North of the Border Bicycles was started in Sorrento Valley back in 1995 by Ian Crowne. This was during mountain biking's inital explosion in popularity. Ian, being from Canada, wanted to show some national pride, so he came up with the "North of the Border" name. The shop was initially a one man show. Despite its size, Ian managed to bring Litespeed (titanium bikes), Ellsworth and Voodoo Cycles to the greater San Diego area. Utilizing some creative web selling and top notch wrenching, North of the Border Bicycles quickly grew to a high-end, full-service road, tri and mountain bike shop. At the peak of the dot com era NOTBB had expanded to a full time staff of three mechanics. Once the dot com boom ended, business slowed and Ian decided to sell his interest and pursue a career in drafting.

The sale brought about the birth of the current North of the Border Bicycles, located on Mira Mesa Blvd. It was taken over by two of the mechanics from the original shop. Michael Crowell and Eric Neubauer started their management in 2001, carrying the same bicycle product lines as its predecessor. After Voodoo cycles stopped importing to the U.S. and Litespeed turned into American Bicycling Group, the shop hung around for many years relying on the consistent sales of the Ellsworth mountain bike brand. Late in 2004, Eric departed from the shop to pursue a career in teaching.

Rather than throw in the towel, Michael Crowell stuck around and brought the shop back to its original glory. In 2006, NOTBB became an authorized Intense Cycles and Marin Bicycles dealer. North of the Border Bicycles has worked hard over the years to develop its reputation for customer and mechanical service excellence. Michael is a former Honda factory trained motorcycle mechanic with over 8 years of bicycle wrenching experience. His passion for all things two wheeled is evident the moment you enter the shop. No job in the service department is too large (or small) for North of the Border Bicycles to tackle.