Great COVID-19 bicycle boom expected to keep bike industry on its toes for years to come

Somebicycle shopsacross Canadaare so busy withapandemic-triggeredboom in sales and itssubsequent backlogthat even answering phone calls isa struggle.

At Sidesaddle Bike Shop in Vancouver, the messagewhen acustomer calls warns that the storegets more than 400 inquiries a day.

"We actually don't even bother trying to answer the phone, which sounds like terrible customer service, but it's just we can't spread ourselves that thin," owner Andrea Smith said.

Curbside Cycle in Toronto sent out an email to customers on Thursday with aplea to stop calling or emailing whenwaiting on a pre-sold bike.

"We need to be blunt: If you cannot be patient, then it is better you get a refund this year and wait until 2022," the email said.

Things are pedal to the metal all over the country. Whether it's Calgary,Toronto or Halifax, bike shops are slammed, witha surge that started in March 2020 and has not let up and a backlog that some experts say won't becleared up for months or even years.

Bicycles providean outdoor activity at a time when COVID-19 travel bans and lockdownshavemade staying indoors either suffocating or dangerous.Health officials have recommended outdoor activities, such as cycling, and warned of the dangers of coronavirus transmission in gyms and on public transit.

That's provided a surge in demand for bikes. Market research firmNPDGroup says Canadian numbers aren't tracked, but in the United States, sales of bicycles increased 75 per cent in 2020 compared with a year earlier. For the first two months of2021, the increase year over year was 130 per cent.

But there's also a supply-sideproblem, including a shortage of shipping containers and understaffingalongparts of thesupply chain due to physical distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

'It's pretty zany when we open'

It all adds up to an unprecedented time for Canadian cycle shops.

"Most days it's pretty zany when we open," said Smith, who also own a second Vancouver location, Central Valley Flat Fix.

Smith saidshe expects simpler bikes, like those sought by people looking for their first bicycleas an adult, tobe sold out by May or June.

As for parts, shesaidone snag can block delivery fora whole shipment of bikes.

"We have one shipment that's waiting entirely on left front brake levers," Smithsaid, adding that it means someone who wants a custom bike might have to wait until October.

"Everything's just very unknowable," she said.

Price hike expected

On the production side,David Rgnier-Bourqueof CyclesDevinci, in Chicoutimi, Que., saidthe past year has been "very chaotic."

Rgnier-Bourque is the business development director with the company, which produces aluminum bike frames and also imports frames from partners worldwide. He saidit takes about 150 parts to make a bicycle.

"It was definitely a huge challenge for us to source parts.... Definitely we were not able to produce at the level we would want."

Rgnier-Bourque saidthe market is not slowing down, and companies in Asia where parts are sourced will need to increase their production or even build new factories.

"So for the next 12 months, I don't think that the bicycle industry is going to be able to catch up with the demand. And in more than 12 months, we'll have to re-evaluate if the demand is as high as right now."

He said he expects thatincreased demand will mean a price hike of between five and15 per cent.

Near-empty shop 'a little unsettling'

While the demand has left many people in the industry swamped, it's also left some shops exposed as they wait for more inventory to arrive.

Gordon Robb, who owns MetroCycle in Toronto, says he'sreceived onlyabout 20 per cent of the bicycles he's ordered this year,but he expects more orders to arrive soon, and throughout the summer.

"It is a little unsettling and I am a little worried, but I think we're going to be OK," he said. "We just have to kind of hold on."

Spring 2023 until things return to normal

EdwardWright, vice-president for parts and accessories distributor HLC Canada,saidthe industry and consumers will be dealing with theturmoil caused by the pandemic for years to come.

He said he's "fairly confident" that this time next year, a cycle shopper will have more options than they do now.

But Wright saidit won't be until the spring of 2023 "when you'd walk into a shop and experience what you would have experienced in spring 2020" a choice of many different models and a two-week wait to get your bicycle repaired.