13-year search leads Lepinski to rare SwingBike; Bike guru quadruples store size on Second in TD
Calvin Lepinski, owner of SPR Bicycle Shop, searched 13 years for this rare bike after learning he had walked past it as a youth. He is celebrating the restoration of this Cascade Locks Invention that took America by storm in the ‘70s and also the opening of his new shop on Second Street in The Dalles.
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles, Ore., Dec. 4, 2025 — SPR Bicycle shop owner Calvin Lepinski spent more than a decade searching for one of the rarest bicycles ever produced, only to learn that one had been sitting for years in a Skyline Road barn — a spot he had walked past in his teens while hunting.
If you saw him ride it, you would understand why.
The bike’s split-frame design allows the rear to slalom up and down the sidewalk as the entire back half of the bicycle pivots independently from the front handlebars and fork. It “snakes” through turns with an articulated, almost S-shaped motion.
It’s pretty sick.
The veteran bike mechanic passed one by and didn’t even know it when he was a teenager
“I was within probably 30 feet of it, and I just had no idea it was in there,” he said of the barn on Skyline Road in The Dalles.
His obsession to find a SwingBike started around 2010 while working as a mechanic at Discover Bikes in Hood River. A coworker mentioned the old SwingBikes, and Lepinski immediately looked them up. “I have to have one,” he recalled thinking. But the bikes were nearly impossible to find.
Inventor Ralph Belden in Cascade Locks sold them locally before marketing them on a national level, getting the endorsement from Jimmy Osmond of The Donny & Marie Show on ABC.
The bikes sold like Big Wheels in the ‘70s.
“There’s so few of them because who wants to get rid of one?” Lepinski said rhetorically. “They only made them for a few years.”
What he didn’t know was that a family friend owned one of the earliest SwingBikes made — a low-number serial bike from the mid-1970s stored in the barn he walked by when he was hunting.
And in 2023, the the friend on Skyline road mentioned he owned one - actually brought it into the shop. And as a gift to Lepinski for his birthday he agreed to sell it to Calvin, ending a search that stretched across most of his adult life.
That was just the beginning, however. The bike was rough.
“There was duct tape and a towel all around the seat, it was just looking ratty with a bent crank,” he said. “I took the entire thing apart, every piece possible.” He added new tires, chains, brake cables and a custom gel-padded seat and cover. He even tracked down reproduction vintage decals.
The one, the only, SwingBike - check out the double spring action.
Learning to ride the restored machine was quite a different challenge.
“The very first pedal I did, the rear twisted underneath me,” he said. “I almost crashed just trying to get it moving.” Even with years of riding experience, “It took probably took almost an hour to be able to ride it. It rides like a snake going down the road,” he said. “It is definitely the most smiles per mile.”
Crowds react instantly when he takes it outside.
“I get swarmed by people,” he said. “Most have never seen one or even heard of a SwingBike. People are like, let me pull out my phone, let me pull out my phone.”
He laughed that sometimes he can barely pedal because people are coming up to him. “I want to just ride this thing, but I understand it. That’s why I love it.”
The bike’s history adds to the appeal. Inventor Ralph Belden of Cascade Locks demonstrated an early version, the Pivicycle, around 1969. The commercial SwingBike hit the market in 1975 and was sold only through 1978.
Lepinski’s long pursuit of the SwingBike mirrors his climb in the bicycle world. Lepinski began as a mechanic in Hood River before launching his own shop in The Dalles in 2012 in a small garage bay on the west side.
“Basically I had a garage and a little mini office,” he said. He later moved near Ideal Homes, then into a cramped Washington Street storefront where he spent nearly nine years until a two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, he opened SPR’s new shop at 307 E. Second Street — his first true full-size space with close to 2,000 square feet.
“It’s four times as big” he said. “Customers can actually shop properly and not be overwhelmed.” He looked around the open floor and added, “I see a whole lot of empty room in here. I see a lot of potential.”
The store carries a growing lineup of accessories — fenders, helmets, tools, bags, racks, saddles, lubricants — and more bikes than ever before. Lepinski recently added Marin to his brand list, expanding offerings in the mid-range and kids’ mountain bike categories. He continues to stock Fuji, SE, Breezer and others, with a mix of new and used options, trade-ins and consignments. “I always seemed to bring in more and more products,” he said. “I didn’t know where I was going to put it when I ordered it, but I figured it out.”
Lepinski’s focus remains on matching riders to the right geometry and comfort. “I ask a ton of questions,” he said. “Whatever feels more comfortable is the bike you’re going to ride.”
He also maintains a strict customer-first policy in the shop. “The best way is to come in person,” he said. “I prioritize anyone that’s standing in front of me over the phone or messages.” Calls get returned at the end of the day or the next day if business is busy. “I don’t want anyone in the store to feel like they’re not being prioritized.”
SPR is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. The shop can be reached at 541-980-0841.
For Lepinski, the SwingBike and his new shop are similar in one way - born from his tenacity - that creative energy he used to push him through small westside garages, crowded downtown shops, thousands of repairs to open his new shop. A tenacity that led him on a 13-year search for a bicycle he once unknowingly walked past while hunting near Skyline Road.
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