When the bike rental building at Moraine State Park was damaged by lightning and a fire more than two years ago, Spoke House Bike Rentals began operating out of a garden shed and a few shipping containers.

They’ve made it work, said Spoke House owner Walter Isaac, but a new building would be better for his employees.

Work has now begun at the site to build a new $1.1 million bike rental building. The site has been cleared and an old sidewalk has been removed.

The contractor, Horizon Construction Group will be off site now through the winter months, but the building should be done by this time next year.

The building will include public restrooms on one side and the bike rental operation on the other. It will be a 49-by-50-by-28-foot block building.

We’re so lucky in Butler County to have so many options for outdoor recreation and rebuilding the bike rental building on North Shore Drive will go a long way toward ensuring it stays this way.

Bike rentals aren’t available now, but when the weather starts to warm up there will be plenty of opportunities to take advantage of Spoke House’s inventory of 75 to 80 bicycles.

Rentals are available to park visitors seven days a week in season. There are single and multispeed bikes, tag-a-longs, children’s bikes and two-person bikes and child trailers that can pull behind a bike.

Traditional bikes and electric bikes are allowed on state park roads and any trails specifically designated for biking.

Moraine State Park has 7 miles of paved biking trails. The trail is not a loop, but it winds near the shoreline between Davis Hollow and the bike rental building and can be accessed from the Lakeview Beach and Watts Bay Marina areas.

Spoke House owner Walter Isaac and his employees will work through another year in their temporary space, but it will be good to see the new building begin to take shape in the new year.

It will be a good reminder that Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Funds, which are raised from real estate transfer tax, and oil and gas funding money from wells on state forestry lands, will continue to keep our precious outdoor spaces vital for years to come.

— KL