Toby is an alchemist of bike love, a wizard of cycling culture and a prophet of adventuring by bicycle. We’re so stoked to have him plying his trade managing our bike shop, building up new bicycles, servicing old ones and fine tuning our showroom in anticipation of the return of cool weather and a functional Toole street in front of our building.
Toby has been living the bike shop life since 2004, getting started at the Sports Basement in San Fransisco before relocating to Ventura. In 2010, Toby co-founded the Ventura Bike Hub an amazing community bike shop. Toby helped build this organization into a thriving and integral part of Ventura’s cycling community and it was a tough and sad parting of ways for him and his partner Benicia to move on to Tucson. But it is also a testament of what they built that they can move along and pass their leadership on to the next generation of HUB leaders.
Beyond bicycle wrenching and riding, Toby’s interests include surfing, restoring old cars and traveling with his family.
Orange ya glad to see me? – March. 27, 2026
Today I got to work on a fun make-it-mine build. The customer chose to go with an orange theme on this green Surly Disc Trucker. My favorite choices were the brooks microfiber tape and brooks saddle. The cool thing about the make it mine is sometimes it’s just a simple upgrade like tubeless, sometimes just a little touch of highlight color with holdfast tubeless valves and sometimes a whole splash with colored housing and wolftooth kits.
The other fun thing that is kinda like the secret menu at in-n-out burger is we can order anything you want on your bike even if it isn’t in our catalog, if you send us an email request and truly make it exactly how you want! The Brooks flyer saddle was like that and I recently did a dynamo build that was off catalogue as well!
Enjoy making your bike exactly how you want!
Palo Verde Season – March. 20, 2026
One of the best benefits (besides warm night riding) of the upcoming warmth (or heat depending on how you want to phrase it) is the blooming of the Palo Verde Trees. The whole city comes alive in bright yellow blossoms. I went on a wonderful palo verde ride with my partner to enjoy all the Georgeous blooms around town as the city is painted yellow!
The sweetest Centurion – March. 13, 2026
I had the pleasure of working on this epic 1985 Centurion Pro Tour 15 this past week. It was in incredible condition with very tasteful upgrades. I’m a big fan of the TRP levers and leather tape upgrade as well as the Velo Orange racks and fenders (I’m not a huge fender person living in the desert) but these were just dang classy.
It’s always fun to see and work on a wide variety of bikes like new and old, fancy and simple, mountain and road or whatever. Always stoked to see people love their bikes and ride em!
An unfortunate visit – March. 06, 2026
One of my favorite things about the shop is all the friends you have coming to visit and/or people you meet that you build bonds and friendship with. With a busy family life it helps fulfill a sense of community. Mike and Annie are friends from outside the shop and from within another community when their kids went to the school my partner works from. We used to cross paths daily on our bike commute with a fun ding of bells, some yelling and waving (hollering at friends is one of my favorite activities, it helps shrink the size of the city to a human scale).
Since we moved to a different part of town I don’t get to see them as much, so visits at the shop from Mike and Annie are extra special. Recently they came in for a visit, but then dragged in the broken pieces of Annie’s bike. My heart sank; there is nothing worse than hearing about/seeing a friend or really anyone getting hit. Fortunately Annie is mostly alright, bike is totaled (but fortunately totally replaceable, but Annie is not replaceable).
We were able to get her sorted with a new bike, but I’m sure things will never be quite the same for Annie on her commute. Please everyone remember that driving is a big responsibility and we’ve gotta pay 10,000 percent attention when driving to keep pedestrians and folks riding bikes safe!
Enjoy your new whip when it comes in Annie- and may the people driving cars give you lots of space.
Flying in the Sky Islands – February 27, 2026
I’m still coming off the high of a wonderful trip with wonderful folks on our Sky Islands East bikepacking trip. I’ve been not riding much so I was a little worried- but with the help and support of a cool group of fun and inspiring people I hung in there and had a blast!
Many thanks to everyone who made it such a fun and wonderful trip! The scenery and company were completely superb!
Truegoodbyebamade – February. 19, 2026
I was blessed to have my friend Erik(TrueMarmalade) come visit us in Tucson for a couple weeks with his lovely partner Taryn (not pictured)(aka russetpeach). It’s such a pleasure to spend time and space with like minded friends living their best lives and riding their bikes.
We originally built Erik’s bike 4 years ago while he was staying in Tucson for a bit. We got it some great bike packing trips on this rig (Sky islands east, Catalina state park, and the tombstone hustle). We had some great times riding and hanging out. It was rad spending time again- but like all good things- it must come to an end as we send Erik off to go fill in more roads and ramble around the country.
Chronicles of the vice Vol 2 – February. 12, 2026
As you can gather, our vice gets lots of interesting usage, removing freewheels, holding axles, holding posts to cut, cutting steer tubes etc. Sometimes we cut other things. Here is Josh, the proprietor of this fine establishment, shaping a custom washer for his son Jackson’s slack line in their backyard.
Gratefulness – February. 05, 2026
In the first edition of chronicles of the vice, I bring exciting news from the land of Camelot. Sir Jacobsalot took a pull at Excalibur. Sadly, he was not successful. Many more attempts were made and finally Tobithus Schmidt esquire made a successful pull at the sword in the stone. More in vol. 2…..
Gratefulness – January. 29, 2026
I was very stoked that at the Angry catfish/ Alex Pretti memorial ride we had such a large turnout here in Tucson as well as around the country and world. There were over 250 solidarity rides hosted around the country. It’s awesome to be joined by so many like minded folks from all kinds of walks of life that expect better from our country. Keep fighting!!
Ride for community in solidarity – January. 22, 2026
This weekend we ride in Solidarity with our friends from Angry Catfish and the greater Tucson bicycle community. We ride for people killed and kidnapped by ICE.
Everyone must and should stand up against government overreach, there was a time where I feel like no matter where people lay on the politically spectrum their worry was the government and military turning inwards on its on citizens and spaces (see 2a-) maybe someday there will be an enlightenment that no one side will be excluded from this force and power, we all loose.
Everyone ultimately (except those benefiting by power and financially by rage) wants a world and community of peace. How we get there shouldn’t be by force but by people working together and using processes to make our communities safer, cleaner and better spaces for everyone. We’ll never get there except by being there and pushing for change.
So we ride to bring people together. To mourn and to be with our community. Hopefully one day the earth will be healed.
Healing vibes – January. 15, 2026
We had a pretty exciting weekend at our house. On Friday I got an emergency call at work that my kiddo had broken his arm. He was with the EMT’s not too far from the shop so I rushed down there (carefully) to meet them and comfort him. Confirmed his arm was shaped like a spoon. We got him to the urgent care and and got him splinted up until the swelling could go down.
We were up until the wee hours of the morning dealing with it. It was a wild weekend because not only is it our kiddos weekend (he broke it 2 days before his birthday) but we had other birthdays as well (The owner of our fabulous shop, Josh, my illustrious coworker Jacob, my friend Nick, among others) that we missed. It was an exhausting weekend without much rest, he was uncomfortable and of course sad he lost the use of his arm on his birthday weekend. In good news, he got his cast on today! So send those healing vibes!
Kings Cake – January. 08, 2026
Last week was Kings Day in France. Our work Neighbor Phillipe is from France and runs a cool XRay research lab called Examinart. We always help them with their bikes and they show us cool stuff and some love. The love this week was Galette des Rois a beautiful puff pastry with almond filling and porcelain figurines inside.
They continue the tradition of baking this treat at home complete with vintage figurines from the flea market to enjoy this tasty treat. This was beyond delicious and it was cool to try another version of the cake- I’ve only ever had the Mardi Gras style and I hate to say it but I’m a convert to the French style.
Always grateful for treats….
Hot debates – January. 01, 2026
Right after the discussion Elliot was working at the counter and I noticed a fantastic grease smear across his face. Does this make him look more like a mechanic or is it kind of like the cat 5 tattoo of the chainring on your calf that everyone makes fun of and calls you an amateur. To be honest- we don’t really care, but it’s all in fun.
Goodbye David! :.(- December. 25, 2025
We had many good times at the shop with David. He is a vast well of knowledge and experience. He was the kind of person who when you needed something it was there! Like kaboom! Done!
I just wanted to share my appreciation of getting to work with David the last couple of years and share a cute photo! I’m still excited to work with David, albeit at a different capacity at his new gig with QBP. I have many good and funny photos of Tang- but I’m gonna leave yall with the cutest one! (Bunny fo scale).
Mechanics gone wild- December. 18, 2025
If you havn’t gathered yet that Jacob is an incredible mechanic, here is another post for you. Whenever a hard to find problem comes along, something that multiple people couldn’t fix- Jacob is your person. He’s got those amazing problem solving skills and out of the box thinking that you can’t be taught.
If one of us is stumped he offers help and hops right in and gets those gears turning and makes it happen! Here he is filing some pawls that wouldn’t engage to get someone rolling until the proper ones comes in. He also solved someone’s mystery jumping chain problem that has been driving them nuts and a bunch of folks couldn’t solve it! Cheers to abother Jacob appreciation post!
Gleaming for a cleaning – December. 11, 2025
I have had a problem with accessing tools while my storage shed full of bikes and parts. So full that I can’t get to anything haha. My goal is to get rid of all my extraneous bikes and parts by the new year. So I pulled everything out and re-organized all my tools and “necessary” bikes than put everything else to the side.
It’s one beautiful sight to be able to access everything you need easily. One of the highlights that I hadn’t looked at in a while is this early 70’s Gitane Track Standard rocking its full chrome regalia. I had big dreams of getting it rolling again, I did pop some other wheels and cranks and rolled it around the block, but it’s a little too big for me and I’m a bit too busy to get it back rolling. This is especially pertinent since we just opened up a brand new Velodrome here in Tucson. Hopefully I’ll get back onto the track in the new year. The Gitane is looking for a new owner BTW….
More Mya Content – December. 04, 2025
We knew that you definitely have not got enough Mya (pronounced Meeya) the Dog Content. Her person David, is a rad guy and had purchased his surly Bridge Club from us to do some bike touring and traveling.
David brings Miya in with him whenever he comes to the shop, because he knows how much we love her, and we found out recently that she also knows when she’s getting close to the shop and starts going crazy in the car when they pull up. David just did a rad trip cycling down the coast with Miya and was gracious enough to share some pictures from their travels with us. Here is an epic shot of Miya in her comfortable basket setup hanging out at a park on the Oregon coast.
Ohhhh Deer – November. 27, 2025
While on a night time cruise the other evening I heard some rustling and saw some movement off to the side. So I did what any unrational human being would do and stopped to see what this large animal was.
Could it be a mountain lion, a bobcat, the elusive Jaguar, or some Javelina? To my delight it was a huge group of deer! After I stopped and they decided I wasn’t a threat they all chilled out and I got a good chance to observe them munching on the flora and resting. My favorite was the one that plopped down in the middle.
Welcome Elliot! – November. 20, 2025
For Elliot’s first day last week I thought it would be an awesome idea to welcome him with some of our favorite La Estrella doughnuts. Little did I know that Elliot and his partner had picked some up and brought some in as well. Would it be dougnutpocalis if we have too many or if you couldn’t get any? That’s what we’re calling it anyway. Believe it or not it took us some days to get through these!
Behind the screens – November. 14, 2025
Here is our illustrious owner Josh Lipton in the dungeon (aka our basement) showing what goes into making this place tick. Not one, not two, not 3 but 4 screens, 2 bottles and a Granny Smith apple! haha.
Pie season – November. 07, 2025
As we ease into fall (it’s still high 80’s here(30’Ish for the Celsius folks) we roll into soup and pie time! I don’t like the cold, but I do the simple nourishment of soups and my sweet tooth loves pie.
Our friend Dexter (fast as heck person who does and wins amazing gravel races) baked us this amazing apple pie (notice the Campfire logo) straight off his win at Vermont Super 8 bikepacking race, as a Thank you for helping with his bikes. One thing us folks love in the shop is being fed amazing food. If you really want to know the way to our hearts, this is it haha. Hint hint
Día De Los Muertos – October. 30, 2025
With Halloween, Tucson also has strong local participation in Día de los Muertos. There are usually lots of dances, altar and ofrenda building, and family gatherings leading up to the weekend festivities.
Tucson hosts a couple of processions — one that honors people who have lost their lives while migrating across the borderlands, which has been happening for over 25 years — and the long-running All Souls Procession, now in its 36th year and usually drawing about 150,000 participants.
You can learn more and watch the livestream on November 9th at
🔗 allsoulsprocession.org
They would also love your support to help keep this amazing community event going!
Here’s a shot of an amazing dance we came across on our way home!
Spooky season continued – October. 24, 2025
I’m trying hard to get into the spirit of the season this year- it’s felt off for the last couple of years for a variety of reasons. So far this year we’ve made a multitude of visits to thrift stores to finds bits and pieces to make our costumes as well as the requisite visit to spirit Halloween to satiate the kiddo.
We’ve changed the outer bulbs to spooky colors on our porch light. I try every breakfast by bike to get into the festive spirit weather it be snow, sun and holiday decorations for each current event, season and holiday (bunnies for Easter, spooky things for Halloween, Tesla dumpster fire, or what have you) enjoy these pancakes from the last breakfast by bike!
Spooky season chill rides – October. 18, 2025
As spooky season slowly rolls in (it’s been warm!) we’ve been stoked to have a fairly quick cool down this last week with the remnants of a couple tropical storms blow through and the beginnings of crisp(for us) mornings. It will get colder yet but I feel like this is the sweet spot for weather in the area.
The other thing about Tucson this time of year is that there’s about 3 events every day and you’ve gotta choose what event to go to. Anywho- back to the point: I’ve been enjoying chill rides in the evenings- a friend of the shop Erik Bingesser introduced me to #chillestrideever which is a picture of your bike on a couch that people put in the streets. Turns out there’s plenty of couches put up around town and I couldn’t think of a more #chillestrideevzr than this skeleton on the couch just chillin!