Local entrepreneur pivots when pandemic puts wrench in plans

Rich Palzewic

Staff

May 1, 2024

OSHKOSH – Sean Lynch, owner of Winnebago Bicycle in Oshkosh, said he never thought owning a bike shop was in his plans.

In fact, he credits his other love – music – for making it possible, that and the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lynch said Winnebago Bicycle, located at 501 N. Main St., offers new and used bike sales, service, bike trade-ins and more – complemented by more than 50 years of experience on staff.

How it started
Lynch said his journey to entrepreneurship is a story in itself.

And though bicycling and music might not be two passions most people would think of combining together, Lynch said, for him, it works.

“It’s a little crazy and unusual how I got here,” Lynch said. “I’m a biker – I’ve been riding for years, since I was a little kid, but how the musical part came into play is interesting.”

Late in his senior year of high school, Lynch said he shifted from his prior thoughts of becoming an engineer and decided to instead pursue music.

Why the switch, though?

“Throughout my childhood, I jumped from one idea to another in terms of what I wanted to do,” he said. “One day, I wanted to be a paleontologist, and the next day, I wanted to be Mick Jagger. I was all over the place.”

Lynch said he tended to gravitate toward the sciences.

“That’s how my brain worked‚ ,” he said. “I liked math and science and understanding how things worked and why. I was into physics during high school and wanted to be an engineer or get a PhD in physics.”

Eventually, Lynch said, “life happened.”

“I decided to have a real talk with myself and realized, even though I’m good at calculus, I don’t want to be doing calculus my whole life,” he said. “I thought it would be best to do something different.”

Lynch said the “ah-ha” moment came one evening when he went to his choir director’s house for a voice lesson.

Winnebago Bicycle, located at 501 N. Main St. in downtown Oshkosh, has been owned and operated by Sean Lynch since October 2020. Submitted Photo

“I told him about the talk I had with myself, and he gave me the ‘life talk,'” he said. “He said, ‘what do you like doing?'”

Throughout the conversation, Lynch said the one thing that kept coming up was music, singing and performing.

“I made a hard left turn – no one saw that coming,” he said. “Quite a few people were questioning that. Even though I’m not pursuing music as my primary career anymore, it’s still a part of my life.”

Looking back, Lynch said he has no regrets.

“The study of music has made me a better person,” he said. “When you’re singing opera, you’re not just making music that’s in tune or rhythm, it’s a communicative thing – especially when you’re acting on stage, it’s all about communication. Music has made me a more compassionate and understanding person, way more than engineering would have. No price could ever get me to change what I did.”

After high school
When he made the decision to pivot in terms of his area of focus, Lynch said he chose to stay close to home.

“I went to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for vocal performance and studied classical music, graduating in 2011,” he said. “Then I went to the University of Iowa for my master’s degree in vocal performance as well.”

From there, Lynch laughed, “I needed a day job.”

“While in Iowa City, I started working at a local bike shop called World of Bikes,” he said. “They were an incredible shop – did a lot of community stuff. They also were into bike-packing (touring), which was something that played up my interest because I was an Eagle Boy Scout – I did a lot of camping and being outside. I had an incredible time working there and loved the people I worked with.”

Not wanting to give up his love of music, Lynch said he moved back to Oshkosh upon graduation from Iowa and spent time performing and teaching (voice).

Winnebago Bicycle Owner Sean Lynch also has a master’s degree in vocal performance. Lynch is shown here singing in Italy. Submitted Photo

“I also spent time working at Oshkosh Cyclery and Fitness, but when it closed its Oshkosh location, I started working at Winnebago Bicycle (in March 2016) under Ben Rennert – he opened the shop originally in 2013,” he said. “I worked part-time there.”

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, Lynch said he saw the writing on the wall in the music industry.

“There were a lot of issues in the music industry in terms of opera and classical performance,” he said. “I worried about the viability of that industry and the economics of it. I saw some companies go under and orchestras not performing, so I thought it would be better to indulge (in music) at my leisure and look at something different to make money.”

That’s when his part-time gig at Winnebago Bicycle turned into much more.

“Me, being the person who is never satisfied with doing something they don’t love, I was at a loss for what to do,” he said.
“That’s when Ben came to me and said he wanted out of (Winnebago Bicycle) and wanted to spend more time with his family. It seemed like a natural transition because all the customers knew who I was, I liked being there, and I helped shape the shop during my time there.”

COVID – the good and bad
Lynch said he became the owner of Winnebago Bicycle Oct. 30, 2020 – right in the middle of the pandemic.

“I wouldn’t say it was a blessing in disguise (when I bought the business) but a blessing in delay,” he said.

When he took over, Lynch said the shop had little to no inventory, thanks in part to COVID-19-induced supply-chain issues – which actually worked in his favor.

“Because there was nothing in stock, I didn’t have to pay a large amount of money to buy the shop,” he said.

That being said, Lynch said inventory was hard to come by during his first several months.

“We had the tools and fixtures in stock and then the customers,” he said. “I rebuilt it from nothing. At one point, four bikes were on the floor, and they all belonged to me.”

Though a difficult time, Lynch said the shop pivoted and focused on other things.

“I focused on the service department – getting the proper tools so I could expand what we wanted to do in the shop, make things more efficient and stock up on service parts when they became available,” he said. “We muscled through that time‚ We built up slowly (after COVID) and are now at full capacity.”

Sean Lynch

Had the pandemic never happened, Lynch said, “my life could have been completely different.”

“I was in the process of establishing relationships with opera companies,” he said. “I was entering into a broader field of music – I had auditions lined up, but then the pandemic hit.”

Lynch said the “what if” occasionally enters his mind.

“I’ve come to realize the life of a dedicated singer (in classical music) is a lot of traveling,” he said. “I realized there was a personal cost to that. I didn’t want to continue to pay that personal cost in terms of not being able to enjoy the finer points of becoming a well-practiced master in the fine arts of living a boring life. I’m not a big city person, so owning Winnebago Bicycle in Oshkosh is perfect for me.”

For more information on Winnebago Bicycle, visit winnebagobicycle.com or visit its Facebook page.