Have bike shops become the new jewellery store?
Local bike retailers have been so busy in recent weeks, it can take up to a month to book a repair. Budget-friendly models on the sales floor are as rare as a red diamond. And at least one shop, Kinetik Cycles in Coquitlam, is buzzing customers in through its door one at a time.
Just like a high-end jeweller.
Credit COVID-19.
Kate Riabenka, the store manager at Kinetik, said “it’s craziness.”
“It’s been hectic, that’s for sure,” said Kevin Billingsley, at the Trek Shop in Port Coquitlam.
If it seems like more people are getting about on two wheels this spring, it’s not your imagination, said Navdeep Chhina, of HUB Cycling, an advocacy group.
“Looking on the streets, we’re seeing more and more people cycling,” he said, adding the organization hasn’t yet been able to quantify the growth with hard numbers.
Chhina said the need for people to stay apart and contain their social bubble to immediate members of their household to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has sparked a behaviour change “most of us have been trying to create for a long time.”
People, especially families, have discovered cycling is the perfect activity to stay fit and healthy while getting some fresh air and seeing sights during a public health crisis that’s all about self-isolation. And that revelation is being felt by bike retailers.
Riabenka, whose shop specializes in mountain, hybrid and electric bikes ranging in price from $700 to $15,000, said affordable models less than $1,000 are flying out the door faster than they can be put together by her team of 11 mechanics. Many are being purchased by new cyclists who want to be able to join the rest of their family on outings along trails, bike routes or to parks.
Taylor Cook, the marketing manager for Trek Canada that owns the Port Coquitlam shop as well as three others across Canada, said people are discovering bikes offer “a simple solution to a complex problem” of how to get around and stay healthy. He said part of the move to embrace cycling has been driven by trepidation over using transit, where tightly-packed buses and SkyTrain cars can invite the spread of the contagion.
Cook said after an initial dip in March on the heels of a strong start to the year, bike sales gained momentum through April and rocketed in May. So much so, in fact, Trek’s stockpile of sub-$1,000 bikes has been depleted from its warehouses and the company has started rolling out 2021 models to shops early. He said in addition to unprecedented demand, the supply chain of bikes from factories in Asia was also hampered by that region’s own struggles with the public health emergency.
Riabenka said her bosses sensed a boon could be coming early in the pandemic and ordered as much stock as they could. As a result, sales have doubled or quadrupled over what they’d see on a normal spring day.
Still, she said, “we’ve seen a shortage of some bikes and brands.”
Converting those pandemic pedallers to regular, lifelong cyclists will take further education and the political will to create spaces where families can feel safe riding together.
“We want to rethink our public spaces to make them more accessible to people, not just cars,” said HUB’s Chhina.
Already, he pointed out, the temporary banning of cars through Vancouver’s Stanley Park so cyclists can ride safely away from the usually-crowded seawall has sparked discussion around making the change permanent. Vancouver, North Vancouver and New Westminster have closed or restricted access to cars on other busy roads so cyclists and pedestrians can have more space to maintain physical distance and feel safer.
In the suburbs, the growing emphasis on developing dense, urban pods will hasten the move to more active forms of transportation, according to Chhina.
“We have to learn how to make complete neighbourhoods so people don’t have to drive,” he said.
From the cyclists’ perspective, added Chhina, more and ongoing education is needed about safety and equipment, preventing bike theft, and getting around in all kinds of weather.
Trek’s Cook said his company is already on board as it recently launched its global “Go By Bike” campaign that challenges people to replace one car trip per week with a bike excursion. The initiative also includes an educational component that teaches people how to replace their car with a bike.
“There’s opportunities in alternative transportation,” he said. “People move in different ways. They can leave their car at home and bike.”
