Wayne Hill (on right) is with some of Bob's Cycle Center employees, daughter and shop dog Rocky. In the front row from left are Chris Pauley, Chris Townzen, Aubrey Hutcheson, Greg Montanez, David Canary and Solange Quevedo. In the back row from left are Mark Henley, Shawn Remy, David Dill and Eric Alley. Photo by Judy Andrews

FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - Few local businesses have endured as long as Bob’s Cycle Center in Fair Oaks.

Established in 1955 by Robert “Bob” Horne, this family-owned bike shop has delighted generations of customers for 70 years. 

Horne’s first store, Bob’s Shop, was a hardware and sporting goods store in the Fair Oaks Village. Horne sold some bicycles and provided repair services for bikes, lawnmowers and outboard motors. In 1959, local mechanic William Hill joined Horne to help with the repair side of the business.

At that time, the American Schwinn Bicycle Company had become the leading bike brand in the U.S. and Horne couldn’t restock them fast enough. The boom was driven by the launch of Schwinn’s classic Sting-Ray, designed to resemble a “chopped” motorcycle with banana seats and ape-hanger handlebars. Every boy in America wanted one!

Bob’s Cycle Center owner Wayne Hill and General Manager Eric Alley stand inside the 6,000-square-foot warehouse adjacent to the store. Photo by Judy Andrews

Horne and Hill found themselves at the forefront of a new era in the bike industry, and in 1960, Bob’s Shop was renamed Bob’s Cycle Center.

That same year, they moved the store to a larger building at the corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard and New York Avenue (current home to Mother’s Automotive Machine), where they could display more bikes. Horne retired a few years after the move and Hill purchased the business, preserving the shop’s well-known name. 

Bob’s Cycle Center quickly outgrew its second location, prompting Hill to acquire a prime corner property at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue. This site provided ample space to construct a larger store for displaying hundreds of bikes on the showroom floor and a 6,000-square-foot warehouse for storage. 

The new store, located at 9920 Fair Oaks Blvd., opened in 1971. Approximately 95% of Hill’s inventory consisted of Schwinn bikes, establishing Hill as one of the top Schwinn dealers in the nation.

In 1978, Hill opened a second bike shop in Citrus Heights called Citrus Heights Schwinn Cyclery, which enjoyed tremendous success during the BMX craze of the late ’70s and early ’80s. In 1985, Hill moved the store to a larger location in Roseville, renaming it Bob’s Cycle Center Roseville. Recognized as a cycling institution in Roseville, the bike shop is now at 378 N. Sunrise Ave. across from the auto mall entrance.

Bob’s Cycle Center moved to its current location at 9920 Fair Oaks Blvd. in 1971. The photo was taken shortly before opening. Courtesy of Bob's Cycle Center

William Hill and his wife, Margaret, raised three children, William Jr., Wayne and Kristine, in their home behind the Fair Oaks store. Hill was a civic-minded business leader in the community, serving as president of the Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club. He operated Bob’s Cycle Center for more than 30 years until his death in 1995.

William Hill’s second son, Wayne, took over the bike shops and today continues to uphold many of the same traditions and values that his father held years earlier. 

“I’ve always been involved with the store to some degree,” said Wayne Hill. “A little boy in a bike shop just kind of went hand-in-hand. It was a great time to be a kid.” 

Hill has many memories of growing up in his father’s shop.

“It was my job to empty all the ashtrays after school,” Hill said. “At the end of each row of bikes stood a tall black ashtray that customers used. All the adults smoked in public back then. Cleaning ashtrays was just one of the many jobs I was tasked with as a kid in the early ’70s.”

Hill remembers how Christmas at the store was a big event. 

“Dad received shipments of bikes twice a year, in time for spring and the holidays,” Hill said. “The bikes came in on a train and we’d head to the tracks (near where American River Raft Rentals in Gold River is today) to get them from six to eight padlocked cars. We stacked the bikes high in the trusses of our warehouse roof. There were so many bikes that you couldn’t even walk through the warehouse. It was nuts.” 

Before the warehouse was constructed, Hill described how neighbors used their garages to store bikes, with inventory lists clipped outside each garage door. When the warehouse became available, the garages continued to serve as storage for bikes on layaway at Christmas time. 

“Christmas Eve was our biggest day of the year when customers showed up to pick up bikes,” Hill said. “Lions Club members served chili in a bowl to every customer. People were everywhere. Cars were backed up to Sunrise Avenue, blocking the intersection.” 

This ad for Bob’s Shop appeared in the San Juan Record, September 1956. Courtesy of Fair Oaks Historical Society

Schwinn eventually went out of business and today, Bob’s Cycle Center carries a variety of top-tier bicycle brands in various price ranges and styles. 

“It’s unusual to see 400 bikes on the floor in any bike shop,” Hill said. “We’ve got something for everyone from first-time kids’ bikes to high-end mountain and road bikes.”

Hill and his general manager, Eric Alley, have adapted the business to meet the evolving trends and technology of the bicycle industry, including the growing popularity of e-bikes. 

“Thirty percent of our sales come from e-bikes, which is about the norm for the industry,” Alley said. “We’ve watched the demand really take off in the last three years.”

Alley joined Bob’s Cycle Center in 2006, shortly after relocating his family from the Bay Area to Sacramento. His extensive experience in Bay Area stores made him highly qualified for a management position with Hill. 

Hill credits Alley and his employees for the bike shop’s success.

“We’re in the business of selling ‘fun’ and our employees do a great job of that,” Hill said. “We take pride in what we do and it shows. I’d like to think that’s one of the reasons we're still here.”