July 22, 2004 – Adventure Cycling Association, the nation’s premier bicycle touring organization, has announced that Shirley Elin Braxton of Missoula will be awarded the 2004 Braxton Bike Shop Award. Braxton is slated to receive a framed certificate honoring her, her late husband Sam, and their long-running bicycle business in a July 24 ceremony held at Big Sky High School during the kick-off barbeque for the Cycle Montana event tour.

“Adventure Cycling Association has created this award to honor bike shops throughout the nation that go out of their way to provide unique services to bicycle tourists,” said Larry Diskin, outreach and education coordinator. “The Braxton Bike Shop was a perfect example of a shop that went above and beyond the normal call of duty. That’s why this award is, and will be in the future, known as the ‘Braxton Bike Shop Award.'”

Adventure Cycling art director Greg Siple, a co-founder of Bikecentennial-the organization that evolved into Adventure Cycling-recalls that the Braxton Bike Shop’s slogan was “An Oasis for the Cycletourist.”

“It was an apt description,” he says. “In the summer of 1976, thousands of bicycle tourists were streaming through Missoula on the new TransAm Trail, with every manner of mechanical failure. The Braxtons earned their reputation by fixing things right now, and getting riders back on the road on schedule.” This, Siple says, is how the shop earned its shining reputation.

With Sam working full time for the Northern Pacific and Burlington Northern railroads, he and Shirley still managed to maintain the family’s bike shop on South Avenue in Missoula. In addition to servicing the repair needs of hundreds of long-distance riders, Sam hand-built beautiful custom touring and expedition bikes, and wheels designed for the rigors of loaded touring.

He was a mechanical genius who knew intuitively that a custom bicycle, designed specifically for the unique shape and size of its rider, would handle better than an off-the-shelf model. Sam was one of the first persons in America to design and build products specifically for touring cyclists. He was also key to the early growth of rough stuff riding, now called bikepacking or off-road touring.

Sam Braxon, who also served as a charter board member of Bikecentennial until his death in 1988, did not single-handedly make the Braxton Bike Shop what it was: a compulsory stop for cycling pilgrims from the world over, as well as a welcoming neighborhood shop. “Shirl Braxton balanced Sam’s often gruff manner with a gracious hospitality that made the shop complete,” recalls Julie Huck, Adventure Cycling’s acting director. “Sam would often be in the back room working, out of sight, while Shirl was up front dispensing cheery talk and home-baked cookies. You knew that your bike would receive expert attention, and it was fun just hanging around waiting for the job to get done.”

Moreover, Shirley performed the behind-the-scenes detail work that is key to the success of any thriving business, such as bookkeeping, tracking inventory, and ordering retail equipment. The Braxton Bike Shop ran in Missoula continuously from 1970 until 1996, with Sam and Shirley’s son Dalt contributing greatly to its operation after Sam’s death in 1988.