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Bike sales and repairs surge during COVID-19

Bike retailers and repair shops say business is booming despite COVID-19.

MACON, Ga. — Bike Tech in Macon has new adjusted hours and a restriction on the number of people who can be in the store at a time. With these changes, they say bike sales have still been through the roof.

Store manager Jim Langstaff says since the end of March, they've had a consistent flow of people coming in to buy bikes and get their old ones repaired.

"We have one main mechanic and me who can help out and one other associate. We've got a backlog up until August, the middle of August, right now," Langstaff said.

That's just on the repair side. Langstaff says for sales, bikes are getting sold as quickly as they're being brought in.

"We've got handfuls of bikes from every company that we order from normally back ordered," he says.

He says they've had a mix of returning and new customers coming in for repairs or a new ride. 

Kaylee Pruitt, a new customer, says she rode her bike as a kid and tried again as an adult.

"As an adult, it was scary. The saying, 'It's like riding a bike', I didn't feel it was true because I felt like it was terrifying trying to do it as an adult," she said.

Pruitt and her husband bought and tried mountain bikes first, but she says she did not enjoy it.

It wasn't until recently that she bought a cruiser bike, and now they ride together and with Bike Walk Macon.

"Everybody we talk to, we're like, 'You have to get a bike. You have to start bike riding'. Yeah definitely, we really enjoy it a lot, it's become a new hobby," she said.

The changed hours and restrictions will be in place until further notice.

Langstaff says although the store is busy, he's glad to see people are turning to bike riding to stay fit and get some fresh air.

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