The wheel of life keeps rolling at Johnson's bike store

Despite nearly 40 years on the floor, John Jensen doesn't take much credit for the 75-year history at Johnson's Cycle & Fitness.

"I'm only a small part of it," he insisted.

After all, Jensen, 54, has only been with the shop since 1976, when he started working weekends and high school holidays alongside his father, Peter "Pete" Jensen, who bought the store in 1948, along with two partners, from founder Everett "Doc" Johnson.

"I can only pat myself on the back a little bit because Mr. Johnson started a business in 1939," Jensen said. "And my dad took over after coming back from World War II. …The employees are a big part, too. And we have lots of very, very, and one more very, good customers."

Many of those customers have been coming to Johnson's for generations.

"Some families come back every Christmas. Other families come in for their very first bike and come back. One of them lives in Minnesota and comes back to buy their bikes from me."

It's a lineage he watched develop for years with his father.

"Now I'm getting it," Jensen said. "My dad would be in his chair there, listening to people say, 'God, I remember you! I bought my first bike here.' And my dad would go off on tangents and say, 'Your father worked here or there.' And they would say, 'Whoa! You have a good memory.'"

A childhood in the shop

Jensen's own history with the shop goes back to his childhood.

"Imagine, you're 12 years old hanging out at your dad's bike store. How cool is that? That's when the ball got rolling, the wheel got turning, as my parents would say."

By the time he took over in 1982, shortly after his father had a stroke, Jensen said, "It was a natural fit."

The shop has seen it's share of changes since Jensen became boss, including the final shift from a sporting goods store to a true bike shop.

"We were a full blown sporting goods store back prior to the first gas crunch in the '70s," Jensen explained. "We were guns, bowling, archery, golf, tennis, fishing, general sporting goods."

All that was gone by the 1980s, when Johnson's turned exclusively to bike sales and repairs.

Today, the shop honors that legacy with a 2-by-2-foot section of floor from the original store at 69th and North; Jensen moved to 72nd and North after the building fell into disrepair.

Longtime customers

That was nearly 20 years ago, but customers still stop by to talk about the old bowling alley (part of the basement at the original shop) or to ask when they moved.

"Some of the old guys come by and say, 'I couldn't find you.' You can tell they haven't been here in while," Jensen laughed.

Those little moments are part of what makes the work so worthwhile. And, part of the reason, Jensen understands now, that his father insisted on being in the shop six days a week until he died in 2011.

"He would hang out in the shop and read the paper as he was sitting in front of me dying of cancer. He was here on a Wednesday and died on a Saturday."

Jensen isn't sure that's the way he'll go out. But, he said, he's not planning on going anywhere any time soon.

"Even if I did retire and hang it up, I'd be pounding on the door the next day saying, 'Let me in!'" he said.

JUST THE FACTS

BUSINESS: Johnson's Cycle & Fitness, 6916 W. North Ave.

WEB: www.johnsonsbikeshop.com

PHONE: (414) 476-2341

OWNER: John Jensen

INCORPORATED: 1939

TYPE OF BUSINESS: bicycle shop

PEARLS OF WISDOM: "I only shop local. When I had a dog I shopped at the Wisconsin Garden & Pet. I shop at Sendik's, sometimes two times a day, 10 days in a row. I buy gas on North Avenue. I drink at the local watering hole. I shop local. And, as I tell the property owners around here, 'Buy your bike wherever you want. Let's keep that out of the equation. But you better be shopping local because when the shopping mall goes kaput, watch out for your property taxes. And the internet can't fix your bike.'"