A small mom-and-pop business that made bicycles for the Semper Fi Fund was destroyed by fire Sunday morning, along with 20 bicycles built for Camp Pendleton Marines.
The Los Angeles Daily News reports Spoke N’ Wheel Bicycles in West Hills was completely gutted by the blaze, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.
Spoke N’ Wheel Bicycles had been in business more than 37 years and was a fixture in the community.
Store managing partner Jody Millard helped build special bicycles for Wounded Warriors through grants from the Semper Fi Fund. Many of those bikes were used by troops in the recent Marine Corps Trials held at Camp Pendleton in March.
Millard said he built the bicycles at cost and was reimbursed by the Semper Fi Fund, but liked to add a little something special to the bikes as his way of saying thank you to the troops:
“I give them pedals and other little goodies to show our support for Marines that have tried to protect us. We don’t have that ability right now, which kind of breaks my heart.”
Spoke N' Wheel Bicycles is now closed indefinitely.
