As Thanksgiving Day approaches, we would like to wish you a very happy holiday filled with delicious food, the love of family and friends, plenty of football, maybe some bicycle riding, and hopefully a nap!
We are so appreciative of our Team, our crew, our customers and our community. We couldn’t ask for a better group of supporters or a more perfect place to build community. Truly thankful.
We will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and open 12-7 PM on Black Friday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Black Friday Savings!
Avoid the malls and come spend Black Friday with us — we have an awesome deal for the bike lovers in your lives!
Browse our inventory for bikes, parts and accessories and take advantage of15% OFF your entire purchase by printing out the coupon above!
Entrepreneurship Event: MARKETING!
Tuesday, December 10 from 6-8:30 PM
Attention all Go-Getters! This one is for you!
Men and women of all ages, join us at Hometown Bicycles for a fun, engaging and informative program aimed at business owners, start-ups, and entrepreneurs who want to enter the new year with a solid marketing plan.
A panel of experts will present information on print marketing, graphic design and how to truly capture the spirit of your business, web/online presence, and general promotion and marketing must-knows! There will be time for a Q&A session following the speakers, plus refreshments, takeaways, and time to chat with like-minded folks in our community.
So that we can fully focus on YOU, we will be closing the shop early for this event.
Stay tuned as we introduce our guest speakers NEXT WEEK!
We’re having a Roadies vs. Mountain Bikers competition — fill the boxes!
Hometown is an official drop-off site for the Toys for Tots drive. Between the Marines and Salvation Army, 800 families in Livingston County have a Christmas they wouldn’t have otherwise, thanks to programs like this and the generosity of supporters like the Hometown community.
Fitness classes will still be running at the shop: 6 PM: HIIT 7 PM: Pound
Entrepreneurship Event: MARKETING!
Tuesday, December 10 from 6-8:30 PM
Attention all Go-Getters! This one is for you!
Men and women of all ages, join us at Hometown Bicycles for a fun, engaging and informative program aimed at business owners, start-ups, and entrepreneurs who want to enter the new year with a solid marketing plan.
A panel of experts will present information on print marketing, graphic design and how to truly capture the spirit of your business, web/online presence, and general promotion and marketing must-knows! There will be time for a Q&A session following the speakers, plus refreshments, takeaways, and time to chat with like-minded folks in our community.
So that we can fully focus on YOU, we will be closing the shop early for this event.
Our 4th Annual Chili Cookoff was a saucy, spicy, succulent good time!
What a terrific turnout on Saturday 11/9 — thank you all for coming out to join our kickoff fat bike friendly ride, share your fantastic chili recipes with us, provide an inquisitive audience for Guinness World Records contender Bill St. Onge, and for choosing our Chili Cookoff winners!
DRUM ROLL PLEASE…
OVERALL WINNER: Ann & Miles Janicki’s Chili Cornbread Casserole
MILD WINNER: Ann & Miles Janicki’s Chili Cornbread Casserole
MEDIUM WINNER: Gary Kulhanek’s Happy Tongue Gourmet Chili
SPICY WINNER: Mike Dyer’s Dirty Brat Chili
Many thanks to Miles Janicki for capturing some of these fun images!
Save the date for next year’s Chili Cookoff: Saturday, November 14, 2020, one week post-Iceman!
THIS SUNDAY 11/17 at 2 PM
Our Fat Bike Friendly Ride is back for another season of fun. This week, we will be riding the Blue Loop of Island Lake and taking a side adventure into the Badlands. Fat tire or plus tire bikes are highly recommended if you want to play in the Badlands.
Helmets are required, as is a signed 2019 waiver. All skill levels welcome.
We wish you a scary, happy, spooky, festive, full-of-candy Halloween!
Halloween Hours: 9 AM-5 PM
Welcome November… Here’s what’s cookin’!
Saturday, November 9th from 4-7 PM
The name tells the tale! Celebrate 4 years in our “new” location, swap harrowing Iceman stories, kick off our famous winter fat bike friendly shop ride, and eat and judge chili!
Stir up your favorite recipe and drop it off at the shop by 4 PM. People’s Choice judging will begin at 5 PM, and the winner will be announced by 7 PM. Be sure to bring your garnishes and serving utensils, and your recipe ingredients written on an index card for allergy-conscious diners.
When you sign up, don’t let us know what kind of chili you’re bringing. It needs to be a surprise! We are all about unbiased voting, folks!
PLUS meet Guinness World Records contender, Bill St. Onge, before his round-the-world bike trip!
Bill will be at the shop with his bike and gear to talk about long-riding in general, and specifically his upcoming journey to take on the official Guinness World Records title of “Oldest person to circumnavigate the planet by bicycle”. Bring your curiosity and questions!
Words from Bill: “This coming December, I leave to cycle around the world… that’s “cycle,” as with a pedal-bike. The ride will start and stop in Palm Springs, CA. It will take up to 14 months and cover a total of 34,000 miles across 28 countries. This is a self-supported effort, meaning I’ll travel without the aid of a support team or support vehicle. When finished, I’ll be 71 years old and my knees will probably hurt.”
(Above: Shaun and Dawn Bhajan, pictured with an incredible group of fellow LMB Awards Shop of the Year Finalists, at the Detroit Velodrome. That’s a lot of awesome in one place!)
We all know Hometown is more than just a shop. In fact, sometimes you know that even better than we do, and we are eternally grateful that you never let us forget it! Hometown is a community, a philosophy, and a movement. Our Crew, our Team and, most definitely, our customers are both the core of, and the messengers for, that culture.
Your involvement, your patronage, your loyalty, and your referrals have expanded the scope and reach of EVERYTHING Hometown has ever created, including the impact we so enjoy making in both our local community and the cycling community at large.
Most recently, that impact included one of our proudest achievements – the creation of the annual Do It for Dan Memorial Ride, honoring a beloved, local rider who was struck and killed by a motorist while cycling at Island Lake. Over 550 of you turned that Ride into a powerful message to motorists and cyclists everywhere to always stay alert and to share the road safely.
It’s also worth mentioning that this award says “SHOP of the Year,” not “BIKE SHOP OWNERS of the Year” or “SHOP INDIVIDUAL of the Year”. And, of course, what is a “shop”? It’s the amplified total of all the individuals who support it.
Shop of the Year, Hometownies. What a win for us all!
With love and appreciation,
Shaun & Dawn
4th Annual Chili Cook-Off: Great Bowls of Fire!
Saturday, November 9th from 4-7 PM
It’s almost time for Iceman… do you know what that means?
It’s time to get your recipes simmering for our 4th Annual Chili Cook-Off! Our annual tradition is always the weekend following Iceman, and we are stoked to consume copious amounts of chili!
Enter your mild, medium or spicy deliciousness to win awards and perhaps even take home the very special –and kinda gaudy, but that’s what makes it fabulous — traveling trophy. And you get a whole year to share the bragging rights of being the 2019 Hometown Bicycles “Great Bowls of Fire” Chili Cook-Off WINNER!
Stir up your favorite recipe and drop it off at the shop by 4 PM. People’s Choice judging will begin at 5 PM, and the winner will be announced by 7 PM. Be sure to bring your garnishes and serving utensils, and your recipe ingredients written on an index card for allergy-conscious diners.
When you sign up, don’t let us know what kind of chili you’re bringing. It needs to be a surprise! We are all about unbiased voting, folks!
FAT BIKE PRE-RIDE! Prior to the chili eatin’, Team Hometown Co-Captain Mike Dyer will be leading a Fat Bike Ride, so stay tuned for details. That way, you can burn off a ton of calories before you add them all back!
Our Team Totally Rocks… How Cool is THIS?
On Sunday, October 20th, several Team Hometown members kicked off the Detroit Free Press Marathon as lead cyclists!
Known lovingly as the “Freep”, this epic event has been going strong since 1978. Runners from all over the world have traveled to Detroit to take part — and it has become an event that encompasses people from all walks of life, not just elite runners.
We couldn’t be more proud of these guys for representing Hometown in this amazing way.
Pictured above (left to right): John Wyatt, Ron Szumski, Tom Hermann, Dennis Doherty, Doug Lapp, and Team Hometown Co-Captain and Mobile Rhythm Entertainment Sponsor Joe Ostervik.
Kudos to John Harrington for his first place podium at Custer’s Last Stand on Saturday, October 5th in Augusta, MI.
This all-volunteer benefit event is sponsored by the Join the Fight of Battle Creek, in collaboration with the YWCA of Kalamazoo, to raise awareness of human trafficking and other types of domestic violence. Way to go, John!
Entrepreneurship Event: MARKETING!
Who: Anyone interested in learning about Marketing! Business owners, entrepreneurs, start-up endeavors,
students… come one, come all… men and women, all ages!
What: Informative and FUN evening on a hot topic!
Tues, December 10 from 6-8:30 PM
Where: Hometown Bicycles! We will be closing the shop early to focus on this event!
Why: Because your Hometown ladies, Dawn and Leslie, really love supporting entrepreneurs!
Coming in a future email: Our fantastic lineup of speakers and the link to sign up! Keep your eyes peeled!
Goodbye, Summer Shop Rides… See you next year! Our weekly shop rides will be saying goodbye at the end of October. Stay tuned for pop-up rides and fat tire rides as weather permits. The best way to stay informed is via our Facebook page. Make sure to like and follow to get all the latest updates.
Thanks for a wonderful spring/summer season riding with us!
