Kevin Gorman, president of WebCyclery, LLC, started working for other bike shops so he could get deals on new bikes. He worked at Aero Schwinn in Boca Raton, Fla., for two years. Then Gorman worked almost three years as a service manager at Tec’s Pro Shop in Tallahassee, Fla., to help finance his college degree at Florida State University.

Gorman took classes in a Web programming language and marketing, and added that to a background in bike shop service as the foundation upon which WebCyclery was built.

The company serves a market niche for specialty bikes and hard to find bike parts.

In 1996, Gorman loaded up a rental car with his dog and three bikes to move to Bend. A year later, he began an online mail order business out of his garage. Three years ago, he moved into a 1,500 square-foot space in the Old Mill District, which became his office and warehouse for the e-commerce business.

”Right away, people started walking in everyday wanting to buy something,” Gorman said. ”We’re not going to say no to a customer.”

Since then, Gorman hired a carpenter and built a second floor for desks and computers and a small retail space. To keep up with the growth of his business, he plans to find a bigger space as well as a more retail-friendly location in the next one to three years.