Bike Shops Hustle To Meet Pandemic Demand

New Haven’s bike shops can’t get bicycles in fast enough, as the pandemic has brought more demand to their doors than suppliers can meet.

“We sold out of a normal summer’s supply — 250 bikes — in a month and a half,” reported Bob Jacobson, owner of College Street Cycles.

Jacobson isn’t alone—across the nation, bike shops are scrambling to keep up with increasing demand since the start of the pandemic.

In New Haven, the increased Covid-19-fueled demand coincides with the indefinite closure of the New Haven bike sharing program, which rented out 300 bikes.

“Special orders used to take two months maximum,” said Jacobson. ​“Now, I’ve been told I might get some bikes as late as next May.”

Whenever new bikes do come, they’re snapped up. ​“We usually get a few bikes a week,” said Greg Ledovsky, one of the managers at Devil’s Gear Bike Shop on Orange Street (which is about to move around the corner to Chapel). ​“The ones that aren’t pre-ordered sell out in 1 – 2 days.”

Beyond limited supply, the price of bikes and bike part) have soared. ​“It’s very difficult to get a new bike less than $2,500 to $3,000,” said Ledovsky. ​“We usually try to carry a range of price points to include all cyclists, but we can’t seem to keep inexpensive bikes in stock.”

Even for those buying used bikes, the cost of repair supplies has increased. ​“We’ve been going to retailers like Amazon for basic supplies in addition to our usual warehouses, but they’re more expensive,” said Jacobson.

Why Now

There’s one main reason why bikes have become so popular: in the era of Covid-19: They’re safe for both work and play.

“People don’t want to use public transport to get places,” said Kai Addae, co-director of Bradley Street Bicycle Co-Op. ​“It’s safer to bike to work.”

Beyond commutes, biking helps with exercise and personal well-being. ​“Biking is a safe way to exercise, which people desperately want after being cooped up,” said Ledovsky.

Humna Sharif, a graduate student at Yale, came in to get a flat tire fixed at Bradley Street Co-Op, which repairs bikes and sells used ones. She didn’t bike before the pandemic, she said, ​“but became bored sitting around the house.” She had been looking for a bike since April, and ultimately found a used bike through a friend of a friend.

Lila Layther and Sam Kuhn were outside the Co-op the other day as well. Kuhn, a law student at Yale, was having his bike fixed. Layther, who had just moved from New York, didn’t have a bike yet; she’d been borrowing one from Kuhn’s mother. ​“I’ve been looking since March,” she said, ​“and I have yet to find one.”

Adapting

Staffers at all three local bike shops described feeling increased pressure during Covid-19, because of the pandemic and decreased supply. At Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, ​“we’ve slowly worked up to normal hours, but we still don’t allow any customers in the store,” said Ledovsky. Meanwhile at the Bradley Street Co-Op, ​“we’ve decreased our business days from three to two each week,” said Addae. ​“We just don’t have enough bikes.”

“Our store is a social space, and some people still just want to come in and chat, but we can’t do that,” said College Street’s Jacobson. ​“Instead, they queue up outside.”

One thing that’s remained the same: Jacobson’s dog Ryder (and unofficial store mascot) still sits on the blue carpet, keeping an eye on the store as he waits for treats.

Distancing measures have also affected the staff’s ability to work on bikes.

At Bradley Street Co-Op, most of the bike repairs are done by volunteers. ​“That’s still happening, but we’ve reduced the number of volunteers from 8 to 4 each day,” said Co-Director John Martin. ​“Having less volunteers has definitely contributed to a bottleneck in refurbishing bikes.” At College Street Cycles, Jacobson has been putting in extra hours. ​“I used to work about 9 – 10 hours a day, but now I work an average of 15 hours,” he said. ​“But it’s barely made a dent in the demand.”

With increasing challenges, bike shops have had to find innovative solutions, both for labor and parts.

“We now have volunteers, especially those who are older and more vulnerable, coming in the early morning when no one is around,” said Martin.

With more time, new, younger volunteers are stepping up. Nico Esguerra came to the Co-Op after moving to New Haven. Although he’s always had an interest in bike mechanics, he hadn’t volunteered before the pandemic.

Over the last few weeks, he’d felt ​“completely safe in an outdoor space with fewer volunteers.”

These extra hands can make all the difference for overwhelmed store owners. ​“During the days, it’s just been me,” said Jacboson. ​“But at night, some of my friends who like bikes come to help.”

Beyond labor, stores have found new ways to re-purpose materials. ​“We’re re-using stuff as much as possible: tubes that might have once been discarded, we’re now patching,” said Martin. ​“Normally, we’d replace rear mechanisms because they’re so complicated,” said Jacobson. ​“Now we’re getting good at fixing them.”

The Long Run

It’s unclear whether this spike in biking will last after the pandemic.

Tthere are signs for hope.

“We’re getting a lot more New Haveners coming in, as opposed to college students,” said Addae. ​“Our goal is to first get people to use their bikes for fun, then eventually as a tool for everyday transport.”

Ledovsky echoed this sentiment: ​“It seems like many millennials are buying bikes, not just for enjoyment but for commuting.”

Martin phrased it best: ​“For a lot of folks, these last few months have re-sparked their imagination of what a bike can do.”