Bicycles, outdoor gear purchases increase

On a warm April day, all levels of bikers from toddlers on balance bikes to expert road racers zipped up and down the Razorback Greenway.

Mountain bikers could be seen shredding the climbs and pulling their front wheels off the ground on high berms on the adjacent dirt trails.

The covid-19 pandemic could not put the brakes on the cyclists, although some wore protective facial coverings in addition to their hard plastic cycling helmets.

Several Northwest Arkansas bike shops are reporting an increase in sales in the month since the pandemic forced a systematic shutdown on schools, sporting events and other places where people once gathered in large groups. Families are turning to cycling as a way to get out of their homes and take advantage of the abundance of paved and single-track cycling trails in the region.

Chris Dillard, who owns Highroller Cyclery shops in Rogers and Fayetteville, said his businesses have seen an increase in the sale of entry-level and children’s bikes over the past few weeks, but could not attribute that solely to break free from home confinement because of covid-19.

“It seems like by the eye test the demographic of rider is different, lots of new riders,” Dillard said. “It seems like there are a lot more newcomers. We’ve definitely seen an uptick there.”

Dillard said spring is generally one of the hottest selling times of the year for bikes, so he could not credit the covid-19 mandated isolation as the primary reason for the increase in sales, but admitted it likely is a factor in the abundance of new riders.

“What we’re hearing from our customers is that biking is something they can do as a family,” Dillard said. “The pandemic is one of the reasons they’re giving for wanting to get into biking. That’s why you’re seeing an increase in the new cyclists. Not all of our customers are in that demographic, but a lot are and we’re hearing it more and more.”

Darrell Potts with Lewis and Clark Outfitters in Springdale and Rogers said online sales of bikes have shown a dramatic increase this spring. Customers are using bike shop’s web sites to select the bikes they want, then giving the shops their personal information like their height to help with the fitting.

“Our online sales are up triple-digits,” Potts said. “They can order their bike online and we will have a couple of options for them when they get here out on the curbside. They can test them and decide which one best fits and make their purchase there in a safe manner.

“We do a size evaluation on the phone. If you’re six feet tall, we know your options and we can set up the bikes outside. We keep the bikes wiped down and keep our distance.”

Potts said the covid-19 protocol has meant a new way to conduct business for the Lewis and Clark sales team.

“Bikes sales are by nature a hands-on business,” Potts said. “We spent so many years trying to teach our staff to be customer-friendly and now we’re having to train them to keep their distance.”

Paxton Roberts, the executive director of BikeNWA, said the numbers of riders on streets and shared-use paved trails are up anywhere from 55 to 200 percent in some areas of the region.

Like Dillard, Roberts said the increase in new riders are at least partly related to the covid-19 pandemic.

With limited entertainment options, biking offers a chance to enjoy social distancing in the outdoors, Roberts said.

“Yes, we have had reports of and also noticed new users on the trails,” Roberts said. “We also see many new faces walking and riding bikes on neighborhood streets.”

Roberts said BikeNWA has conducted a use survey for the local trails in an attempt to gather data on the influx of new users, both biking and walkers. The results of that survey are expected in the next week or so.

For Lewis and Clark, bikes sales are just a part of the outfitter’s business. Potts said other outdoors-friendly equipment sales have also seen a spike in recent weeks.

“Backyard camping is a big thing right now,” Potts said. “We’re seeing a lot of sales of that type of equipment, along with disc golf. There are about 15 disc golf courses in the area and we’re seeing a lot of people come in to buy disc golf equipment.”

A few weeks ago, toilet paper was flying off grocery store shelves as quickly as it could be unloaded from the delivery trucks.

Potts jokingly predicts the next hot item will be the ingredients that go into making S’mores – Graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate.

“I’m going to start stocking up on these for sure,” Potts joked. “I’m serious. You can’t be a backyard camper without S’mores. People need to be preparing for that now.”