Bike business booms during health crisis
Cycling has always been popular in Vancouver, but it has exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City of Vancouver reports that weekday bike traffic increased 48 per cent during the last week of May compared to 2019.
Meanwhile, weekday vehicle traffic fell 25 per cent in the same period.
For bike shops, business has gone crazy.
“We’re slammed,” said Rick Loader of Lynn Valley Bikes in North Vancouver.
“New bike sales, repairs, everything. When COVID hit, anything that people do for fun and exercise shut down — skiing, golf, gyms, yoga classes. Everything just shut down except riding, where you can stay away from other people. So the whole bike industry just went pop.”
Loader said his store still has a good stock of new bikes.
But you may have to go for something more high-end, because entry-level bikes have been selling out everywhere.
“A cheap bicycle is the new toilet paper,” he jokes. “Bikes below $1,000 are absolutely cleaned out. We’ve run out of those and can’t get any size anymore from anybody.
They’re cleaned out for the year, we’ll get them in 2021.
“We’re running through stock on (bike company) websites and seeing zeros when we look for kids’ bikes and hard-tails, adult mountain bikes with just the suspension fork on the front. There’s nothing, nobody has anything left.”
Blake Startup of Landyachtz Bikes in Vancouver said it’s so busy it’ll take two weeks before they can do a major bike repair. Normally it might be a couple of days.
“We have an appointment system,” said Startup.
“Instead of you bringing your bike on day 1, we sit on it for two weeks before we touch it. On day 1 we talk to you about it, what it’s going to need, then we set an appointment about a week-and-ahalf down the road.
“(That way) I’m only keeping it like two, three sleeps while we figure out what we need. If we have to order any parts we get them, (fix it,) then return it to you. We’re limiting the amount of time you’re without your bike as much as possible.”
Landyachtz is at 1146 Union, on Vancouver’s busiest bike route. The Union bikeway averaged 4,424 cyclists a day in June 2019, compared to 3,429 for the Burrard Bridge.
This makes for a lot of drop-in customers, who Startup tries to accommodate within an hour.
“I have some relatively junior staff that have a massive passion for cycling,” he said.
They do “flat fixes, spoke replacements, the stuff that’s totally ruined your day. Where we can do one little fix on one little issue and send you on your way, we do everything we can to help.”
Landyachtz — a spinoff of the skateboard company — also makes its own bikes. But demand is so high the wait for a custom-made model stretches to late August.
“We design and manufacture bikes in places like Taiwan for the more affordable ones — bikes start at about $800,” said Startup. “In our backroom we’re making custom-made steel and titanium bicycles. Those are frame alone, $2,000 for the steel, $3,000 for the titanium. Then you add parts to that. They can get pretty flashy and fancy.”
Lynn Valley’s Loader doesn’t make frames, but his store often helps people “make their dream bike.”
“It’s not obscene to sell a $15,000 bike in here, a few times a year,” he said. “It’s a fun project.”