Though us girls at Muddbunnies.com focus a lot on mountain biking, our goal is to promote women in cycling…period! Cross-country, downhill, dirt jumping, slopestyle, road riding, cyclocross, track racing, bmx, flatland riding, trials and whatever else you can do on two wheels, we want to promote.
In additions to the styles of riding, there’s nothing we like more than highlighting women in the industry wether you’re a master mechanic, on the front lines in retail selling bikes, or reppin the many great products we all enjoy.
Enter JettGrrl Bike Studio’s owner/founder/supreme diva, Tracy Myerson. I first met Tracy in 2006 when we were shooting the very first Muddbunnies Calendar. Back then she was operating her part time shop out of a basement she rented in a house in East Vancouver. She had given us permission to use her studio space, and play with her tools and grease up the girls for the photo shoot.
As a manager of a bike shop myself, I love to advertise for other women in the industry. Tracy deserves as much promotion as possible. Here’s her story:
jett grrl IS Tracy A. Myerson. She created the concept, designed the graphics and website, and built the store. She does the repairs, builds the bikes, lovingly restores the vintage rides, and teaches the classes. She has been riding a bike since she was a wee girl living in Natick, Mass. and she has been riding seriously since 1991. She was in university when mountain bikes made their first appearance, and they were so cool looking, she just had to have one! So she invested everything she had in a cannondale SM1000 and hasn’t looked back since. after spending 10 years learning all she could about bikes, and fixing her own for that time, Tracy got involved with a group of girls in Toronto called the “Wenches with Wrenches”. Wenches taught 6 week repair workshops for women, and Tracy was so excited watching women leave the class feeling so completely empowered, that she knew she had to do something more with this. and Toronto wasn’t really the place for her, so she decided to move out west to start her own little bike shop. She wanted a place where women could learn together, and a place where they could hang out and feel totally comfortable.
Tracy had spent too much time getting attitude in bike shops, being told what it was that she needed – even when she specifically asked for something else – and feeling like no one had actually even touched her bike anyhow. As with so many things in her somewhat overly perfectionist world, Tracy knew that if she wanted it done right, she’d have to do it herself. Thus the concept for jett grrl was born. But before jett grrl could happen, there were a few things tracy needed to do.
One of the custom JettGrrl bikes Tracy built for TNA
Up to that point, Tracy was entirely self-taught. and while that more-or-less sufficed for her own small fleet of bikes (vintage italian road, single speed commuter, cross country mountain bike, and her hardtail SM1000 which started it all!), that was certainly not going to cut it when it came to repairing customer’s bikes, or teaching people. So off she went to the United Bicycle Institute in Oregon to get some proper mechanics training and certification. Because you can’t really be a perfectionist if you don’t actually know how to do it right! After coming back from UBI, she cut her teeth in a number of shops in vancouver for a few years, until she had no teeth left and she knew it was time to get jett grrl started.
MB: Why the rocket logo?
AÂ lot of people ask why “jett grrl”? It’s pretty simple. back in the day, before Tracy decided to become a bike mechanic, she studied architecture at McGill, and made art, and designed and built furniture. Her pride and joy is a solid cherry and aluminum dresser she made, that had a futuristic “jetson-like” quality. Her girlfriend at the time named the dresser “jet”, and then designed a custom courier bag for Tracy that was inspired by the dresser. the bag was beautiful, and the thought behind it even more so. Tracy knew when she was wearing the bag it would help her “ride like a rocket” – she would be FAST, and FUTURISTIC, and OUT OF THIS WORLD! So when trying to come up with a name for her new company, it seemed only too perfect to use the image of the rocket, and the word “jet”. But 2 “T”s graphically look a lot better with 2 “R”s, and that is how “jett grrl” came into being!
Another JettGrrl custom for TNA
To see more of Tracy’s stunning custom builds or for repair class info, click here
JettGrrl will reopen Oct.19th
