SLO County cyclist has worked at local bike shops for 25 years. He just opened his own
After 25 years of working in San Luis Obispo County bicycle shops, Jon Richert now has one of his own in Morro Bay.
The Atascadero High School graduate opened Red Tail Bikes at the former location of Kitty’s Kitchen, 890 Main St. in Morro Bay, on Aug. 31.
Before Red Tail Bikes opened, Richert said, cycling enthusiasts living in the North Coast communities of Morro Bay, Los Osos and Cayucos had to drive to Cambria or San Luis Obispo for their bike needs.
“We saw the need for a local bike shop,” Richert said. “There are a lot of cyclists on the coast, and many people who travel to the area for cycling.”
Richert has been an avid bike rider for 33 years, he said.
“I’m just happy to be on a bicycle,” he said. “I enjoy riding road, gravel and mountain bikes. My favorite, though, is dirt jumping and BMX.”
SLO County business owner has strong local ties
Richert and his wife of 17 years, Templeton native Heather Richert, have strong ties to the Central Coast. They’ve lived in San Luis Obispo for 12 years, and have two daughters: Leila, 11, and, Kealani, 14.
When Jon Richert was a few months old, his family moved to Atascadero from Fort Worth, Texas, he said.
Jon Richert estimates he was about 4 years old when he learned how to ride a bicycle, although his memories of that time are pretty hazy.
“My dad got me a bicycle and I was very upset because I thought it was a girl’s bike,” said Richert, who remembers “riding down the long driveway at our Atascadero house.”
When Richert was 5, his family relocated to Washington state.
“We lasted for 10 years before we missed the sun too much and returned to Atascadero,” Richert recalled with a grin.
After graduating from Atascadero High in 2001, he got his first job at the now-closed Sunstorm Cyclery in Atascadero, he said.
Richert continued building his bike-shop cred for another two decades, opening Flanders Bicycle in San Luis Obispo in 2010 with partner Shawn Hafley.
Richert left that business a few years before it closed in 2019 and found jobs at other bike shops.
Morro Bay bike shop opens in old restaurant space
Richert said he and his wife had been “planning on opening a bike shop of our own for a while now.”
“When we found out about this retail space, we jumped on it,” Jon Richert said.
It took months to transform the 1950s-era building, which was home to Kitty’s Kitchen for decades, into a retail space
“The inside of the shop had been totally gutted, demoed down to bare walls,” he recalled.
“Dave Peter, who did the remodel, considered our input while making decisions for the interior,” Richert said. “It was fun to watch the process.”
Peter’s family owns the building in which Red Tail Bikes is located.
According to Richert, people still come into Red Tail Bikes expecting to buy breakfast or lunch.
“We have had several people come in who remember eating in the restaurant and want to see what it looks like now,” he said. “One gentleman showed me where the table was that he asked his wife to marry him.”
What does Morro Bay bike shop sell?
Red Tail Bikes sells everything from entry-level bikes to high-end models, as well as bike helmets, parts and accessories.
Brands carried by the store include Aventon, Bianchi, Linus, Norco and Velotric.
The shop has “kids’ bikes, fat-tire bikes and E-bikes,” Richert wrote via email, “but we will soon have road, gravel, mountain and BMX bikes. We are able to get bikes of all types and for all skill levels.”
Red Tail Bikes currently has E-bikes and fat-tire bikes for rent, with plans to add mountain, road and gravel bikes to its rental offerings, Richert said.
What sets his shop apart, Richert said, is the comfortable laidback atmosphere and attitude. People can come in and browse without feeling like they have to buy something, he said.
In addition to retail and rentals, Red Tail Bikes also offers bike repairs with quick turnaround as a key goal.
Yelp reviewer Dennis E. praised Red Tail Bikes as a “beautiful, newly completed shop with quality merchandise.”
Richert is “known throughout the area as one of the top mechanics in SLO County, and customers drive for miles to have him service their bikes, because he makes sure it’s done right,” Dennis E. wrote in his Sept. 1 Yelp review. “You’ll be treated fairly and honestly.”
More about Red Tail Bikes
Red Tail Bikes is open at 890 Main St. in Morro Bay from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 805-225-1010 or follow the business on Instagram at @redtailbikesmb.
