Stylish cycling equipment lines the shelves.
There’s a wide selection of bicycles for all ages at the new Adventum Bikes store in Merced.
Andrea Velasquez, co-owner of Adventum Bikes, at left, talks with customers inside the new store in Merced.
Adventum Bikes owners Andrea Velasquez and Corina Diaz, along with Diana Westmoreland Pedrozo, a representative for the office of State Senator Anna Caballero.
Two local women who have been best friends for years have opened up Merced’s latest cycling store — Adventum Bikes — in the Bear Creek Village retail center, right next door to the Los Panchos restaurant at 2975 G Street.
Andrea Velasquez, a nurse practitioner, and Corina Diaz, a school teacher, wanted to start a venture that would encourage healthy lifestyles in their hometown.
“We thought of a unique bike store that would provide quality bikes to promote health and wellness in the community,” Velasquez told the Times. “We are really trying to get people out and about.”
Velasquez says she was inspired in part from her job in health care where she interacts with people who are struggling with obesity, diabetes and physical disabilities that make regular exercise a bit of a challenge.
Adventum Bikes features a unique selection for all ages — from affordable kids’ bicycles to high-end electric “e-bikes.” The brands include: Diamondback, Redline, Mafia, iZip and Stacyc.
The iZip e-bike models look and perform like regular bicycles, but can provide extra drive assistance when needed. Velasquez said the bikes can bring in riders who might otherwise be inactive. They offer the opportunity for people to ride longer periods of time and go greater distances. They are also less physically demanding on joints and muscles.
On the other hand, Stacyc models are fully electric balance bikes, with no pedals, and are designed for children to help speed up their transition to a real BMX bike or a dirt bike. These bikes comes in various sizes, and speed ranges, for different ages of children. Velasquez pointed out that Stacyc bikes have also been of assistance to children with certain physical disabilities.
If these unique bikes sound interesting, and you would like to experience them, Adventum Bikes offers bike rentals, per day or per hour, with both standard bikes and e-bikes. They also offer bike repair service on Saturdays.
Velasquez and Diaz are proud to be members of the Merced County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The chamber, along with the MBX Network, helped launch the business with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in late March.
To find out more about Adventum Bikes, visit online at: adventumbikes.com, or call 209-626-5150.