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Manitour Pedalers, a pedal pub tour company based in Manitowoc, started after Stevens Alexis and Sarah Musial took a trip to Madison in 2023. After seeing a pedal pub on State Street, intrigue and inspiration struck Alexis. He decided that he wanted to provide the same experience for his hometown, but took a different spin on it.
“Stevens was checking it out and thought about buying one and looking into that. Then he thought he wanted to take on the challenge of building one on his own, so he built it in our garage here from the ground up,” Musial said.
Alexis works in IT but has a penchant for building. After that fateful Madison trip, he embarked on a journey to build his own pedal pub by hand instead of purchasing one. While the cost to buy a pedal pub can range from $20,000-$100,000, depending on size, materials and features, Alexis, with his engineering know-how, decided to go to machine shops to source components. He built his own pedal pub by hand.
He drafted plans, built the frame and sourced the necessary mechanical components. The front end of Manitour Pedaler’s pedal pub comes from a refurbished and painted front end of an old Volkswagen Beetle.
“He did a lot of research. There was some trial and error with certain things, but he just — I don’t know. It’s just in him. He has that talent,” Musial said. “He can create things and he probably really should have been an engineer.”
Later, after noticing the challenges of going up Manitowoc’s steeper streets, he sourced an electric assist motor to add to his handmade pedal pub. There are electric-assisted pedal pubs available to purchase but Alexis relied on his talent to improve Manitour Pedalers.
The duo did run into an issue with the electrical assisted pedal pubs though. There aren’t many other pedal pubs companies in the area, so the City of Manitowoc based its ordinances on other cities. It was willing to be flexible after hearing out why it was necessary for Manitour Pedalers to have one to navigate inclines in the area.
Manitour Pedalers tours are for everyone — not just the pub crawlers usually associated with pedal pubs. The tours take riders around Manitowoc’s downtown area or lakefront with a few different packages to meet their needs.
Riders can privately book the cart for either a pub crawl or “Simple Cruising,” as Manitour Pedalers call it, where riders can bring their own cooler and snacks. Riders can also hop in on public tours to join other individuals or small groups to hit the town together. The pedal pub accommodates up to 12 people.
Manitour Pedalers are coming up on their second season as the weather starts to hit the warmer months. The two are looking forward to seeing people have fun again on the pedal pub.
“The most fun is seeing the fun that everybody has. People just let loose, and they have a blast,” Musial said. “They’re singing and dancing… that’s what is fun — seeing all the hard work that went into this and now seeing people be able to enjoy it.”
The pedal pub can be booked on Manitour Pedaler’s website. Tours start at $25.99 per person with 10 different stops around Manitowoc over the course of two hours.
