and out of Palmer. In the past, he’s gathered riders for trips to Kenai, Eklutna Lake and Denali National Park. Workshops could include anything from how to work on a bike to learning backcountry riding skills.

As a part of being community friendly, Berberich said customer service and timely service work is also important — especially in a state where short summers minimize riding time.

“You have a really short riding season, and if you get your bike stuck at a bike shop for six weeks all of the sudden half the season is over,” he said. “Our whole objective is to get the bikes turned around with a basic tune-up and back to the customers within 48 hours.”

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.