HOVC names Recyclist Bicycle Co. Business Partner in Education of the Year

Rich Palzewic

Staff

April 7, 2025

KAUKAUNA – For its work with area school districts, the Recyclist Bicycle Co., located at 631 Saunders Road in Kaukauna, was recently honored with the Business Partner in Education award from the Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce (HOVC).

Shop Co-owner Lora Glasel said receiving the award was a great honor.

“I started getting involved with our local school districts the past couple of years,” she said. “It’s a pretty big honor because I get to work directly with students, which I’m grateful for. For me particularly, working with young women in areas they haven’t always been encouraged to – like entrepreneurship and sports – is cool. I like to make an impact in that area.”

Glasel, who has been the co-owner of the business since 2014, said she also enjoys supporting special needs athletes.

“We work with the Kimberly, Kaukauna and Little Chute school districts on their Breaking Boundaries Triathlon,” she said. “We assist with the bike portion of that, and then we make sure the students have bikes that accommodate their disabilities. We also make sure their student partners have safe bikes.”

Glasel said supporting student athletes with disabilities “is a neat thing to see.”

“Those are the two venues I work with our school districts on,” she said. “To help students in our community – particularly those groups that are sometimes not able to do certain things – is a pretty big honor, for sure.”

Additionally, Glasel said the Recyclist works with the Kaukauna Area School District to make sure its physical education classes have safe and working bicycles.

“The physical education classes at the middle school have bicycles, and we do all the maintenance on those bicycles,” she said.

Finally, Glasel said the shop works with the Kimberly and Kaukauna high school INCubator programs.

“It’s like ‘Shark Tank,’” she said. “Students come up with an idea, product, service, etc. and start from scratch with a business plan. They work through the legal stuff, make a budget and sales forecast and pitch their product. It’s such a cool program for the kiddos – not only do they learn fundamentals of business, but they interface with grown-ups and their community. They’re being an entrepreneur, learning people skills and how to be confident around adults and ask questions.”

Beyond working with the local school districts, Glasel said the Recyclist is heavily involved in other aspects of the community as well.

“We work with the Kaukauna Police Department – they have electric bikes we help them procure, and then we do the service for them as a volunteer thing so they can use them for community service events,” she said. “I think they also use the bikes for patrol.”

Glasel said local libraries aren’t left out, either.

“I do programs at the Kaukauna Public Library to educate our community on e-bikes,” she said. “The Little Chute Public Library also has e-bikes you can check out. We help the library procure the e-bikes and then make a video so people know how to use them properly.”

Exemplifying the mission

HOVC Executive Director Nicci Sprangers said the Business Partner in Education award follows the chamber’s mission to work together to connect businesses and local school districts.

Sprangers said the award recognizes one business that demonstrates a commitment to local school districts through classroom presentations, job shadow opportunities or youth apprenticeship programs.

“Lora Glasel exemplifies that mission – not because she has to, but because it’s simply who she is,” she said. “Lora sees potential in every student and uses her expertise, her business and her boundless generosity to lift others up. She has spent years investing in the next generation – mentoring young entrepreneurs, creating hands-on learning opportunities for students and using her bicycle shop as a force for good in the community.”

According to the HOVC, nomination criteria for the award are:

• Must be a business, organization or public agency that has been in operation for at least three years
• Must be a member in good standing of the HOVC
• Nominee must show support to the HOVC area through its commitment to local school districts and the development of current students and tomorrow’s business leaders

Two-wheeling its way to success

Glasel said the Recyclist has been in operation for 26 years – founded by original owners Bob and Becky Bohelin.

“Bob was actually a DJ for WAPL (in Northeast Wisconsin),” she said. “They sold (the shop) to a guy who was more of an investor who worked here for a couple of years and wasn’t really involved in cycling – it was just kind of a business opportunity for him. I (co-)purchased it from him in 2014. Bob and Becky started the shop as a used, vintage bike shop, and it evolved into a new and used bike shop over the years.”

During her 11 years as co-owner, Glasel said business has been steady, but the bike industry in general has “a lot of ups and downs.”

“This is a weird industry, especially during COVID-19 time,” she said. “After I (co-)bought it from the previous owner, a big part of what we did was get involved in our community. We do bike rides with our fire department and police department. We’ve done a fundraising ride for the Kaukauna Police Department when they needed a new police dog.”

Glasel said she has also worked hard on cultivating a store that carries the right products for female riders.

“At the time, there really wasn’t a bike shop that focused on products in the shopping experience for women,” she said. “We do work a lot to grow that market as well because I am a female who rides bikes, and it’s important to me.”

Glasel said the Recyclist also works with Outagamie County when kids and adults need adaptive bikes.

The Recyclist, Glasel said, was also an early adopter of e-bikes.

“We got out in the community and showed people how those worked and how they can open up options for people who might have issues with not being able to ride (a regular bicycle), for whatever reason,” she said. “Being able to expand horizons for people on bikes is important to us.”

At the Recyclist, Glasel said it’s about thinking “a little bit outside of the box.”

“We have plenty of bikes for your average cyclist who wants a bike, but who else might have some barriers when it comes to getting a bike, and how do we break those barriers down?” she said.

Glasel said the bike industry is competitive.

“Quite frankly, by population, between Neenah and Green Bay, we probably are a little over-saturated,” she said. “Bikes are clearly passion products. I feel like in this community, it is competitive, but my goal is to always be the friendliest bike shop.”

A lifelong biker herself, Glasel said she knows that bike shops can sometimes be intimidating to visit.

“There’s a repair shop and technology involved, and not everybody understands that,” she said. 

Glasel said she wouldn’t say the Recyclist is better than anybody else.

“Everybody is good, and we have great bike shops in this area,” she said. “We might not be the coolest bike shop on the planet, but I definitely want to be the friendliest. We want to make sure that if there are barriers for people procuring bikes, we do everything we can to make sure opportunities are available.”

For more information on the Recyclist, visit Recyclist.com or check out its social media platforms.