Hellion Bikes is not reinventing the wheel, but it might be trying to reinvent the bicycle.
Michael J. LaSalata grew up in Centralia. He attended Fords Prairie Elementary and graduated from Centralia College with a diesel certificate. In childhood, he and his twin brother were eager for hands-on learning.
“If we didn't have a planned project in front of us, we got in trouble,” LaSalata said.
His mother was friends with the owner of a local bike shop at the time and she asked him to put her sons to work. There, the boys learned enough to pass as decent bicycle mechanics and LaSalata gained his first exposure to what would eventually become his life’s passion.
The job also successfully kept the twins productive and handy.
“We took on the neighborhood task of anything that needed fixed, we did it, repaired it or brought in parts. At one point in time, we had built an entire little bike shop behind our mom's wood shop and had it full of bikes,” LaSalata said.
While in a welding class at Centralia High School, LaSalata met bike legend Gary Klein, founder of Klein Bikes — the bike hanging in the apartment on “Seinfeld” is a Klein Bike. Throughout his youth, LaSalata also rode bikes recreationally. But after school, he set the passion aside for other pursuits. For over two decades following, he worked as a millwright.
“It was in the downturning economy and a discharge from employment where I just found myself kind of irritated with plugging in the stuff that just kept evaporating in front of me and decided to do my own thing instead, which was go back to my love and start to build bicycles for a living,” he said.
He began working for Hellion Bikes, a brand started by Joe Prisel, who has built indoor bike parks in Portland and Burlington. The company strives to create high-quality American-made bicycles at affordable price points. LaSalata took over as CEO earlier this year. The company is now based out of Arkansas.
He also picked up biking again as a personal hobby, which quickly developed into more. He began amatuer racing with the Northwest Cup Circuit, later advancing to semi-pro. Just last year, he went pro at 44 years old. He competed in a 50-mile ride and took 31st overall (out of over 70) up against some factory-bike-sponsored 18-year-old professional riders.
This week, he came back to Centralia as part of a sales tour, and to visit his children who live here with their mother. Mainly, Hellion Bikes sells to local shops rather than direct-to-consumer, so he is dropping off models to various stores across the western half of the country.
“We feel that the biggest thing we can do for industry is to help redevelop the small bike store in the small community because they're going to be the biggest advocate and the biggest understander of what the community needs,” he said.
Between the Seattle to Portland Bike Classic, BMX trails and local skate parks, growing up in the Pacific Northwest offered a lot of biking opportunities, but LaSalata is troubled by what he thinks is a lack of nurture to that community in recent years. Businesses in the city of Centralia, he said, are currently missing out on a lot of revenue that could be generated by new bike trails or indoor bike parks. He claimed the local parks and trails have dwindled after decades of little care. In the future, he hopes to partner with other local businesses in the area to reinvigorate that scene.
“I want to be able to help out, and my way of helping out is being able to provide my experience. … And hopefully redevelop what used to be here, if not better,” LaSalata said.
To read more about his company, visit hellionbikesllc.com.
