Jim Roddey and Jim Boltz

Allen Kinkead uses his well-conditioned bicycle, a 20-plus-year-old Schwinn Super Sport, for both recreation and commuting to work.

“Everybody I've ever met who rides a bike to work has a different reason and different method and different bicycle,” said Kinkead. “Many people are doing it in many ways …. Their own ways.”

Kinkead, third-generation owner of Immel Bicycle Center on Route 8, described himself as a “fair weather” bicycling commuter who cycles the two miles from his Meridian Road home to his shop when weather is cooperative and he doesn't have anything to haul.

“When there's nothing in the way and I can ride the bike, I ride the bike,” Kinkead said.

“This has been a bad summer for me because of all the rain. I think the best I've gone is five days in a row. Other summers I didn't start the car for two weeks at a time.”

Kinkead said there's a lot of riders out there who are hard-core, especially toward Pittsburgh, where there are more safe routes and bicycle parking accommodations.

“I have one customer who told me he only missed one day of riding on his bike to work all of last year,” Kinkead said.

In addition to employing a variety of bikes and methods, Kinkead said his customers cite different motivations for commuting by bicycle.

“I'm here at work six days a week. I don't get a chance to ride recreationally that much,” Kinkead said. “Riding back and forth to work keeps me in shape for other rides.”

Kinkead is a member of the Premier Bicycle Club, which has grown from nine to 270 members since initiating in January 2017.

Club President Bob Vano said, “We have an active ride calendar with six events a year … Almost all of our activities are in Butler County. We put more miles on in Butler County than anywhere because there's just a lot of nice riding there.”

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