Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Commuters seem to have lost their enthusiasm for being squished into a poorly ventilated box with suspiciously unhealthy looking strangers. The resulting rush for healthier alternatives has triggered an ongoing global bike shortage.
Bike Shortages Aren’t Going Away Anytime Soon—Here’s Why
Robert AnnisSat,
November 7, 2020, 6:02 AM GMT+10At a makeshift counter outside The Bike Line, an independent bike shop in Indianapolis, employees regularly help a steady stream of customers looking to buy a new bike or replace the rusty chain on the an old ten-speed that’s been gathering dust in a garage for years.
In a normal year, these requests would be quickly handled. But, as we all know, 2020 is not a normal year. Inside The Bike Line, showroom floors once packed with shiny, new bicycles are now nearly bare. The repair area is packed with bikes, waiting for back-ordered parts to arrive.
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The Bike Line has been feeling the pressure to keep up with demand. With sales more than doubling, they are still mostly unable to keep the store stocked with new bikes. Although primarily a Trek dealer, The Bike Line’s inventory was so low this summer, they needed to find alternative means of getting bikes. They eventually bought the entire inventory of Linus cruiser bikes—a brand that they typically don’t carry—from a dealer that went out of business just before the pandemic. Those bikes were gone in fewer than six weeks.
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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/bike-shortages-aren-t-going-200200926.html
It will be interesting to see whether this enthusiasm for bicycles survives the winter; riding a bike through snow can be a challenging experience. In the meantime, if anyone has a machine shop tooled up which can satisfy this raging demand for all things bike, I doubt you will get a better opportunity than now to test your product range.
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I suspect it has more to do with people being stuck at home more, with more free time, and wanting something they can do outside that is fun, invigorating, and healthy. Cycling sure fits the bill. As things get back to normal, that enthusiasm will wane, though I suspect some will continue cycling, having a new-found appreciation for it. A lot of bikes, though, are going to wind up gathering dust, in garages, sheds, etc. I have an old 10-speed, circa mid-70’s, which I recently dusted off, and took for a short spin. I think it had been at least a decade since I had last ridden it, so I was a bit rusty. I have a bike helmet, somewhere (I think). I keep meaning to take it out for a spin, even if just a mile or two, but haven’t yet. Too busy with other stuff. Like today, I’m raking leaves and chopping them up with the DR mower. Leaves don’t want to biodegrade very easily unless you do that.
It’s not just bicycles that are in short supply, it’s also parts and other supplies (such as tires and inner tubes).
Every bicycle shop proprietor or employee I’ve talked with has confirmed the shortages.
I found (I think) replacement tires for my old 10-speed road bike at a site called BikeTiresDirect for $14.95 ea., plus shipping. I think mine may be over 40 years old, so probably time. Sidewalls are definitely cracked.
Three years back I had disrupted plaque resulting in a 99% blockage of the LAD coronary artery whilst cycling. The subsequent wait for stenting saw me buy a bottom bracket torque sensing electric drive for my commuter bike. Absolutely marvellous fun, so easy up the hills. Fully fixed now, to the disappointment of my more senior friends who were waiting like vultures to take the electric drive off my hands for a song, I decided to keep it for around town stuff and small shopping trips, it’s that brilliant.
Here’s the thing. For an extra 10% weight I get a 250% increase in power and a range of 50 miles. What’s more it takes about the same time refuel and rest the rider as the bike. This is of course in stark contrast to the electric car which takes all the stats for power, weight, range and practicality in the wrong direction. I try to explain these facts to my non-technical friends and they go blank in the face and stare. It’s small wonder the green blob can pull the wool over their eyes when it comes to global warming.
Be like Tom Hanks in movie Man with one red shoe, secure bike in apartment. There is a huge down side to riding a bike in bad weather and arriving at work sweaty, soaking wet.
A mulching lawnmower is the best lawn fertilizer you can buy. It also keeps the soil built up and the earthworms happy.
If you insist on a “clean” lawn you’ll have treat for weeds occasionally. They like good soil too.
Been a good year for me. Just about at 3000 miles ridden so far.
China makes many bicycle brands like Cannondale and Giant. So it’s harder to get such bicycles with the trade problems between China and the West. China has been throwing its considerable weight around regarding Australian trade because of the Australian push for an inquiry about the source of Covid-19. I wouldn’t be surprised if bicycle retailers here are finding it hard to get consignments delivered – I know my local bike shop has very few bicycles on their shop floor, and most models are listed as sold out on their website.
Giant is a Taiwan company which manufactures its own brand and manufactures for many brands worldwide. Cannonade is also made in Taiwan I believe. China copies many brands ie fakes.
Hehe, I’m not doing too well! I didn’t realize they were Taiwanese. Sorry. And I went to my local bike shop this morning (after my comment) and found they’d received a fair bit of stock. So had no problem buying a couple of tubes, which is what I was in need of. Batting zero today…
My current ride is a Cannondale, which I’ve been very happy with for several years so far.
I lived in Boulder Colorado for 47 years and witnessed the explosion of cycling, ultra fitness, big-money bike races, and the whole bit. The city has spent many 10s of millions (including gobs of federal “sustainability” grants) on bike trails, bike lanes, bike/pedestrian underpasses, raised cross-walks, bizarro flashing crossings for bikes/peds, bike parks, bike-to-work day/week/month, and so on and so on. There are more insufferable bike superiorists per square mile in this place than probably any other locale in the US.
Yet I venture to say (based on personal observation) more than 97% of the bikers/cyclists are riding for recreation, exercise, “training”, and such. The other few are young parents who’ve gone full-bike-crazy with a cargo rig used for shlepping groceries, kids, dogs, and assorted flotsam and jetsam.
Essentially no one rides a bike to replace a trip by automobile (I can already hear the howls of protest). Maybe once a month for some small item neglected on a car-shopping trip.
All the “sustainability” blather is just that – virtue signalling to support an ever-growing government sustainability bureaucracy that accomplishes essentially nothing in terms of reducing carbon (dioxide). Which, as we here at WUWT know, is not a problem but rather a net benefit for the biosphere.
I’ve ridden my bikes for 65 years, love cycling, but make no pretense about doing it for anything other than the sheer joy of turning the crank and feeling the breeze in the face. I would never be so stupid as to cycle in the snow. Darwin-award candidates do that.
FOR MONTHS the local Walmart in Lucas has been out of adult bicycles … tires and tubes are sporadically out-of-stock too.
I’ve bicycled to the local Kroger (1 and 1/2 miles each way) since March; lost pounds and re-developed needed leg muscles and lung capacity!
Houston can be a stone bitch for a bicycle commuter. The winters can be unexpectedly cold and extremely wet. One winter a few years back, I finally worked out a layering routine of 5 layers, which had to be peeled off at pretty much regular spots about 2 – 3 miles apart, and stowed, then onward! It added about 20 minutes to my ~15 mile ride. No biggie. I’d get to work, grab my towel,take a shower in the shop (this was a combined design/fab outfit, maybe 50 employees. Lots of sawdust, swarf, and fiberglass dust. HAD to provide an employee shower for the shop rats, about 35 of the 50). I’d hang my garb to dry, put on a suit and tie, go to my office. Most days I had to fab stuff myself, so I kept a box of Tyvek overalls in a desk drawer. Just parked my bike in the shop bay.
A couple years later I had to work (plant engineer) at a BIG hotel. Much closer, maybe 7 miles. No employee shower. I could see the space where one had been, but no. Too much trouble to keep it stocked with towels, I was told. I started out just parking my bike in the shop. Nope. So I moved it into a disused storeroom. Nope. All Employees must park on the roof level of the garage. Sorry, you can’t use a parking space.
So I locked up my bike and lowered it over the parapet of the roof level. On the outside. Where it got picked up by a local news channel. I think the story lead was ‘Suicidal Bicycle Spotted in Galleria Area’. The hotel GM was not pleased. Circulated a memo demanding to know who was responsible. Well, that’s me, Bossman. I explained the situation, and the head of Engineering was told to let me keep the bike in the shop, which, by the way seems to have a lot more space. And neatly organized. I like the labels on the parts bins, and the running inventory. Keep up the good work. And while I have your attention, could we re-attach the shower in the employee head? I mean, I fixed those 4 machines in the laundry room, the 75 lb washers and 150 lb dryers that been down for 2 years when I started here 6 weeks ago, up to 100% capacity from about 40%. Not a chance.
Summers as a cyclist in Houston? (Them) Wow! you seem to be losing weight, and you’ve such a healthy glow about you! Amazing how you can do that at your age! (Me) Must Hydrate. Must Hydrate. Must Hydrate while checking email in airconditioned office.
I am 72 y.o. and Milady Wife is 82 y.o. Our cycling season is coming to an end next week due to freezing temperatures here at 45°N. This years mileage is just about the same as last year’s, at about 2100 miles. They include our tenth annual 400 mile road trip down Lake Michigan’s Lakeshore Drive and home again.
I did add electric assist to her nearly fifteen year old Greenspeed trike. My routine still includes about 1500 Calories three times per week on my ICE trike Sprint 26”
Yes, parts, tires, are a bit of an issue now, but stock up early for what you know you will need.
Yes, bike sales went crazy once the plandemic looked to be here for a long time.
Also, sales of guitars. Commuting by bike wins out over the guitar, though. Or, this proves that people were developing recreation versus commuting with social-distance.
All the fire arms are also sold out, but that is another social phenomenon.