As you can imagine, it’s not easy to be a four-season bike shop in a state where it’s possible to see snow on the ground for eight months out of the year. But Steve Whitford, co-owner of South Shore Cyclery in Cudahy, says he knows no other way.

"I went to college and tried to look for other lines of work, and I always wound up like a yo-yo right back in the bike shop," says Whitford, who began working as a teenager at the old North Shore Cyclery, before joining his business partner, Scott Wilke, in purchasing the new shop in 2006.

An avid cyclist himself, Whitford happily admits "I’ve chalked it up to inevitability that this is where I'm going to be until I can’t."

As for downtown Cudahy, the storefront on 4758 S. Packard Ave. made sense, since Wilke was already a collector of vintage bikes and stored them here in the building that he owned. South Shore Cyclery has carved out a niche in the area – Whitford points out that there’s no competition to the east: Lake Michigan – with a wide range of offerings, the business is pretty unique.

In addition to selling new and used bikes, South Shore Cyclery is also home to an antique bike museum – a collection like nothing else in Wisconsin that needs to be seen to believed.

However, looking at the hundreds of bikes on display – and hundreds more in storage in the basement – it’s easy to assume that the bicycle industry hasn’t changed much, even since Whitford broke into the business in the ‘90s.

Whitford says that assumption couldn’t be farther from the truth.

"It's like a car from the ‘80s; it's in good shape, absolutely nothing wrong with it, but compared to the technology of a car of modern age, it's a completely different animal," says Whitford.

"There's a lot of systems that use the same principles but they've just been so much improved. Things are lighter, smoother, longer-lasting, lower maintenance. Then on the higher end spectrum, things like suspension and disc breaks, and we have electronic shifting, e-bikes with lithium ion batteries and motors. We've got fat bikes for snow that instead of suspension, just have big tires."

In other words, the industry is going places, even in Milwaukee. In the winter. And that’s important, because running a business is a year-round affair, even if most casual cyclists put their bikes away for the winter.

With four full-time and two-part time employees, Whitford, 33, knows how to deal with seasonality; it’s a challenge he’s been navigating since his start working summers as a kid.

"The way we treat it is we treat it like any professional athlete would. You have a season, and to be productive and efficient in that season, you have to train and prepare in the off season."

So yes, South Shore Cyclery sells snow bikes with impossibly fat tires to die-hards, but the staff also spends the winter preparing, rearranging, remodeling, working on bikes and selling parts on eBay.

Says Whitford, "A lot of times, the Internet is just the low-hanging fruit and the lowest priced option, but we do sell used and vintage parts that sometimes are close to "unobtanium," and so people are after those. Sometimes the used bikes, we fix them up if they're from the '70s or '60s and sell them online. It's not as much new commodity items but parts and accessories."

And Whitford knows that unlike some other bike shops, to be successful, he also needs to be approachable to any customer. South Shore is the largest Giant dealer in Metro Milwaukee, and they do sell a few $5,000 bikes – but Whitford doesn’t turn down casual cyclists, kids or folks looking for lower cost options.

"We try to be all things bike for anyone that wants to do anything with a bike. We sell, like a lot of shops, tons of mid-range, recreational, hybrid type bikes, and commuter bikes, and people who try to get some exercise or have some fun."

That’s why he’s selling entry-level hybrid bikes like the Giant Cyrpress for $329, and solid used bikes for much less. Whitford says he’d rather see you on a bike he’s put together himself than something you bought at a big box store. According to him, it’s just safer.

And, Whitford says, Milwaukee is actually a really good bike city.

"The infrastructure here, there's some things that are definitely happening. We got the Oak Leaf Trail, we got the Hank Aaron Trail, we got a bunch of things like that. Some things, maybe I'd say we're not as far along with some cities, but I think we’re the third most bike-friendly city in the States."

Of course, Whitford is among those cyclists. He’s personally traveled around the country on his bikes, recently completing a few 100-mile treks, but don’t expect him to brag, either. "I don't race a lot or anything like that, but I do have serious bikes for serious rides," he says humbly.

Not that he has a ton of time for recreation.

"Sometimes customers ask when I'm here and I just tell them the sign on the door with the hours is a pretty good bet," Whitford says.

But he’s also working his dream job, so the long hours are OK, and they’re paying off.

"I think there's more we can do at this location," he says.

Wandering through a basement jam-packed with parts and rental bikes, or looking at the main floor’s new section of cutting-edge e-bikes, Whitford might just be right. There’s a bike with elliptical parts instead of pedals for former runners; balance bikes for kids just learning to ride; feather-light carbon fiber bikes for triathletes … and everything in between.

All of this allows Whitford to connect with his customers through advocacy and events – "being a little bigger shop now, I think we have a little more to give back and a little more to spread around.

In addition to being active in the cycling community with events and advocacy, Whitford knows that if a customer buys his or her first bike at South Shore Cyclery – and has a great experience – they’ll be back.

Says Whitford, "There are some bike shops that have a business model where they want to just sell you a new bike, they don't want to talk about, look at, or touch your dirty old bike that needs work. We will fix any bike that you bring in the store. It doesn't matter of you got it at Walmart or if it's been in the barn for 50 years, or if it's technically, in some ways, maybe not even feasibly, economically, or responsible to fix. If it was your grandpa's bike and you want to spend $500 getting it the way it was 20 years ago, we will do that, too."