Northtowne Cycling and Fitness
1150 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(319) 393-6557
https://www.northtownebikes.com/
info@northtownebikes.com
Help us meet our match: www.iowabicyclecoalition.org/match

There aren’t many retailers that can claim 94 years in business, but Northtowne Cycling and Fitness is one of the elite few. This Cedar Rapids-based, family-owned bicycle and fitness business has been in the same family for four generations. And, some of the same families have been shopping at Northtowne for four generations! 

This year marks the eleventh year Northtowne has been recognized as one of “America’s Best Bike Shops” by their peers and industry representatives. Known in the 1970’s and 80’s as Northtowne Schwinn, the store has evolved to offer bikes from Specialized, Giant, Cannondale and many more, along with 10+ brands of ebikes to position themselves as Iowa’s ebike experts.  Northtowne sells and services treadmills, ellipticals and exercise bikes from Spirit, True and Schwinn as well.

Northtowne is one of our top tier bike retailer members and a supporter of our 2019 Retailer Challenge Match. We recently spoke with Derek, the owner, about bicycling in Iowa.

At the Coalition, we have a dream and vision of safe, accessible bicycling for all, and our retailers have their own 20,000-foot view of what bicycling in Iowa could look like. When asked this, Derek responded: 

“Our vision is for Iowa to be a collection of fun and engaging destinations for all cyclists to explore.” 

He went on to explain, “When each community develops its own unique cycling infrastructure, we get more people riding bicycles locally and attract riders from other areas. This grows the number of riders and identifies Iowa as a great place to live, work, and play.”

Northtowne does more than dream, they put their bike tires on the trail (so to speak) and support bicycle advocacy and other causes in a number of tangible ways. They are playing a key role in the ConnectCR trail development project in Cedar Rapids, are a member of the City of Cedar Rapids Bike CR working group, support Linn County Trails Association and Linn Area Mountain Bike Association, and support a wide range of cycling fundraiser events and healthy lifestyle organizations.

Derek and his team at Northtowne are long-time supporters of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition as well. Derek says they support the Coalition because:

“The Coalition is the single most impactful bicycle advocate in Iowa. They touch every aspect of cycling including policy-making, networking and community building, trail and infrastructure funding, and safety and rider development.”

Thank you, Derek, and Northtowne, we can’t do this work without your support. Northtowne is one of our sponsors for the 2019 Retailer Challenge Match and a matching donor. 

You can donate and help us meet our match at www.iowabicyclecoalition.org/match.