GIRARD, Ohio – Paul Frankford has been in business at Frankford Bicycle for 47 years and loves his customers.
“This is a fun sport,” he says. “In the bike business, people come in for fun and recreation. The customers we have coming in are fantastic.”
Frankford opened the shop at 964 N. State St., Girard, in 1976. Before opening the shop, Frankford worked at a bike shop on the north side of Youngstown and would hitchhike there after school.
“It was a continuation,” he says. “My dad was in the bike business until ’71 and he passed away and then I got back into it in ’76.”
The 11,000-square-foot store specializes in bicycle sales and service, carrying the Giant and Specialized brands. Customers come not only from Girard, Hubbard and Youngstown but also from parts of Pennsylvania.
Frankford says it’s the quality of the bikes he sells that sets them apart from what you can buy at a discount store.
“If you want quality, you have to go to a bike shop,” he says.
Those bicycles deliver performance quality and durability that you can’t find in the bikes sold at discount stores, he says.
The price and performance level depend on how involved a buyer wants to get into cycling. Top-end bikes can run $15,000.
“What keeps us in business is the $500 to $1,000 price range,” he says. “The enthusiasts are of course into a level above that.”
If a customer who is new to cycling wants to buy a bike, Frankford first determines how he wants to use it.
“We would try to gear the bike to the type of cycling they were looking to do, whether it be comfort or fitness or road,” he says. “We try to customize a bike to their needs.”
Business is good during the holiday season, but peak season for the shop is spring and summer.
“People are out, heading to the bike trail, enjoying the weather, getting some exercise and family time,” he says. “That’s really when the business thrives.”
Cycling saw a boost in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a fitness trend and the Mahoning Valley’s bike trails help to keep the sport popular among area families.
Whole families come into Frankford Bicycle to get ready to hit the trails, “from children all the way up to grandparents,” Frankford says.
Pictured at top: Paul Frankford, owner of Frankford Bicycle in Girard, has been in business for more than 47 years.