This week’s episode takes you on a historical journey through the lens of Colorado’s most dedicated gun collectors. Scott Watley welcomes Tom Hillman to discuss the cultural significance and detailed craftsmanship of firearms from bygone eras. With engaging anecdotes ranging from the pheasant hunting traditions of Iowa to the tactical evolutions seen throughout American military history, this episode offers a look at how these collections serve as educational tools and cultural artifacts. Whether you’re an enthusiast or simply curious, there’s something to learn as we explore history through these finely crafted relics.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado’s premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns, and ammo from Colorado’s top outfitters featuring the industry’s leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here’s your host, Scott Watley.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome to Sportsman Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us. We’ve got a great show in store for you today. Colorado Gun Collector Association. Hey, these are great folks. We’ve certainly enjoyed the last several months getting to know them a little bit better and what their organization is all about. And the president of the organization, Tom Hillman, joins us once again. Tom, thanks for being with us. How are you, sir? We’re doing fine today. Thank you, Scott. So, man, what did you think growing up and then when you heard the year 2025? What did you think the world would be like then?
SPEAKER 08 :
Not like what it is now, to be very honest. Technology, of course, has caused a lot of interesting things and things we never thought would happen as far as restrictions. I grew up in Iowa, northwest Iowa. It’s hunting territory as far as pheasants. You get into western Iowa and South Dakota, that’s almost a national holiday, the opening of pheasant season. yeah no doubt so you know that’s what we grew up with every farm had a shotgun every farm had a 22 and we didn’t think anything about it and they were if you had a difference with somebody it was sold with means other than firearms sure sure and you know it’s a shame that you think about and i grew up in texas and man i shot my first buck when i was six years old and
SPEAKER 10 :
But I’m afraid that’s not happening a lot today with kids growing up, you know, getting the chance to be in the outdoors and hunting and fishing a lot. And, boy, I sure hope everybody will stay in touch with that with their kids.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and I wanted to congratulate this particular organization and those you represent that they were able to keep the cougar hunting. Oh, I tell you this. I think that was such a valuable win.
SPEAKER 10 :
It was huge, yeah. Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
I kind of feel sorry that we didn’t get that particular tax off the charts. If anybody has studied it, I think we’re being penalized for being gun owners there in this particular instance so that they found a way, which particular groups like, that they can now, this money, the bulk of it is going to domestic violence, which really doesn’t have a lot to do with hunting or firearms. They can claim they do, but they don’t.
SPEAKER 10 :
I know, yeah. Man, we could do another whole show on that, couldn’t we?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, we could have fun, couldn’t we? Never get a couple of old conservative Midwesterners.
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m telling you, for sure. Hey, as we are moving along on the calendar now, every month, someone from the Colorado Gun Collector Association is going to be with us. But, hey, it will all culminate May 7th. 17th and 18th at the Island Grove Events Center up in Greeley, and that will be your big show.
SPEAKER 08 :
That is our only show of the year. We specialize, our club is approximately 500 to 600 members. What we try to do is continue the preservation, collection, use, and study of historical weapons, something which is no longer taught but is very much an integral history of both the world and our country. Guns in particular, as I’m sure many of your listeners know, serve to do a purpose. When people were coming out west, it wasn’t the Winchester or the Colt, really, that went west. It was the shotgun.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Because it could be used for hunting. It could put food on the table, keep predators off away from your other livestock. And it last means it was a protection for these folks. So, you know… there is a purpose behind all this.
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m a big Western watcher. My wife about does, you know, when she’s like, haven’t you seen that before? I’m like, yeah, but you know, anyway, I love Westerns and it is cool. Of course I have zero idea. Oh, you probably got folks that could sit there to Western go, Oh, that’s this caliber. That’s this make, that’s this caliber. That’s this make. I don’t know that, but man, there were some cool guns back then.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, very interesting. Uh, People don’t realize that there was a liver action rifle that had 28 shots to it. The problem is it took about an hour and a half to load it. Oh, really? So you don’t want to run out. Yeah, yeah. So when you use up that magazine, you are done with that rifle in that particular instance. Interesting. But they used like a rotary magazine in the back of the butt. Again, this is one of those historical things that we learn at our club. And one of the three things that we feel our club does give people is history. of both the weapons, the specifications, different things that are out there. And, you know, it can be anything from, and I just wrote down here, we have a monthly meeting. And at every meeting, people bring in things that they feel are unique to show to the group. But one member will put on a half-hour, 40-minute presentation about what his collection is all about and what his specialty is. And for instance, this particular year, we’ve had presentations on the Colt pistols. We have had it on Barker Hale shotguns, Swords of the U.S. Army, World War II Lend-Lease and its effects upon the world, Winchester 1200 shotguns, and Smith & Wesson Magnum pistols. So a few topics where you can find out the history.
SPEAKER 10 :
Do most people in your group have a niche they like instead of just being an overall collector?
SPEAKER 08 :
People will say general, and you can say, okay, I like, in my particular instance, my big love is the Western and Civil War periods. Particularly, I have the guns from those periods, but I also love the edged weapons. of those periods so we all have something that kind of you fall into things and you may change as time goes on but they all have that niche and especially and that’s really kind of the third point i had about our club is when people need help and identification the members are more than happy to use this expertise Help others. At one time here in Denver, we had the experts on American Revolutionary War rifles. We had an expert on Sharps Buffalo guns. All these things we learn about. We had a program on the migration of the buffalo herds and what the effect of the hunting did to them. which is a rather sad story, to be very honest. Canada was a temper of the times, I guess is all we can say.
SPEAKER 10 :
Tom Hillman is with us. Once again, he’s the president of the Colorado Gun Collector Association. So how do people become a member if they would like? What’s the process?
SPEAKER 08 :
Basically, the process is you sign an application, You pay a fee of $65 the first year and $50 every year after that. You are voted on by the membership. And in 12 years with the club, I’ve never seen anybody rejected who has an honest interest. As a matter of fact, I’ve never seen anybody rejected to get right down the bottom line. Because everybody, it’s kind of a tight-knit community amongst those. And they kind of know each other and who will be a good club member and who will not. Right, right. But that is the primaries. And the reason why the first year is a little more is everybody gets a nameplate. So when you come, we can recognize you and talk to you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
So, you know, like all clubs, there’s little niches here and there. But we all try to help each other and be friendly. And we also try to help the widows and the family members when they’re our time to go on comes we can pass these firearms on and advise them on how to meet all state and federal laws to identify them to try to get them the most from their loved ones collection sure and you think about you know this time of year we just went through holidays people may have been around loved ones that
SPEAKER 10 :
And maybe they were shown some different things, you know, and the family has no idea. And the last thing you want to do is take that to like a pawn shop or something and ask them to, you know, give their opinion on it.
SPEAKER 08 :
But let’s also say there are very reputable gun dealers in this town. Oh, absolutely. And they will be honest with folks. If you want to go to the ultimate opening thing, there are auction companies, which will also be at our show, letting people know who they are. But there are, you know, easy…
SPEAKER 10 :
avenues right to get this done and so and the great thing is these are passed on to other collectors who hopefully will appreciate them as much as your loved one did sure sure all right now this is going to be a little difficult because we’re on radio and you can’t see but we’re going to do our best to go through some items here that tom brought in the studio with him and if you go to our sportsman of colorado facebook page you’ll be able to see this i’m going to take some pictures of these items and post them there And we’re going to spend some time on some different sharp objects.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s about the best way to put it. Shorter, sharp objects. That’s a tough one to twist out early in the morning. But, again, I brought these along to kind of show how we appeal to many different groups of folks, different areas, how their weapons developed. Always remember, weapons developed out of agricultural tools for the most part. And particularly swords, knives, spears, things of this nature. They were adapted because that’s what people had on hand. But again, an historical weapon, which is what we have, because at our shows, everything must be 50 years old or older. So we are not there to be one with the more modern weapons. We’re there more to show the historical weapons. And a historical weapon can be a knife, a gun, a bow, a sword, armor, western period harnesses, ropes. Everything of this nature can be considered historical. Right, right. So we brought along a few just shorter things, which will be, and you can see how maybe we’ll start at the very end here. We have what we call a borong is the term. We’re going to kind of ask Scott if he can say what country or area it might have come from. I have no idea. And here’s a man who’s an expert on weapons. Well, you stumped me at the beginning. Well, the particular one he’s handling is a Filipino barang carried by the southern Filipinos. This one dates back to the period of the Spanish-American War, which was right at the turn of the 1900s. And this was one of the primary weapons they used. And very frankly, they used them against the Spanish, and they were also used against the American troops when we went in. Because historically, they thought they were going to get independence, and they didn’t get it, and there was a brief period of rebellion. after the Spanish-American War.
SPEAKER 10 :
Would they carry these in a sheath, in a case?
SPEAKER 08 :
A wooden case. In a sash. Because this is fairly large. Fairly large. And again, this is a multi-purpose tool. It’s also a machete. It can be used for harvesting. They used what they had, but at that time, for those of you who really understand guns, the Americans were using a .38 caliber revolver and a .30-40 Kreg rifle, which was a bolt action rifle. These were not effective enough in stopping a Filipino jumping out at you from five feet away and wielding what, in effect, was a machete. So this, in turn, led to tests by the U.S. military where the 1911 pistol, Colt pistol, was adopted, which stayed in the service until the start of the Vietnam War. Wow. So basically, 1911 through the 60s, That was the weapon of choice of the U.S. Army for a sidearm.
SPEAKER 10 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 08 :
So one thing sometimes leads to another. Right. The next thing, we have a knife, which is what we would call a knuckle knife. It’s got a 9-inch blade. It’s got a very heavy cast aluminum knuckle guard on it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Man, that would seem like, for you, again, I know we’re on radio, but if you’ve ever seen brass knuckles, that’s kind of what the handle is. That’s what the handle is. But, wow, that seems like, while it might do some damage to your aggressor, it would make your hand pretty sore, too.
SPEAKER 08 :
Again, this was the court of last resort. When you didn’t have your rifle handy or you ran out of ammunition— And, of course, a lot of the troops, this particular knife was made in Australia for the troops during World War II. And it was a private purchasing, and a lot of the troops thought they looked better carrying an extra weapon around. It made them feel they were kind of a salty person. So they would buy a private knife to have as well as any of those knives and bayonets that were issued to them by the U.S. Army. Or Marine Corps, excuse me.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay. Now, what would the just rough value of this right here?
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s hard to say. You’re probably looking at a minimum of a $400 knife. Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. That particular one, because when you are looking at your hunting weapons or any other weapon, you have to remember value is based on condition, scarcity, and, you know.
SPEAKER 10 :
Now, is that one tip when people have what they may believe to be collectible items? Don’t refinish it. Don’t do anything. Don’t touch it. Don’t try to make it prettier. Leave it alone, right? Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
And, again, they’re welcome to come to our show. They pay their admission fee, which is $15 for two days.
SPEAKER 10 :
Super reasonable.
SPEAKER 08 :
And, very frankly, you bring this in, and you’ll find out what it is. Right. and you will probably have several offers on it if it’s an older piece. Really? Wow. So if you’re sitting in a drawer collecting dust and you don’t feel you want it around the house anymore, Bring it down. We can put it into other hands.
SPEAKER 10 :
Once again, if you’re just joining us, Tom Hillman is with us. He is the president of the Colorado Gun Collector Association. Their big show, May 17th and 18th in Greeley at the Island Grove Event Center. And we’re just kind of going through some different knives and some different things he brought in. And I’ll take pictures of these once again and put them on our Sportsman of Colorado Radio Facebook page so maybe you can get an idea. Now I’m just reading the tag here, so I’m cheating, but push dagger.
SPEAKER 08 :
This is a little push dagger. These were concealed weapons that were kept. Used quite a bit, actually, during the Civil War, but it was also used as a ladies’ defense weapon because it’s short. It’s only about a three-inch blade. They could keep it in their purse. And if they felt their life was in danger, they had a means to defend themselves.
SPEAKER 10 :
And if a guy, you had this onion, you got into too close a contact, and as long as you could get this and shove it right? Oh, man.
SPEAKER 08 :
That is awesome. But that particular one type of blade was used an awfully lot during the Civil War and Western expansion periods. Right, right. Wow.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, moving right along.
SPEAKER 08 :
What do we got here? Well, the next one is a Marine Corps knife from World War II. And the very interesting thing, I said Providence was the third thing that you look for. And this is a knife I got from a friend back in Sioux City, Iowa, which has a Providence. The gentleman was issued this blade on Guadalcanal. And for those of you who are not up on this as much, that was really the first major battle in the Pacific of land forces by the U.S., And in this particular case, the gentleman’s name was Willie Winford. So I know who it was. I know where it was picked up. And this is what we call a providence, which also increases value of things. It is basically a Marine Corps K-bar knife, which started being issued during World War II to both Navy and USMC.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s written right on it, so you know that’s where it went.
SPEAKER 08 :
And it’s just unusual to have that kind of history and that kind of condition on a knife of that period. No doubt. No, it looks in great condition. Now, what’s this handle made of? The handle is made of leather rings. Okay, I was about to say it felt like leather. Leather rings to give you a better grip if your hand is sweaty. Unfortunately, that’s one reason why a lot of them are in poor shape. A, they were used. This is a tool. And B… When you get into jungle conditions, there’s a lot of rot of leather. Sure, yeah. So in the long term, they went over to other types of handles. Right. All right, now this one is very interesting. What Scott has right now is a knife out of Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia. This is their national weapon. They are hand-forged knives, just like we have knives which the hunters we have here, which are made by local knife makers and make a wonderful skinning tool. This particular one, because of the metals they used, they could only make them during the monsoon or rain and wind period in that area because it actually gave off poison gases as it was being forged. So you get a very unique pattern on the blade. This particular blade, again, probably dates back into the 1800s. So everything we’re looking at here, except for the modern two military ones, do go back. Right, yes, sir. Also has a nice little interesting bird head handle on it. And as you know, basically, Scott, Indonesia is a series of islands. And each head will tell you which island the blade comes from. Wow, how cool is that? Again, something you have to research. I know that fact, but I’d have to get the book out to tell you which island for sure. All right. Now we’re going back to a little style of knife out of Spain or the whole Mediterranean area. And this almost looks like a letter opener to us. Carried a lot by the seamen, actually. It was used primarily as a little self-defense weapon or when they were eating or other things they could do with it. The quality of them can vary greatly. This particular one has buffalo horn handles on it. They weren’t huge knives. They were usually about a four- to five-inch blade on them. Right. So, again, this is something kind of interesting, a little different. This is an Italian-Spanish belt dagger. Exactly. Okay. Wow. And then we come to our last one, which is just a fun one. And I didn’t have a tag on this one, so Scott has to guess. The unusual thing about this one, as Scott is looking at it, folks, it has a brass blade on it. Right. The reason why is this came from the Philippines. Okay. And the Philippines believe in spirits, spirits of the woods. You know, as we actually, I’m afraid I’m one of those that believes there’s sometimes a spirit in the mountains. But this was used as protection by the native Filipinos of this area, and it was in the northern Philippines, against spirits. So if they were going out and they were worried there was something evil out and about, this would be the knife they would carry with them to protect themselves against those spirits. And did they believe the brass was… The brass being a non-ferrous metal… is more effective against the spirit of the fact that uh… or evil spirits right right As you go to sometimes some shows, I haven’t seen one of ours yet, but you’ll actually find vampire hunting kits. And this is the Spanish equivalent. This is the Spanish equivalent. The Filipino. I should say Filipino equivalent.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. Of the exorcist kit. Now, you’ve got one left here. Now, that was through the knives, like you said. But this more looks like a hatchet or ax or something. Well, this is just the scabbard for Chris. Oh, the scabbard. I’m sorry. That’s all right. The way the handle is. Now I see that. Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. The reason why I brought this, we’ve done this little quiz back and forth, is, again, to tell people these are the kind of things you will find at our show. It isn’t just all guns. It is majority guns. Right. And I know this is a hunting show, and you folks love those shotguns and hunting rifles, and we’ll have those, too.
SPEAKER 10 :
This is super interesting.
SPEAKER 08 :
Anything from a $100,000 gun on down. But this is one of the other things that our club does. We have this annual show. The show is at the Island Grove Event Center in Greeley, Colorado. It is Saturday and Sunday this year on May 17th and 18th. It opens up at 9 o’clock on both days. There are approximately 700 tables. And again, this is all weapons. except for some Western memorabilia, such as saddles and jewelry, if we know it’s old and significant. It has artistic value. But you’re not going to find anything but weapons that you can use to educate you from anywhere from the Revolutionary War, a lot of things from World War II, starting to get things from the Vietnam War. World War I, Civil War, a lot of Civil War items. Wow. I was there reading in a military history book that I get about a battle between the American cavalry troops and one native tribe, and they were talking about a particular rifle, which was… Very unusual sounding, and the son of a gun, if I didn’t see one at our last show. And so you get the whole history, folks. This is not where you, you know, look at a picture in a book. This is where you can go down, see it, feel it, know how heavy of a thing these folks were carrying, some of the things they had to go through. Wow.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, that’s super interesting, Tom. We appreciate your time and sharing that with us today.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, it’s just something, a little different look at it, and I’m happy Scott will put these on view just to show you some of the alternate things you’ll see. Please understand that there will be guns from basically Revolutionary War period up through the Korean War, with a lot of emphasis on the Civil War and Western period. But there will be a few things from other countries scattered throughout there, too, which is helpful with the education.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, cool. All right. Hey, you know, the best thing to do, there’s a lot of initials in their website. So just Google Colorado Gun Collector Association. Their website will come up. Maybe you’ve got a collection. Maybe you want to get a table for the show. You can get in touch with them there. If you want to become a member or learn more about membership. You can also get in touch with them there through their website. But save the dates. It’s May 17th and 18th in Greeley at the Island Grove Events Center. And we sure plan on coming to that and take a look at all they have to offer. So, Tom, as always, we appreciate your time, sir.
SPEAKER 08 :
Happy New Year. It’s always a pleasure. And, again, thank you all for getting out and voting this year, trying to help promote hunting and the preservation of our history here in Colorado.
SPEAKER 10 :
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thank you, sir. You’re listening to Sportsman of Colorado. We’ve got to hit a quick break, and we’ll be back with more right after this.
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SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
KLZ 560, your home station.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Again, thank you so much for being with us. Well, as most of you know, last week was the Denver International Sportsman’s Expo down at the Denver Convention Center. And we were down there with our booth Thursday through Sunday. And you’ll be hearing some more interviews coming up over the next few weeks there. We could not do our live show there. A lot of issues with Wi-Fi. So we just sat down and recorded a lot of great interviews. One of those interviews is with our good friend Randy Curranci, owner of E-Bike of Colorado. You normally hear Randy here on Wednesdays at noon for Just Try It. But Kevin Flesch, of course, was with us, and his wife Janet. They are great. clients of eBike of Colorado. So I had Kevin and his wife sit down with Randy, and they just had a great conversation about eBikes. And Kevin and them talk about their buying experience and their fun they are having on eBikes. So that interview we’re going to give to you now from the Denver International Sportsman’s Expo with Kevin Flesch, his wife Janet, and the owner of eBike of Colorado, Randy Karancy.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. This is Kevin Flesch, and we’ve recently been out at the International Sportsman’s Expo and happened to see one of our good friends, Randy Curranci from eBikes of Colorado. Hi, Kevin. How are you? I’m great, buddy. How are you doing? I’m good. Good. And it just so happens my wife, Janet, is here as well.
SPEAKER 11 :
I am, yes. Good to see you, Randy.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hi, Janet. How are you?
SPEAKER 11 :
Very good. And you too, Kevin. Good to see you. It’s good to see you as well.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s been a while.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. It’s so funny. Janet, this last couple of weeks, she was looking at it because she does a daily journal. And she realized that she was away from our house in Denver over 150 days this year. Wow. Now, some of those days, we were riding e-bikes. Surprise, surprise.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right? Hey, let’s talk about that a little bit. Yeah, yeah. Janet. Yes. Tell us your experience with e-bikes and how well, well, just tell us about it.
SPEAKER 11 :
So I had been on e-bikes just once or twice, renting them up in the mountains. We had a great time, thought it was super fun. And then we decided we would take the plunge and buy some. And of course, we went to see Randy at e-bike of Colorado. And what a great process that your store set up so well. Lots of options, really great personalized service. But the best part is that there’s a track really close by to go test ride. And you can do that as much as you want with as many bikes as you want. And so we spent the afternoon, we’d take a couple bikes out and then halfway through we’d switch them with each other. And then we’d ride back and then we’d try another one. That was absolutely the best way to figure out what we really liked.
SPEAKER 07 :
What was also interesting about that is the fact that you have different types of the motors on them. Yeah. The mechanisms, whether it’s a rear-wheel drive or the center drive. And what your sort of personal preference was. And also sort of the type of bike, whether it was a pedal assist or whether you just hit the throttle and go. Right. And the color. And the color. The color’s critical. Color made a big difference. Always. Color, yeah. But I mean…
SPEAKER 06 :
doing the test rides were really helpful because yes we rode different ones different price points and you kind of saw what you gravitated to something eventually that you really thought you’d use yeah you guys ended up with gazelles we did yeah we did and we loved them and that’s a phenomenal bike in the store i mean it’s a mid-drive um i believe they’re class three if i’m not correct mistaken it’s been a while i’ve seen a few customers since you guys yeah but um and that That particular day, I happened to have been in the store when you were in there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, you were.
SPEAKER 06 :
But my staff is going to take care of people. So we talk about this a lot on the show on a weekly basis. We talk about assets and what the real asset of a business is. And it’s always, in my mind anyway, it’s always the people.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, the building is an asset. It goes on your balance sheet. The inventory is an asset. The real asset, and what allows me to be able to do things that I really enjoy doing, things like this, for instance, and be away from the store a little bit, so I’m out there researching and doing other things, is the fact that I have such a knowledgeable and professional staff.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
All the way down to even our warehouse people. You guys, they come into the store, they see you or whatever, they handle themselves very, very professionally. And it makes it easy for customers like you because you guys come in, you got a smile on your face, you’re looking for something fun to do. And I know you kind of get serious because you go, now I got to make a decision. And I don’t know, did you guys get a lot of pressure from it?
SPEAKER 11 :
There was zero pressure. Zero pressure. Just really trying to understand what our needs were and what bikes would best fit that and helping us with the information we needed and letting us test drive them and all of that, which was great.
SPEAKER 07 :
the store is made up so that there are other people there that are trying bikes too so it’s fun to talk to other people other customers that are like you know like there was a family there that was buying a bike that had a lot of storage capacity because they wanted to have kids and yeah you know and that sort of thing and listening to sort of what other people were looking for things that you didn’t really even think about in sort of art because i was just thinking well we’ll just get a bike to ride around on trails and you know on bike trails and things like that but then you start thinking oh there are other uses for them and do we want to think about that too? So that was helpful as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
So the best part about all of this, the customer experience, the other customers, I hardly ever have to pay them to say something, right? They’re saying that right from their heart, they’re saying exactly what they feel. They’re telling you about us, they’re telling you about the bikes, and they probably, I’m going to guess, I don’t know, but they probably said, did you try the rear hub? Did you try the throttle? Did you try the mid drive? And so this is all a personal preference, right? And they’re all pedal assist. They all will engage the motor by pedaling. And then the throttle gives you a little bit of a boost. And they have different applications for different people. Yeah, completely.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and so remember, e-bike of Colorado. You’re at 544 Front Street in Louisville. And we had never been to Louisville either. It’s kind of a… That was your first time?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s kind of a destination to begin with. Sort of cute little downtown. Yeah. Easy to get off of 36, and you’re right there. It’s a nice little drive.
SPEAKER 06 :
So you know I’m a sixth-generation Louisville guy. No. No. So our family roots go really, really deep. Not on the currency side. It was on my mom’s side. I’m a third generation because my grandfather came from Italy. But my mom’s side of the family goes super, super deep. And so I’ve got a lot of, you know, there’s a lot of, I guess, nostalgic stuff with that. And pride, right? Yeah, I mean it’s very, it is. And I grew up there, you know, and when I grew up there was 2,500 people. And then now it’s about 25,000.
SPEAKER 07 :
yeah yes well at any rate so super super nice uh location just in general to go even if i mean you you hope that somebody buys a bike that comes into the shop right of course but but they’re going to come and even if they don’t make a decision that day there really isn’t a better experience to try to yeah to try a bunch of bikes to learn something And then the actual buying experience was great.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Very easy. You guys are a little bit of the exception because you came in, but you came in early that day. Yeah. You rode several bikes. I don’t remember if you guys went to lunch and discussed it or not or if you just stayed there and you made your decision. Yeah. That’s not… the norm truthfully people come in they ride them then they want to go home they want to talk about it you know it’s a it’s a big investment in in people’s minds and it is i mean there’s no question and so that’s a good thing right they’re not just buying on on a whim i’m not saying you bought on a whim i’m saying you guys were pretty well dialed in i know janet was like We’re going to come up there and we’re going to look at these bikes. She was buying. She wasn’t really shopping. Right. But I think you got a nice sampling of many different styles and models. And there’s no way you can get that by looking online and reading people’s reviews. Right. It just isn’t you. No. You, Janet, you have a different style of writing, and you’re looking for something different than Kevin is, than what I am. I can sit here and say, oh, Kevin, this is what you want. I walk away, Kevin goes, I don’t want that. No, but I mean, that’s a lot what happens. We want to make sure that the customer is having their own experience. And that’s what we do. Or anyway, that’s what we really try to do. And I think we do a pretty decent job.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, that was definitely, I would say, our experience that day.
SPEAKER 07 :
was really good having the opportunity to try out the different bikes ask questions get information um that was really great and then and then trying to figure out so then we we got down to the gazelles that we really liked and then we realized the different fit you know some of them were a little bit i don’t know the dimensions of the handlebars and the seats and all of that sort of stuff. That was different, too, depending upon the models.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think we had to order yours, didn’t we, Kevin? And the reason, it’s funny, because we have plenty of inventory. But we just felt like there was a different size bike, and we wanted to make sure that that was… going to be the right thing for you. And we said, we’ll order the size, and if you like the other size that we have in stock, we are happy to make that switch. In other words, when we ordered that bike for you, you weren’t locked to that bike. Right, right, right. So that’s just a service that we obviously offer.
SPEAKER 07 :
And it was interesting with trying them out. That was the first bike I got on. Tried a bunch of other bikes, and they just didn’t feel as good as that first one. And I think you found similar.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, I think that’s right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Well, I think our staff kind of interviews you. That’s what Scott always refers to. And they listen to what you’re saying and the type of riding that you’re going to do and how you’re going to utilize the bike. And then they start to move you towards the bikes. Yeah. And, you know, people will immediately start looking at price tags and stuff like that. And you’re going, look… I don’t know about you folks, but when we raised kids, and we probably sacrificed more than we needed to raising kids. We all do. Every parent does. You get to a point in your life and you say, look, I think I should just make sure that I’m getting exactly what I want. If I save $200 or $300, that’s a dollar a day for a year, you know, or less. And enjoy, because we all work hard. We work hard. And our kids are becoming raised. And now, you know, as we start to come into the younger generation, people with families, you mentioned that earlier in the interview. And they may have to have, they may have to spend a little bit of time thinking that part through. That’s okay. That’s quite all right.
SPEAKER 07 :
It was a really interesting analysis for the families, though, because they were were were using the bikes more recreational. Sure. Maybe maybe we’re taking a camping and we’re going to use it for a little bit of transportation. But the families were using it on a day in, day out basis to move their kids around or to go get groceries. Yeah. Or to do other things. And so that where you talk about at your store, They do the interviews of the people before you get them on bikes to really figure out what the use and what the purpose is.
SPEAKER 06 :
And you know our motto, our tagline is, just try it. That’s the name of this radio show is just try it. And that’s the whole premise of the thing. You can’t try it if you aren’t in front of it. You can only read about it. Awesome.
SPEAKER 11 :
And we sure have had a lot of fun with them. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
We haven’t gotten to the recreation part yet. Yeah. We had a great summer with them. We really did.
SPEAKER 11 :
We really did. Yeah, we had a couple of different, like, almost day-long rides just around the metro area.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Oh, nice.
SPEAKER 11 :
Which was super fun. Great exploring. And the thing with the e-bikes is, you know, you can… go for like a whole day because you don’t have to worry about the fact that oh my gosh what happens if after we stop and have lunch if i feel like i’m too tired to ride back that’s so true and so that was really nice and then we’ve taken them up to the mountains and really had fun with them up there because the bike paths are so beautiful up there we’ve ridden all over and again having the assist on those mountain bike paths is really nice yeah
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s so nice. And we say it’s a game changer.
SPEAKER 11 :
A total game changer.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes. And, you know, riding. So we’ve got a place at Copper Mountain. Riding up to the top of Vail Pass and coming back down. No problems for the bikes that we have. Pulling a small trailer with a dog behind you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
We did that once. We did. And then when we were in Crested Butte, doing more sort of gravel. road bike, not road bike, but like riding up there in a little bit more of a wilderness environment with the bikes that we had was still really worked out well. And we used it there to get to places like we’d want to hike somewhere instead of having to take the car or the truck up to where we were going, we took the bikes up
SPEAKER 06 :
dropped him off and then did the hike and then came back so that was really a cool very very fun yeah very very fun so randy where’s where’s your shop so i’m randy crancy i’m owner of e-bike of colorado we’re located at 544 front street in downtown lewisville and it sounds like a big long drive to come from we’re we’re uh 15 miles from downtown denver you guys are in We’re in Greenwood Village. Yeah, you drove there 30 minutes and you’re there. Our phone number is 720-739-0299. Your hours. Our hours, 10 to 7, seven days a week. And yes, that includes Sunday. You know, people call in, they go, what’s your hours? We go, 10 to 7, seven days a week. What about Sunday? Sunday also. And so we really pride ourselves. We don’t even change the hours in the winter. Yeah. And I get a little bit of pushback from staff because, you know, it’s somewhat of a seasonal business. It’s very, very, it’s really interesting because we get really busy between about 5 and 7 in the winter even. Wow. People picking up bikes that they had purchased maybe a couple of days before, and we assemble them. And that’s another thing that we should talk about. We talk about our club membership.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, yeah. We didn’t even cover that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Our club membership is all about, you know, it gets the bike assembled correctly with a qualified mechanic. And then it gives you 20% discount on all e-bike accessories. like locks and gloves and helmets and that type of stuff. The only thing it’s not is you don’t get any additional discount on a bike or a car rack that fits under your car. And then you also get some, you get moved up in the queue Once your bike is through the warranty period or whatever, or you need it to be worked on, you get preferential treatment with that. Then somebody that didn’t buy the bike from us, you get a tune-up at the first right out of the box. We take care of that cardboard. People don’t realize that there’s a lot that has to be handled, and we recycle that. And then you get another tune-up, free tune-up, at 250 miles. And then we also – one thing we also offer is tire protection.
SPEAKER 07 :
I was just going to talk to you about that because that was – once we got done with picking out the bikes and ordering them, then we talked about tires, which I hadn’t really thought of because – That’s a big part of having a bike. Yeah. And the different types of tires and the protection that you have.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, because here’s the thing, you know, with the protection that we offer, we offer a two-year guarantee, no flats. Yeah. Does it happen? Yeah, every now and then. Very, very rare. And it’s usually something that’s outside of our guarantee, no flats. Yeah. We’ve, I don’t know, we’re somewhere over 10,000 tire protections now out there in our field because we’re getting in business now. for seven and a half years. We opened July 1st, 2019. And the thing about it is that we’ve always honored it no matter what. And we had a guy riding through, I think he was riding through a junkyard because he kept coming in and finally one of the mechanics said, look, this is number three. Something’s going on. Yeah, you’re riding somewhere where you shouldn’t be riding. He goes, well, this is a way to my work.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
And he goes, maybe you need to find a little different route because we are fixing these tires for you. But, you know, it really needs. And we would. We would fix them. We’re not going to split hairs with that. But back to you guys for a second here. Kevin, I think you, if I remember correctly, you said you were going fishing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
And you rode this trail.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. So we ended up, um, we, we actually, over the 4th of July, we rented a camper van for a few days because we wanted to see how sort of that camper van lifestyle. And so we were able to put the bike rack on the back of the camper van. So we took the bikes with us and it was awesome because we had a campsite that we stayed at and there was some really good fishing, probably a couple of miles from the campground. Um, But I wanted to go out early morning. Janet’s still sleeping in the van, so I’m not going to take the van down to go fishing. So I took the bike. So I’d ride the bike to where I needed to get, stash the bike, and then fish, and then be able to come back. And it just made another way to get somewhere and give you more range, you know, when I wanted to get out. And they’re just so quiet. We ran an And we ran into deer. We ran into other wildlife. Because you’re not in a car. You’re not in something that’s making all this noise. You’re rolling along. And it’s just a nice, really nice experience.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s good for the brain. It’s good for the heart. It’s good for the soul.
SPEAKER 07 :
And it was mostly downhill getting to where I needed to go. So it was really nice to come back with the pedal assist on the way back.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and General, you talked about this, and you said if you were riding and you went out to lunch or breakfast or something, and then you’re like, am I going to be too tired to ride home? Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, it really is sort of a peace of mind in that regard and frees up the thought of, oh, well, we can keep going. It’s fine because we can always, you know, kick it into turbo mode. And so like those exploring days that we took in town, but even up in the mountains, you know, we’d be like, oh, let’s just go out for a couple hours. And then we’d be like, Well, why don’t we stop for lunch? Oh, let’s ride for another couple hours. And we would be gone like most of the day. And it just turned it into such an adventure to just going out for a quick little walk.
SPEAKER 07 :
bike ride yeah the other thing that was interesting about that too in town is the you can get on the apps now with regard to the bike yeah and be able to see different areas of town that you would normally maybe drive your car around but like even from our neighborhood where we’re just south of the Cherokee Cherry Creek Reservoir taking the bike path through the reservoir and then around I-25 and then through Cherry Hills. We did one day where we had lunch over in Littleton, so we got all the way over to the river trail over there and then ended up in downtown Littleton, had lunch, and then rode our way back.
SPEAKER 11 :
All on the bike trails. All on the trails. We never even knew were there.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, we never knew they existed.
SPEAKER 06 :
that’s the other thing and and it’s really nice because there’s a safety factor there oh yeah you’re not riding on the roadways and some of that we still have to be careful we still have to be you know aware of our surroundings right because we have walkers and yeah you know and you guys i don’t know about janet but i think you do you know i’m a big equestrian yeah all right yeah yeah and a lot of people don’t know this but that horse on that trail has And a lot of folks don’t know this and they’ll ride by it. My horse are desensitized to bikes. So I am not as concerned. My wife gets a little bit concerned if we ever run across a cyclist on, but her horse is solid as a rock. And so, but it’s just something people need to be aware of. And usually, like with us riding, we’ll pull off if we see people coming towards us or even behind us, we’ll pull off and we’ll wave them on because we don’t want to hold them back either. And I would much rather be standing still and having somebody go by me on something scary like a bike or it’s scary to the horse. But yeah, so the whole experience and the whole thing about staying out longer and doing more things is pretty phenomenal, really. And you’ll see areas that you never knew existed, and Colorado has absolutely phenomenal trail system. But you guys also travel other parts of the U.S. with your bikes. Oh, yeah. And you’re seeing parts of other states that you enjoy. Yeah. So it’s just a different, it’s kind of a different lifestyle in a way. Yeah, completely agree with you.
SPEAKER 11 :
It also, I would say, you know, we can do it together. Like, it’s not like one of us is a better rider than the other in terms of stamina or strength or speed. The e-bikes equalize that out, which is really nice.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it’s been good for me to try to keep up with you. Exactly right.
SPEAKER 11 :
Otherwise, you’d be way back in the dust.
SPEAKER 07 :
So difficult. Yeah. It levels the playing field.
SPEAKER 11 :
Levels the playing field.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, but it is true. I mean, it definitely, and it makes a difference because every day is a little bit different, too. And the rides that we’ve done have been different. Sometimes the rides are more difficult than you realize, and then you’re really happy to have it. And then there’s other times where it’s not. That’s the other thing with e-bikes is you’re able to sort of control your workout so that it’s manageable either way.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s the next question. So the question was, do you feel like you get a workout? Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
yeah absolutely i mean it’s um you can adjust it the way you want depending on how you’re feeling and and i like to keep it as low as i can the majority of the time until kevin kicks it into turbo and i have to you know just to keep up with them but i can tell because all of a sudden the way he shoots But, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s great exercise. But then that changes your heart rate a little bit, too, because you have to pedal harder. Even though you’re in a turbo mode, you need to pedal harder to keep up. And so you elevate your heart rate a little bit, which is part of our exercise program. Yeah, I think it’s a great workout.
SPEAKER 11 :
I really enjoy it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. And you’ve noticed the difference between what, Randy, you call acoustic bikes and the e-bikes going uphill in particular, like when we were up in the mountains and how people were reacting to us.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, our joke is that when we’re riding, like in the mountains where it’s a more difficult trail, you’re headed uphill, that everyone that you see on a regular acoustic bike looks really serious and intense and not really like they’re having fun. And everyone in an e-bike is just smiling and having the best time. And so we always joke about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. So that’s a big, big part of it, you know. And I just want to, you know, Scott runs this interview almost all the time, but the name of our show is Just Try It. It’s E-Bike of Colorado in 544 Front Street in downtown Louisville. And our number is 720-739-0299. And we’re open 10 to 7, 7 days a week. And we would just love for you to just come down and visit with us and experience the bikes.
SPEAKER 07 :
And if you’ve heard it here on Sportsman of Colorado, make sure that you tell Randy that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
So that he can give you a little something extra and make sure that he says hi to Scott and Kevin.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, we want that. No, you guys have been phenomenal for us. And we just continue to build a stronger and stronger relationship. And I know we’re coming kind of towards the end of the interview here. But, you know, 2025, we’re into 2025. We’re in the first week of January. Or is it the first week? Maybe it’s headed to the second week. But… We’re excited for, you know, we’re going to extend the rebates again for the state rebate. It’s the $450. And it’s been a positive response from the state at this point. And we’re just excited about the whole future now of 2025 and beyond. And e-bike of Colorado, you know, being seven and a half years old now. Once again, this is Haystack Radio.com. And so this is Scott Wadley’s program, weekly program. We’re doing a little bit different. You can hear some background noise probably happening. And that’s because we’re at the International Sportsman Expo. Yes. So I’ll let you finish up, Kevin. And thank you again for, and Janet, thank you for being a part of this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Awesome. Thanks, Randy. Appreciate it. And we will see you this spring for that tune-up on our two blagues.
SPEAKER 11 :
We’ll ride our bikes up to Louisville.
SPEAKER 06 :
There you go. There you go. Hey, come in now because we’re offering – well, your tune-ups are free. Yeah. But if they weren’t free – Yeah, you get an additional 10% off. So if you’re a club member, you’d get 20% off already. So now we’re offering 30% off, and we’re actually doing that for any bike at all. through the winter here so i think it’s march 1st or march 30th or something all right so anyway thank you very much thank you for being part of just try it you bet
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, thank you so much for being with us today for Sportsman of Colorado. We appreciate it so much. Just a quick reminder now, if you miss our live show on Saturdays 1 to 2, you can catch us twice on Sundays. That’s at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. And then also on Thursdays at 9 a.m. So four times you can catch Sportsman of Colorado Radio, and we appreciate it. We have our Flesh Law text line. Let me mention that real quick, and this is for all of our shows with Haystack and Sportsman. If you ever have a subject you’d like for us to cover, you have a question for us, send us your question on our Flesh Law text line. That’s 720-201-8585, and we will try to cover your question or your topic for you. So thanks for being with us today for Sportsman of Colorado. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend, and we’ll talk to you next week.
SPEAKER 05 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
