2022: THE YEAR IN REVIEW & WHAT COMES AFTER

The 2022 year is rapidly grinding to its conclusion. This time each year, I take stock. What have we learned? What were our successes & our failures? How can we make Mojo Cycling a better place for all of our customers & for the greater NWA community? These are basic questions when one is trying to grow & improve. But . . . the answers are not always as simple to enumerate. To improve in 2023, we have to come up with answers.

This Year’s Wins –

Despite ‘22 being a tough year, we were able to grow our rentals division. We’ve rented bikes for 4yrs & there’s been a pattern of steady growth. However, this year we doubled our numbers, versus those of ‘21. That’s a huge win. This explosion put pressure on the rest of the shop, forcing us to spin Mojo Rentals off to another building. The work of building out that space nearly killed me, but it turned out well, but a little crowded. (Because, when I started we had 42 rentals & when I finished we had over 70).

Our service area is getting back to basics. The space freed-up when rentals moved-out has undergone an evolution. Under Ed Tremmel’s management, the service area has been significantly cleaned-up. All new techs also ensure that our bikes have undergone even better service; wait times have been reduced, too. They have also made it a priority to keep customers apprised of what’s taking place with their bike, just like the shop’s old days. Our service area’s new performance is a step forward, but it’s part of an evolutionary process. Ed is not content with today’s service area. It will continue to evolve & improve.

We also grew our bike brand options by adding the following cycle manufacturers to our roster: Giant, Forbidden & Gorilla Gravity. Shawna has been working her magic to bring on the best brands in the industry. The addition of Giant was a coup for us, as it gave us one of the “top three brands.” and more importantly the women’s specific LIV. The buying power that a heavy hitter like Giant provides is a big win for our customers. Giant is the largest cycle manufacturer in the world, affording it to buy cheap & sell at better prices than many of its rivals. Forbidden & Gorilla Gravity are “edgy” companies that enable us to continue to say that we sell the newest & best products in the market.

We established new cooperative ventures with brands like Continental & Pit Viper. Continental thoroughly revamped their tire line & reached out to Mojo to establish a location to highlight their new tires in NWA. But it goes deeper than merely selling tires, The Mojo staff & riders are testing tires & sending feedback for tweeks that may make the tires even better. The Pit Viper brand was more of Shawna’s spot on consumer intuition and has also been a great relationship for Mojo. We sell loads of their shades & have been able to have a direct connection to their gear/clothing lines, also.

Mojo’s education programs gathered steam in 2022. Mal created new outreach platforms to reach riders using different media. The shop no longer relies solely on Facebook. He realized that platform’s limitations & moved our communication also to Instagram. But these platforms still alienate folks & have formats that can be limiting. Thus, Mal instituted our Mojo Monday Newsletter. This weekly “magazine” updates readers about forthcoming cycling events, features tech & “how to” articles & even provides spotlights on local cyclists who are making a difference in our community.

Plans For 2023 –

Mal has also spent months working on a new Mojo Loyalty Program. Our customers have been so loyal to the shop over the years. We’ve debated how to say “thank you” to those riders who loyally shop with us. Over the next few weeks, we’ll roll-out our plan. Hopefully customers will like it. It will certainly be less haphazard than taking a few bucks off a sale here or there.

The wane of road biking in 2022 was a blow to the cycling industry. Mojo Cycling is usually thought of as a mountain bike shop, but we service all cycling communities. (Why would we exclude one?) Mountain biking has exploded in NWA, but this growth is not what slowed the expansion of road riding. Nationally, gravel riding has been “taking it to the road category.” This is not just a localized transformation, it’s a national move. Who knows how road riding will come back, but gravel riding is king. Gravel, gravel, gravel. It’s all about gravel. For 2023, we plan to support you gravel riders with more stock. 2022 was tough. We could not get stock from our manufacturers. Our goal for 2023 is to fix this issue. We’ll feature bikes from Giant, VAAST & Orbea.

Speaking of serving all riding communities, readers may have noticed that we’ve done several cooperative events with adaptive riders over the last few months. Not only will this continue, we plan to take this support to the next level. We’ll do several events with the adaptive riding community. But, our biggest step will be at the Bentonville Bike Fest, where we are the sponsor for the Enduro. David has committed to adaptive riders that they will be part of the Enduro in 2023. Any support riders need will be provided by Mojo.

E-Bikes rule. Mojo plans to step it up in a big way. Orbea Rise bikes are the best e-trail bike in the industry, but were a virtual battle for us to get. We’ll have more this year. We’ll also have Wild e-bikes. The Ibis Oso has received great reviews & David has been testing one for several months. We plan to provide these to riders who want to hit our trails hard, fast & with big drops. Giant also has great e-bikes available, & we’ll be selling them. We will also be announcing a ground-breaking new e-bike from G++++ soon. Watch our social media outreach.

Finally, we aim to further our outreach into the local riding community. We’ll have more women-specific tech classes & rides. Mojo plans to continue working with Lon Cullen on riding tech classes. We’ll also focus on lifestyle topics that will affect your cycling, like nutrition & cross training. The key is to help you – as a rider – be the best athlete that you can be, whether that’s helping you prepare for XC or Enduro racing, helping you get prepared to ride the greenway or just helping you to lose a few pounds. If it involves your bike, we want to help you get better.

Get ready for 2023, because it’s just around the corner. Mojo Cycling wants to help you to excel!