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October Tour Report
Last chance to hop on one of our public tours is NOW!
We always end our season with two weekends of our Haunted Detroit Tour. Two of the four are sold out, but we still have room on 10/22 and 10/29.
There’s also Belle Isle on 10/7, Auto Heritage on 10/8, and Corktown on 10/14.
You also have the option of booking a Private Tour. We’re offering $50 off the base price for this month only!
10/05 UPDATE: 1 space is open on Haunted 10/22 and 8 on Auto 10/8…and that’s all, folks!
2023 Merch is Here!
We have all-new merch for 2023 in stock!
Risky Business Shades $7 Black w/ Blue Gradient Lens
Wheelhouse Tee $25 Screen Printed by ESP Detroit on Bella Canvas tees - Made in USA
Water Bottle $7 Specialized Little Big Mouth 21oz w/ MoFlo cap - Made in USA)
We call it our Black and Blue Collection. The sunglasses get compliments, the t-shirts are comfy soft, and the water bottles, well, they do their job. We love to see Wheelhouse repped!
2023 Tour de Troit
On September 16 the annual Tour de Troit will hit the streets and Wheelhouse will be there in support. The ride will start and finish at Riverside Park in Southwest Detroit.
Since most of the team will be sweeping the ride, the shop will have reduced hours of 11AM-6PM that day.
We also offer event bicycle rentals with delivery to the ride start available. Find out more and book HERE.
September Tour Report
It’s nuts that our 2023 season has just two months left! But that’s still plenty of time to hop on one of our tours — either a public or private!
The number of open spots for each of our public tours schedule for the month of September is as follows:
9/2 Music Heritage: 3
9/3 Architecture: Sold Out
9/7 Riverfront/Dequindre Cut: 6
9/9 Corktown: Sold Out
9/10 Belle Isle: 2
9/12 Eastern Market: 6
9/17 Sports Heritage: 6
9/23 Southwest Detroit: 4
9/24 Auto Heritage: 4
9/26 Eastern Market: 6
9/30 Corktown: 4
10/1 Architecture: 1
Looking at our season-ending Haunted Detroit Tour, there are just 14 spots left over 3 dates: October 22, 28, and 29.
We are also more than happy to book you a private guided tour! Info can be found HERE and you can reach out to Linda, our bookings director, by emailing her at bookings@wheelhousedetroit.com.
August Tour Report
Did you catch us in the Freep? We were included in a wonderful overview of local tours that dive below the surface.
“It was important for us to tell a story of Detroit that isn’t necessarily the one that the masses hear or understand to be true,” [owner Kelli Kavanaugh] said, later adding: “We’re not cheerleaders, we’re trying to tell a real story of a very interesting and complicated city.”
Check it out HERE.
Wanna ride with us this month? Here are your chances!
THIS WEEKEND, we still have openings on Saturday’s Public Art (2) and Sunday’s Architecture (5) tours.
We have spots on this month’s weekday tours: 8/10 & 8/24 Riverfront/Dequindre Cut and 8/15 & 8/29 Eastern Market.
The only weekend tours the rest of August that have any availability are 8/20 Auto Heritage and 8/27 Belle Isle.
Summer Vacation Hours August 18 & 19
Due to staff vacations, we will be open slightly reduced hours on Friday, August 18 and Saturday, August 19, from 11AM to 6PM.
Other than those two days, we will be open our standard summer hours of Sunday to Thursday 11AM to 6PM and Friday & Saturday 10AM to 8PM.
Parking Info: August 11-13 Good Moves Good Grooves @ Cullen Plaza
The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is hosting Good Moves Good Grooves August 11 to 13. Our parking lot will not be useable as such during that time. But have no fear! There is free parking available all three days at River East Parking Structure, which is less than a 5-minute walk to the shop with an entrance on Rivard Street just north of Atwater.
Anyone headed to the shop with a bike will be able to walk it through the festival entrance.
Note From the Owner
To be blunt, Wheelhouse has been riding the struggle bus for a few years, from having to close our Hamtramck location in 2019 to sliding right into the pandemic. Yes, there was a “bike boom” but, to be honest, it only benefitted the big-big guys, while us little folks have been left to scrap. But that’s OK, we’re scrappy by nature! And this season has felt actually almost sorta normal, like our treading is evolving into actually floating. Hopefully.
There are a few positive things to note, like that group rental and tour bookings are up — more people are getting out and doing stuff and businesses and organizations are planning outings again. Pictured above is from a delivery we made to No Barrier 2 Success, a youth training organization located on the Avenue of Fashion.
We’ve also landed our very first city contract, with the Detroit Police Department. We’re providing them with some new bikes and servicing the ones they already have. As you might imagine, this is huge for our small — actually, we are technically defined as micro — business!
And last but not least, the tiny but mighty Wheelhouse crew is running at a Class A rating 7 days a week. Tatiana, Rob, Judith, and Joseline are running the shop like bosses, Linda is booking group rentals and tours with aplomb, and our tour guides and sweepers — Tera, Mike, Reg, Chris, Blake, and Dan — are providing our guests with memorable and quality experiences. It makes my heart so happy when I get compliments about our team. I know it’s cheesy to say and sometimes used in a gross corporate way, but they’re like family to me.
That’s all for now, and probably more than enough! — Kelli
Wheelhouse July Bicycle Tours
Peak summer is upon us! If you’ve been holding out on booking your spot on a 2023 tour, get on that sooner rather than later. Our public tours have just six or 10 spaces (as noted in each tour description), so they can sell out pretty quickly with just a couple of small groups. The good news is that means you are getting a super safe, super personal experience when you ride with us and no bullhorns or mics needed for everyone to hear what our expert guides have to say!
The following July tours have at least 2 open spaces:
Fot whatever reason, August bookings have been much more robust than July’s to date, so if you are looking at a tour later this summer, you might want to get on that too.
Finally, we are always more than happy to book a private tour for your group! Please reach out with any interest.
New Tour Dates Added to Season
Everytime we think we’re done with our beast of a tour calendar, it pulls us back in! We are thrilled to add some tours to our schedule later in the season. Here’s what we got cookin’:
Southwest Detroit: July 8, September 23
Music Heritage: July 9 & 16, September 12
Public Art: July 15, August 5
Underground Railroad: August 19
Sports Heritage: September 17