Owners of The Flying Bike
Meet Torin and Alice Kexel
We are both adventurers at heart. After college, we moved to Japan where we taught English for 3 years. Upon returning to the US, we completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2006. We heard a lot of great things about Asheville on the trail, and as a North Carolina native, Alice was excited to live close to family again. We got married and settled here, where we immediately felt at home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in a town full of good people, music, and food.
We were both avid bike commuters in Japan and our college town of Madison, WI, but the hilly terrain of Asheville made it much more challenging. In 2009 Torin discovered electric bikes, and it was love at first ride. We sold our old Honda Civic and replaced it with an electric bike, which became Torin’s primary transportation. All of his coworkers couldn’t help but comment on the huge smile on his face on his morning commute. Eventually, Alice got her own electric bike too.
Making the Dream a Reality...
In May 2017, we bought Electro Bike Tours, bringing us a new focus and inspiration. Combining the town of Asheville and electric bikes, Torin’s entrepreneurial roots, and our love of adventure, it was a perfect fit. We took the off-season to carefully and intentionally rebrand the business. We created our core values, mission, and vision for the company to be sure to build something that not only shares the best of this beloved place with our guests, but that also has a profoundly positive impact on the community that is already here. We came up with the new name “The Flying Bike,” which seemed to capture both the fun of electric bikes, the sense of freedom they bring, and the larger sense of freedom we’d like to embrace in this new phase of our lives. It is our goal to be able to give back to the community by donating a percentage of profits to bike advocacy programs and other organizations that work to better Asheville and support its people.
We also hope to give new life to our old fleet of electric bikes, through community events and charity rides. We now have two little ones, and one of our favorite things to do together is to go on a family bike ride. It’s amazing how the same bike path on a different day can feel like a whole new adventure for all of us. It’s been 11 years, and we still love living in Asheville and always feel like there’s more to discover about this amazing place. We are so happy you found us, and we would love to take you on your own adventure!