Meet the MSBC Crew 1.0 - the Schutter Family

• Posted on 30 March 2022
• By KW
• 0

Here's your chance to meet the MSBC crew.

You know how you've always wondered about what happens behind the scenes at Main Street Bicycle?  And how there's that one person there who you're sure you've seen somewhere else, but you can't quite figure out where or why?  Well, we're here to help.  What follows is all you've ever wanted to know about the MSBC sales and service crew, beginning with the Schutter family.  You can see the rest of the crew HERE.

  We'll start with Aaron Schutter; his name begins with an "A," after all.  Oh, and he owns the place, so he gets top billing.  Aaron bought the shop near the end of the 2019 season and has steered us through the pandemic shutdown, the lack of inventory availability, and general store growth in the 18 or so months since then.  As a fresh-faced youngster, Aaron actually started building custom bikes shortly after high school.  His Symbiote Cycleworks frames can be found in a few places around the US and Canada, and they are fantastic.  The second one ever was given to his dad, so that's pretty cool.  Aaron attended Kettering University before returning to west Michigan to see what the world had to offer him, and eventually ended up working for Rich here at the shop a few years ago.  His newest, sweetest ride is his Scott Addict Gravel 10, complete with Shimano GRX Di2 electronic shifting.  He also rides a Scott Spark RC 900 Pro mountain bike.  In his free time Aaron likes to... ride bikes.  Usually with his wife, Lynnea.  He's also a prominent fixture on the west Michigan race scene, having won the overall men's title at the Hart Hills gravel race in 2021, and the MMBA points champion jersey in the Sport class in 2018.  

  Eveyone probably already knows Bob Schutter, because he's usually the first person you see when you come in the door.  Bob has a long history in retail, with experience in large grocery chains and even representing a national distributor.  Bob's bike career started, as many do, in his garage when he was a kid.  He and his friends tore apart their bikes to adapt them for trail riding and make them faster.  As a matter of fact, if he'd been somewhere other than humble Hudsonville, MI, he might have become Gary Fisher.  Bob, having been on Earth longest (of anyone here, anyway), also has the most bikes here.  His go-to ride is his Jamis Dakota Team MTB.  He also owns two custom hand-built bikes from Symbiote Cycle Works - a fixed gear and a gravel bike.  The rest of the stable includes some serious classics, like his Rock Hopper single speed, a Peugeot road bike, and he still owns his Fuji 10-speed from junior high!  There is even a Schwinn Voyager 11.8 in the basement, alongside a gorgeous Austro-Daimler.  Bob has met some interesting people over the years, as one might imagine, but his biggest claim to fame is that he met Eric Amble, who was the original guitarist for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.  They met at a fixed-gear bike symposium!

  Sarah (Schutter) Renkema is actually the Schutter with the longest tenure at the shop; she was hired first out of all of them, by Jack Heuvelhorst back around 2009.  When she isn't selling bikes or riding them, Sarah teaches orchestra classes in several different schools, including South Christian HS in Grand Rapids.  "A room full of kids with noisemakers?  Bring it on!" is her motto.  To recover from adventures with other people's kids, she rides her bike with her own two kids and her husband.  Sarah also loves to read and vacation on Mackinac Island, two activities that can easily be combined.  She says that MTB and gravel are her favorite bike activities, and her Scott Scale with the fabulous purple Velocity wheels is her go-to MTB ride.  You can see from the picture that she completes the ensemble with her purple socks and lovely green tulle skirt.  Fun fact?  She has red hair and blue eyes, which is apparently the rarest hair/eye color combo.  Which makes sense, because Sarah is one of a kind!