so, if you have gotten this far, perhaps the question you are asking
is "who is the grrl behind the jett?"
jett grrl IS tracy a. myerson. she created the concept, built the
curriculum, and designed the graphics and website. (actually, credit for
the rocket ship really belongs to someone else. but you'll have to keep reading).
tracy does the repairs, teaches the classes, and lovingly restores the
old bikes. 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.
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, reverse hybrid,
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 :o) and she knew it was time to
get jett grrl started.
so i promised earlier on this page to tell you about the rocket. a 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, 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 about it.
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!
there is one other thing i'd like to talk about on this page,
and that is what kind of projects we are involved in other
than what you have already read about :o) but it will have to wait till tomorrow!
jett grrl bike studio
tel:(604)255-5097 | email:jett_grrl@hotmail.com