The Bicycle Wheel Warehouse Story: Three Generations of Precision

Bicycle Wheel Warehouse (BWW) isn’t just a retailer; it’s the evolution of a family legacy that started on a dinner table in Wisconsin and grew into the silent engine behind some of the most iconic brands in cycling.

🛠️ The Heritage (1970s – 1990s)

• The Roots: Our founder’s father ran a Wisconsin bike shop in the 70s before moving to California, where the family started one of the first bicycle saddlebag companies—sewing them at the dinner table after dark.

• The Shift: Trading the bag business for a wheel-building client list, the family birthed Sta-Tru Wheels (STW). Working out of the garage, they built wheels for legends like Schwinn, GT, Riteway, and Peugeot.

• The Nickel Hubs: BWW’s owner literally grew up in the shop, earning a nickel for every hub he loaded. That “ground-up” education is baked into every wheel we sell today.

📈 The Evolution (2004 – 2013)

• Professional Leadership: After a stint at Hertz and Air Traffic Control school, our founder took over as GM of STW in 2004, eventually taking the reins fully in 2013.

• The Birth of BWW: In 2007, BWW was launched to cut out the “distributor fat,” allowing us to provide high-end wheelsets directly to riders without the massive retail markup.

• The Pro-Tier Partner: Major brands like Santa Cruz Bicycles, Ibis, Yeti, Intense, and Turner have all relied on our facility to build their high-end wheelsets.

🤖 The Process: Human Soul, Robotic Precision

We don’t just “machine build” wheels; we use a proprietary process that mimics the best hand-builders in the world.

• World-Class Tech: We utilize Holland Mechanics equipment—the gold standard of the industry—running custom-sequenced programs developed from decades of hand-building experience.

• Hand-Finished Excellence: Every single BWW wheel, regardless of price, is hand-trued, hand-checked, and hand-finished.

• The Custom Bench: While our lower-end wheels utilize our specialized robotic truing, our premier wheelsets are 100% hand-built on the very same fixtures our founder’s father built decades ago.