About Blue Wheel Bicycles

The Shop

For 50 years, Blue Wheel Bicycles has been the perfect fit for Charlottesville’s bike community.  Our expertise is in bicycle repair, including mountain, road, hybrid, gravel, cyclocross, and e-bikes.  Though we specialize in the repair of bikes from Specialized, Giant, Santa Cruz, and Tern, we gladly repair all brands of bike with the same level of care.  Everyone at the shop is a passionate cyclist who can help outfit you with the best equipment and apparel to suit your needs.

Blue Wheel is part of the Rocktown Bicycles family.  Led by Rocktown owner-operator Ken Bell, Blue Wheel is co-owned by managers Scott Paisley, Paul Buschi, and Mark McLewee.

With the partnership, Blue Wheel has an expanded inventory of bikes and accessories, while maintaining Charlottesville-based ownership and operation.

Rocktown is Shenandoah Valley’s premier bicycle shop, priding itself on superior service and expertise of the vast network of cycling-friendly roads and trails around Harrisonburg.  Learn more about Rocktown.

The Staff

Scott Paisley

A prolific mechanic whose friendliness is matched only by his skill, Scott Paisley logged his first Blue Wheel shifts in the summer of 1980, commuting by bike from Nelson County.  Since then, he has wrenched around the world, and spent years working on the manufacturing side of the bicycle industry.  Scott guesses he built over 500 frames - including his own Paisley line of custom frames - before returning to Blue Wheel full time. In addition to being a walking encyclopedia of bicycle knowledge (and awesomely bad jokes), Scott is a cyclocross masters national champion who loves to explore the gravel roads around Charlottesville.  Scott may have missed his true calling as a music critic for obscure British prog rock, but we’re all thankful he chose bikes instead.

Paul Buschi

Charlottesville’s most sought-after mountain bike mechanic is also its nicest. Ex-pro racer Paul Buschi has earned podium finishes at premier races like the SM100 and Sea Otter, but he’d rather tell you about his favorite places to ride and eat!  He’s a true student of the bike, constantly learning the intricacies of new bike technology, all in the name of helping you find a bike you love to ride.  Paul is our spiritual guide in the shop, and he leads by example - work hard, have fun, be nice, and spend as much time as possible taking family trips in a sweet van!

Mark McLewee

After many years of loitering in the shop, Mark joined Blue Wheel in 2020, helping out in the shop on his day off.  By the end of the year, he left his job in the music business to join the team full time.  Mark enjoys the challenge and camaraderie of cycling, and loves to help cyclists at all levels.

Ken Bell

In 2004, Ken partnered with his friend Jason Berry to launch Gripped Films. Together, the two produced their first award-winning documentary, Off Road To Athens, which followed 8 Olympic cycling hopefuls as they raced for selection all over the world. After producing two more documentaries about cycling, 24 Solo and Chasing Legends, Ken began to pursue his childhood dream of opening a bike shop.  With his oldest son riding for the US Mountain Bike national team, and having helped launch the Virginia High School Mountain Bike Team while also promoting mountain bike and cyclocross races, the time to open Rocktown Bicycles seemed just right.

Momo

Scott’s mountain biking partner, Momo, is our shop-dog-in-training.  Good girl, Momo!

A Brief History of Blue Wheel

Such a long and amazing adventure! Blue Wheel was opened in 1973 by Bill Gray on Elliewood Avenue in the basement that would become the Coup d’Ville restaurant. A year later, he purchased the building on the end of Elliewood which he would paint to look just like a Campagnolo parts box– including a full-building set of World Championship stripes.

Scott Paisley arrived from Ohio to work for Bill the summer of 1980 (infamously riding from Nellysford and back each day) and Roger Friend came to UVa and began working with Bill in ‘81. If you ever go now to the coffee shop at 19 Elliewood, imagine 14 mechanics working out of that space!

Roger and Michael Leff bought Blue Wheel from Bill in 1983. A true history of American bicycle brands big and small were sold over the years–from C.Itoh, Frejus, Crescent, Panasonic, to custom Merlins and Sevens and Scott’s own Paisley bicycles and eventually Bontrager, Trek, Specialized to name just a few. 

Roger and his wife, Ruth Stornetta, organized one of the most successful racing clubs in the mid-Atlantic region, helping to develop some of the best young cycling talent anywhere along the way. The Monticello Velo Club put on the Jefferson Cup Road race for 25 years–an iconic event bringing talent from the entire east coast to the Charlottesville area. 

Blue Wheel moved into the renovated IX fabric mill in Charlottesville’s south downtown area in 2006. The new space allowed a more open presentation and work area. In 2015, Blue Wheel had the great fortune to be able to bring in Paul Buschi, legendary mountain bike rider and all-around great guy. These last years in particular have seen tremendous growth in staff and our community circle as more young riders are playing a role at the store.