‘We can’t keep up’: Demand amid COVID-19 leaves few bicycles in Kansas City shops

Two dozen bicycles line the front window of Midwest Cyclery’s bike shop in Midtown Kansas City. But these bikes aren’t for sale. They’re waiting for repairs.

Owner Christina Decker said she’d normally never have used bikes on display. But after a surge in sales the past few months due to the coronavirus pandemic, combined with a manufacturing shortage, Kansas City area bike shops are low on stock and backed up on repairs.

“Our shop is now inundated with 140-plus repairs waiting to be done,” Decker said. “The amount of repairs that we have in reflects the lack of bikes we don’t have.”

Chris Johnson of Kansas City is one of many who have taken up cycling during the coronavirus pandemic. He said he rode a “beat up old bike” before recently upgrading to a newer model he got at the nonprofit bike shop Revolve at 5509 Troost Ave. He now uses his bike every day for recreation and commuting.

“I decided if I’m going to be doing this and continually do it, especially for the whole summer, I might as well get a brand new one or something I can really put some mileage on,” Johnson said.

When gyms were shut down this spring, cycling was a way to social distance and exercise outside — which health experts say is a safer place to be than indoors. And it’s less expensive than driving.

“We have seen a lot of folks that have never ridden a bike since they were 10, 15 years old jumping into bicycling because what else is there to do?” said Kiley Sutter, owner of Velo Garage and Tap House in North Kansas City.

Bike shops saw increased business at the beginning of the pandemic — until they ran low on bikes.

First, Decker said, children’s bikes were popular at her shop. Now, it’s electric bicycles, popular with commuters.

The increased demand for bikes started in March and April in the U.S. But most factories in Asia slowed production in January and February because of the pandemic there, leaving bike shops with few options to get more inventory after they started to run out.

Now it’s almost impossible to find an affordable bike at brick-and-mortar stores and even online at stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Academy Sports and Outdoors.

“It’s that under-$1,000 price range that every shop in the nation is having a hard time getting ahold of,” Decker said.

Decker said some manufacturers won’t have bikes until late July at the earliest, but most say September or October.

“There’s just no way to get any more bicycles in stock,” Sutter said. “It literally was a perfect storm of all of these different parameters.”

Luckily, a few owners had extra inventory to meet the initial demand.

Decker said she overpurchased last year and had a stockpile ready.

Theresa Van Ackeren, executive director of Revolve, said their warehouse had a few hundred extra bikes in storage before the pandemic. Now, they have about 20.

The 1,000-square-foot store also looks a little different now, Van Ackeren said.

“It used to be bikes stacked on top of bikes. We, at any one time, would have 50 or 60 in there to sell, and right now, we probably have five, maybe 10,” Van Ackeren said. “We can’t keep up.”

Revolve normally receives many of its donations from city recycling events, such as Overland Park’s. However, the city canceled its spring event, leaving Revolve low on stock and running out of options. Van Ackeren said they’ll turn to other routes, such as asking people for donations by email and social media.

“Our donations have fallen at the time where we need them the most,” Van Ackeren said.

Decker said some shops have seen a 400% to 500% increase in sales. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll come out ahead in revenue for the entire year.

Sutter has sold about 70 bikes so far this year — the amount he’d normally sell in a year. But he expects sales to drop.

“I anticipate that we made most of our revenue in the first six months of the year,” Sutter said.

Bike manufacturers are beginning to focus on 2021 models, almost altogether abandoning the rest of this year’s bike season.

“We’ve missed half of the production season,” Decker said.

Sutter said if bike shops are sold out, try Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for affordable used bikes.

“Be patient with the bike shops,” Decker said. “Know that we’re all trying hard to find bikes.”