BIKE SHOPS ARE BOOMING. HERE’S WHY

WHEN DID WE move to Amsterdam? I thought tomy self, while rolling along my favourite –u sually sparsely-travelled – trail, giving wide berth to families of five, teenage siblings, couples on MTBS, and single riders of all ages atop two wheels. My typically quiet back roads resembled something of a small-town L’eroica as lone riders spun along on skinny-tubed steel bikes with leather saddles and down-tube shifters.

But I wasn’t in the Netherlands, or some cool, retro-inspired race. I was in the very current, increasingly frightening modern reality framed by the COVID-19 pandemic. People were using these bikes – new and old – to stay healthy, sane, and connected to the outdoors during extraordinarily isolating times.

And we have our local bike shops to thank. Let’s be clear. We haven’t always been so grateful for our local bike shops. In fact, we’ve occasionally been pretty critical of them, exposing them for elitism, snobbery, and in our own words, ‘treating customers like garbage’.

If we can whinge about the bad, we need to praise the good. And in the face of an insidious, invisible viral enemy, there are a lot of local bike shops doing a whole lot of good. These shops re-opened for business (even if behind closed, locked doors) and have been treating customers like gold because they want to help.

Jason Lind operates a fourthgeneration family bike shop – Olympic Cycles – on the cusp between Cape Town’s affluent southern and more working-class eastern suburbs. “Initially, the lockdown was a nightmare for the entire bike industry. It was cut and dried – we couldn’t trade. We held out for Level 4, and when that came people were allowed to ride; but we still had no

clarity on what we could sell, or even if.”

It was at this point that Brandon

Els (a 30-year veteran of the local bike world and the big boss at Rush Sports, responsible for Santa Cruz and Signal bikes) engaged the services of an advocate, and began to badger government with reasoned, thoughtthrough documents that pointed out that if we were allowed – indeed, encouraged – to exercise, including by bicycle, it was unconsitutional not to allow the sale of any products that could afford the public the opportunity to do so. These documents, with the support of the bike industry, ended up on the desk of the President; and bike shops opened within days, albeit hesitantly.

“We hesitated, for sure,” says Lind. “It was so uncertain, and the penalties for misunderstanding what was going on seemed high. But Brandon’s legal advice was superb; and here we are, open and trading, and getting people onto bikes we haven’t seen in decades.

“New bikes and the regular bits and bobs are doing well – especially the entry-level bikes,” Lind continues. “And the workshop is busy, as people drop off dust-covered bikes with rotted tyres that haven’t seen daylight in years.

“It’s wonderful to see people remembering that cycling is something everyone can do, and it keeps people happy in these extremely difficult times.”

It’s also been a good time to welcome new customers into the sport, says Jacques Brink from Knysna Cycle Works. “We’ve seen a big spike in the sale of basic mountain bikes, as well as smart trainers. Actually, we’ve been flying since the legalities were sorted out. People are coming in because their gyms are closed, and they just want a way to stay active. Everyone seems very grateful. Maybe more people will be riding bikes when this is all behind us.”

And it’s not just about recreational riders. Many local bike shops are helping essential workers get to their jobs. “We have a large commuter population,” says Lind.

“Many of our customers who depend on mass transit are buying terrible used bikes so they don’t have to walk back and forth to work. We’re doing what we need to do to make them safe. Hopefully we see a new generation of riders come through the ranks, too, as parents get their kids bikes so they can ride and run while the kids ride along with them.”

Lind’s staff is cycling to work to avoid public transport, and he personally has never ridden as consistently as he’s doing at the moment.

“We can see some real adoption of cycling commuting across all communities,” Lind says.

But as South Africa heads into winter – historically a cycling dead zone, made survivable only by the uniquely busy South African bike events market – many are hanging on by a thread. And the events market is on hold for many months yet.

Shops are servicing bikes by appointment, and delivering trainers to riders who are on lockdown.

“We sold more home trainers than we thought possible in the week before lockdown commenced, and continued to take orders through Level 5, even with no defined delivery date,” says Damian Murphy, head of marketing for Morecycle (owners of Cycle Lab and Chris Willemse Cycles).

“Level 4, and the eventual opening of cycle retail, helped us restore regular trading to a point, and we’ve seen quite good trade since we opened our brick-and-mortar stores. Our workshops have been busy, and consumables have been popular sellers. It’s also encouraging to see a good number of new bicycle sales, both regular bikes and e-bikes.”

Bike shops, which are easy to take for granted during normal times, have become a community lifeline during these extraordinary ones – providing a means for fresh air and exercise, essential mobility, and the ability to stay sane while sheltering in place. They’ve kept the fabric of our lives from unravelling so our communities can stay tightly knit while physically distancing. And for that, we say thank you.