CUDAHY — With the warm summer days, you may have noticed more bikes out on trails and roads.
Over the past year, the biking industry has boomed in popularity but with that comes shortages and backorders.
Steve Whitford, owner of South Shore Cyclery in Cudahy, said he has seen an increase in the demand for bikes and the shop has been busy.
“Lots of repair work, trying to keep up with stock shortages and building new bikes,” said Whitford
Whitford said he noticed bike shortages start about a year ago due to the pandemic.
“Some of the component manufacturers had shutdowns so some of the bike manufacturers had frames but no parts to hang on the frames. A lot of the bikes we are getting in now are some we ordered a year ago,” said Whitford.
According to a New York Market research group, the NPD Group, the cycling industry grew 75% in April of 2020 generating $1 billion in sales.
With the warm temperatures for 2021, the popularity is growing. Wisconsin-based company Trek Bikessaid in the past nine months, they have doubled their manufacturing capacity but the demand has almost tripled.
“We are out of some stuff like BMX and mountain bikes, we have a lot of city bikes, we have a lot of recreational bikes but they are coming in slowly,” said Whitford.
In their back room, are stacks of bikes ready waiting to get built, Whitford said they are trying to build them as fast as possible. He suggests for anyone looking to purchase a bike, calling ahead.
“People are calling in trying to get stuff before it’s even put together so we are advising people to call it in and see if it’s ready to go and also we have a lot of stuff on backorder that’s going to trickle in,” said Whitford.
