{"id":1213,"date":"2013-06-25T17:24:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T22:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwpowerswi.com\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2015-04-10T12:51:27","modified_gmt":"2015-04-10T17:51:27","slug":"may-graduate-spins-new-business-idea-from-uw-la-crosse-experience","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/may-graduate-spins-new-business-idea-from-uw-la-crosse-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"May graduate spins new business idea from UW-La Crosse experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

May graduate Wyatt Hrudka discovered a market for single speed bikes while adjusting gears and greasing chains at UW-La Crosse\u2019s outdoor equipment rental service.<\/p>\n

With help from UW-L business classes and the university\u2019s Small Business Development Center, Hrudka built a single-speed bike business from the ground up, Wyatt Bicycle Co.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the moment I sold my first bike, I thought \u2018I\u2019m on to something.\u2019 It\u2019s been very exciting to watch it grow,\u201d says Hrudka.<\/p>\n

He went from working out of a 200-square-foot storage space to the 2,500-square-foot warehouse and office space where he works today at the Coulee Region Business Center, 1100 Kane St., La Crosse. He has sold around 500 bicycles to customers all over the U.S.<\/p>\n

His Wisconsin customer base is growing steadily with six current dealers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople really like the fact that it\u2019s a local company,\u201d says Ben Leach, owner of Bikes Limited in La Crosse, one of the dealers selling Wyatt Bikes. \u201cThe customer service is great. With major companies, we may see the sales representative a couple times a year. We see Wyatt a couple of times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wyatt Bicycle Co. also sells direct to customers online, so the business is bringing money into the state from all over the country and Canada. Hrudka likes that his bikes are bringing dollars in and he is able to support local businesses through bike production. The newest model bike, the ‘Street King,’ is painted at a small business, Premier Powder Coating in Ettrick, Wis. All the bike decals are made by a La Crosse business, Klings Designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWyatt Bicycle Co. is all about supporting other small businesses, so that\u2019s why we try to incorporate our business processes with other Wisconsin businesses,\u201d explains Hrudka.<\/p>\n

For the strength of Hrudka\u2019s business plan, market identification, organization, initial sales and start-up financing, Wyatt Bicycles won the La Crosse Area Development Corporation Century-Link Entrepreneurial Initiative award in July 2012.<\/p>\n

Hrudka found his business opportunity after realizing a common problem students had with shifting their gears improperly. They brought their bikes into UW-L\u2019s outdoor equipment rental service, Outdoor Connection, where he worked.<\/p>\n

\"business<\/a>
May graduate Wyatt Hrudka earned a degree in Information Systems. He is founder of Wyatt Bicycle Co., pictured with his 2013 model single-speed bike.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the nature of the riding they were doing\u2014 slowly down campus streets \u2014 didn\u2019t call for complicated shifting. Hrudka designed his own single-speed bicycle geared toward college students.<\/p>\n

A shipment of 170 arrived in November 2011 and nearly all sold within the first year and a half. He was surprised to find orders were coming from not just college-aged buyers but a diverse group \u2014 the majority ages 30-60 \u2014 from all over the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a trend right now to have single speed bikes,\u201d he says. \u201cGas prices are rising and people want bikes that are simple, reliable and affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transferring to UW-L was one of the best decisions Hrudka ever made, he says. He saw how he could incorporate an Information Systems background into business with tools such as website management and using computer programs to maximize efficiency. UW-L\u2019s Small Business Development Center helped him develop a business plan, which has so far been successful.<\/p>\n

Today Hrudka has one employee who helps him assemble the bikes. People can purchase bikes at several dealers in the state (including Bikes Limited in La Crosse), or order through his website, wyattbikes.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wisconsin dealers of Wyatt Bikes include:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Bikes Limited, La Crosse
\n\u2022 Broken Spoke Bike Studio, Manitowoc
\n\u2022 Streets of Fire, Oshkosh
\n\u2022 Sprockets Bike & Board, Tomah
\n\u2022 Gear \u2018N Up, Neenah
\n\u2022 Recyclist, Kaukauna<\/p>\n

Wyatt Bicycles are made of chromoly steel, making them durable and light weight. Hrudka offers single speed and fixed gear bikes in a variety of color combinations. His most recent model sells for $449.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May graduate Wyatt Hrudka discovered a market for single speed bikes while adjusting gears and greasing chains at UW-La Crosse\u2019s outdoor equipment rental service. With help from UW-L business classes and the university\u2019s Small Business Development Center, Hrudka built a single-speed bike business from the ground up, Wyatt Bicycle Co. \u201cFrom the moment I sold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-1213","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}