It saddens my heart to learn today that Bert Cebular, the founder of NYCeWheels, has passed away. In addition to being a loyal Montague dealer in the New York City area, NYCeWheels is one the country’s leading retailers of folding bikes and E-bikes. That success can be attributed to Mr. Cebular’s unique vision. Starting in a small store in Manhattan’s upper East side, Bert saw the potential in folding bikes and E-bikes, long before others took them seriously. He was a visionary in the bike industry, building NYCeWheels into a brand of it’s own, known as a go to for folding and electric bikes. He has done much to encourage alternative transportation not only in New York, but all across the US.
Bert died on Wednesday in a paragliding accident, when he lost control of his powered glider over the Wallkill River in Wawayanda, New York. From all accounts he was an experienced paraglider, and at the time of the accident was with a close friend who is the owner and instructor of a paragliding tour company.
From everyone here at Montague Bikes, we offer our deepest condolences to everyone who knew Rupert Cebular. He was a pleasure to work with and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Bert’s family, friends, and everyone at NYCeWheels.
Sincerely,
Montague Bikes
I am so sad, having just learned of this beautiful man’s death when I went to NYCE Wheels today to get my ebike fixed. He had just written me a funny email letting me know of his little dog’s passing, saying the pet went to a better place where there were slow squirrels, etc – it was funny and light-hearted. Now when I heard Bert had died I thought at first it was a joke. It’s hard to accept this active, generous and vibrant person is gone. My condolences to his family and friends.
I was crushed when I first heard of Bert’s passing. I had dealt with Bert a lot over the previous years having gotten into electric scooters first and then migrating over to e-bikes. I visited Bert once at NYCE Wheels and wrote an article about the experience that can still be found on the NYCE website. Bert was a gracious host and just a helluva nice guy! I was thinking about him today… It’s coming up on six years since his passing… RIP Bert.