Still keeping a promise made at five years old.

DAX'S STORY

Follow the green line

1975: The promise

Dax Downey was five the first time he saw a BMX track. His stepdad worked across the street from a new one in Covina, California, and one night he brought Dax along. Under the stadium lights, with dust in the air and the starting gate slamming, the jumps looked huge. Dax knew right then that this was his thing.

He raced a few times on a department store bike with solid rubber tires and a hockey helmet. Then his stepdad made him a deal: stick with it, and we'll go to a real bike shop and get you a real race bike. Dax promised. It was 1975, and he rode that first race bike until the frame cracked, more than once.

"The joke is, I'm still sticking with it."

Dax Downey, founder

Dax clearing a buddy on his BMX bike, early 1980s.

1980: From LA to Forest Ranch

Around 1980, Dax's mom decided she was done with the LA commute. Her brother lived in Forest Ranch, the parcel next door to his came up for sale, and the next weekend they were in a U-Haul headed north.

It was a big change for a city kid who raced BMX, skated, and played every sport he could. The school was a one-room schoolhouse, kindergarten through sixth grade, where one teacher taught every class, served lunch, and ran the library. Dax didn't love it at first. So he rode. At 10 or 11 he was riding his bike from Forest Ranch down to soccer practice in Chico, and old teammates still bring it up.

The family eventually settled in Chico, and the bike town has been home ever since.

Highway 32, the road between Chico and Forest Ranch.

Teens: A second home at Family Cyclery

Every bike kid has that one shop. For Dax it was Family Cyclery, Rick and Judy's tiny BMX shop in Chico, maybe 600 square feet. Every day after school the local BMX crew met there, borrowed tools, and headed out to ride. Dax eventually went to work there, and that shop shaped what he thinks a bike shop should feel like: friendly, welcoming, and a place where riders find their people.

When Dax was about 19, Rick piled his whole crew into a van to scout Oroville for a third store. The town had no bike shop at the time, and everyone thought it could support one. Rick decided not to go ahead. Dax couldn't stop thinking about it.

1992: Take the green line to Greenline

School was never Dax's thing. From kindergarten to graduation, all he could think about was riding. His grandparents had set money aside for their grandkids' education, and they knew him well. So when Dax asked to use his share to open a bike shop in Oroville instead of starting college, they were all in.

Greenline Cycles opened on June 15, 1992. Dax was 21. The goal was simple: cover rent, put gas in the car to go ride or race somewhere, and have enough left for a burrito at the end of the day.

The name came from Oroville itself. A green line is painted down the town's streets to guide visitors along its historic, scenic route. While Dax was scouting locations, he kept picturing directions to a shop with some ordinary name, until it clicked: take the green line to Greenline.

The original Greenline Cycles in Oroville, 1990s.

A Greenline Tour sign in downtown Oroville.

1990s: Downhill, Seismic, and Double Down

Running a shop never slowed Dax down on the bike. From the mid-1990s into the early 2000s he raced downhill, on courses rough enough to fold the wheels of the day.

So he built a better one. Through Seismic Industries, the company he ran out of Chico, Dax designed the Epicenter hub, which moved the spoke flanges out onto oversized rings closer to the rim. With flanges as big as six inches across, the spokes ran about 2.5 inches shorter, short enough to lace with BMX spokes, for a stronger, stiffer wheel. Seismic machined the hubs from aircraft-grade billet aluminum in 4-inch and 6-inch sizes, and the design earned Dax a U.S. patent in 2000. He later followed it with a second-generation version.

The magazines took notice. One UK review called the Epicenter "the strongest MTB wheel on the planet," and Dax built the test wheels himself.

More than two decades later, collectors of vintage downhill and freeride gear still hunt for a set, and Seismic hubs still turn up on restored DH bikes.

In 2001, Dax landed a segment in Double Down, Thor Wixom's cult-classic freeride film, riding mostly in Utah.

Watch Dax's Double Down segment

From Double Down (2001), a film by Thor Wixom.

The Epicenter in a UK mountain bike magazine review.

First-generation Epicenters.

Dax's second-generation hubs.

Second-gen hubs laced to Arrow Racing rims.

2012: Coming home to Chico

Greenline served Oroville for 25 years, but Chico was always the goal. It was a gamble: Chico already had about 10 specialty bike shops, when industry math said a town its size could support about two and a half.

In 2012, Dax scraped together just enough to open a tiny storefront in the Senator Theatre building. He papered over the windows while he built it out and told himself that if it didn't work, he'd get out of the bike business. It worked. Sales came right away, and word of mouth slowly filled the service bench.

For five years Dax ran both shops, driving back and forth as his family grew. In 2017 he made the hard call to close Oroville and put everything into Chico. Plenty of Oroville riders followed him, and many still come in today.