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Cap’s is back in the Tri-Cities

The Hobbis family is selling and repairing bikes in the Tri-Cities again.
Gord Hobbis
Gord Hobbis is bringing the family's bike business back to the Tri-Cities as he opened a branch of his Cap's The Original Bike Shop in Port Moody on Wednesday. His brother, Glen, sold his four Cap's Westwood Cycle shops to Trek Bikes Canada last fall.

The Hobbis family is selling and repairing bikes in the Tri-Cities again.

This time, it’s Gord Hobbis carrying on a family business started 86 years ago when Cap and Bert Hobbis opened their first shop in Coquitlam as he opened a second branch of his Cap’s The Original Bike Shop on St. Johns Street in Port Moody last week (in the former Party Tailors store).

His brother Glen and wife Kelly sold their four Cap’s Westwood Cycle shops to Trek Bikes Canada last fall and those stores in Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby and Maple Ridge are still undergoing a transition to Trek corporate outlets.

(Glen Hobbis was diagnosed with chronic lymphocyctic leukaemia in 2010 and when Trek made an offer to buy the shops, Kelly Hobbis said it was time to coast into retirement and focus on family.)

Gord Hobbis’ original Original Bike Shop is in New Westminster’s Sapperton neighbourhood and also functions as a museum for the family’s extensive collection of vintage and historical bikes dating back to the 1800s that serve as a kind of timeline for their evolution, from bone-rattling velocipedes to sleek, 15-lb. carbon fibre racing bikes on the sales floor.

The Cap’s and Hobbis names have been synonymous with supporting cycling and community events, and store manager Ryan Petersen said that will continue at the new Port Moody shop. In fact, plans are already in the works for the first Hell of the West climbing challenge to be held in November, a lung-bursting, quad-shattering grind up some of the toughest, steepest rideable hills in the Tri-Cities.

The ride is similar to the Royal City Baker’s Dozen, which takes cyclists up the 13 most gruelling ascents in New Westminster and has been hosted by the Sapperton shop for the past two years.

mbartel@tricitynews.com