Andrew Danyluk and Selim Sabbagh grew up thousands of kilometres apart — one in small town in northern Ontario, and the other in one of Bogota, the capital of Colombia and home to millions of people.
Their shared passion for mountain biking has brought them together as the new owners of Revelstoke’s newest bike shop — Tantrum Ride. Co.
Tantrum opened on the weekend at 120 Connaught Ave., the former home of Revelstoke’s Telus Store.
For both, it’s the culmination of decades of life in the biking industry, primarily on dirt trails.
“Selim & I are both kind of the same in that we started riding really early,” Danyluk told me. “It’s going on 20 years involvement with the sport.”
Danyluk’s first mountain bike was rigid. He raced while growing up in Sault-Ste. Marie, Ont., and worked at the local bike shop while in high school.
After moving to Revelstoke, he got hired on by CP Rail, but after a layoff, he decided to get back into the bike industry and got jobs at Skookum and then Flowt, where he’s worked for the past few years.
Sabbagh has an even greater pedigree in the industry. He grew up as BMX racer and then switched to cross-country. After deciding that was too hard, he picked up downhill racing and was a two-time national champion in Colombia.
Eventually, he got more involved with his sponsors and landed a job as a regional representative for SRAM, the bike component manufacturing giant. He became the company’s regional manager for Latin America and trained mechanics in all the new technology.
Sabbagh came to Revelstoke a few years ago, moving here with his wife Michelle Bowlen. Part of the attraction was Revelstoke’s mountain biking.
He got a job at Flowt and has since started a family, with one young daughter and another child on the way.
“It was a good choice,” he said. “I have no regrets dropping my job. It’s a great place to start a family.”
Photo: Tantrum carries mountain bikes, road bikes and a variety of soft goods.
It was while working together at Flowt and seeing it get busier every year that Sabbagh and Danyluk saw the opportunity to start a third bike shop. “It seemed like there was one coming down the road, we could see one on the horizon and we figured ‘Why not us?’” said Danyluk.
They conceived the idea together and went into action over the winter, renovating the Telus Store to get it ready for opening day.
The store carries bikes by Trek and Intense. The former is the big brand that makes everything from little kids bikes to high-end road and mountain bikes. The latter is the small boutique brand. They also carry soft goods by Mavic, Moloja, Ion and Bontrager.
The space is fairly small, with mountain bikes on the right as you walk in, and a small selection of road bikes on the left. There’s also the usual range of shirts, helmets, gloves, padding, parts and other accessories.
The mechanic space is in the rear of the shop, but with only a low cabinet separating it from the front, meaning you can Sabbagh, the lead mechanic, while he’s working. Meanwhile Danyluk handles the sales side and smaller mechanical jobs. They want to hire a second full-time mechanic and have high hopes for the future.
“One of the things I feel about this community is it’s expanding and growing really fast,” said Sabbagh. “B.C. is the mecca and Revelstoke is this new big spot that everyone wants to go and check out. It’s full of opportunities and we’re trying to get some of that for ourselves.”
Tantrum Ride Co. is located at 120 Connaught Ave. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
