Soap Distillery

I prepared this list for another Chicago publication, but since they didn't wind up having space for it in print, I thought I'd share it with SBC readers. One thing I learned from researching the piece is that, not counting the local cycling components giant (and Streetsblog sponsor) SRAM Corporation, there are a surprisingly small number of homegrown bike products in Chicago nowadays. Whether that's due to higher commercial rents than other bike gear Meccas (hello Minneapolis), excessive city bureaucracy for small businesses, or other factors, it would be great to see more bike product businesses here in the future.