Low-cost bike options slim in southeast Iowa

Mark Smith, the new owner of Fairfield-based bike shop The Ride, tells customers that in the last couple weeks he's unintentionally become a high-end bike shop.

High demand for a mode of outdoor recreation like bikes coupled with a disruption in international bike supply chain has left Smith with very few lower-cost bikes.

One of the most common models he sells had 2,000 back orders with the manufacturer the last time he checked. Normally, he has about 115-150 bikes on hand, but Wednesday he had about 25 bikes in his shop.

'Imagine a pipeline of bikes flowing and the pipeline was shut off,” Smith said. And the oil - or in this case, the bikes - are flowing through at a pace three or four times faster than normal.

'You reach a point where the pipeline is empty,” Smith said.

A jump in bike sales is affecting more than just southeast Iowa. People across the state and the country are looking to outdoor recreation as an alternative to gatherings as normal summer routines and events are disrupted by efforts to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nationwide, during the month of March, sales of adult leisure bikes jumped 121 percent according to the N.P.D. Group, a market research company.

However, for Smith, the high demand is a good problem to have - it means more people are out biking and exercising.

'It's not too dire, we can still get bikes, just not the inexpensive bikes until I can get some more,” Smith said.

In July, he said he'll take in another 8-12 bikes from various suppliers.

Smith bought the Fairfield bike shop, formerly AJ's Bicycle Shop, this year after working there as a mechanic and salesman for nearly 19 years. In that time working for the bike shop he said he's never seen as many bike sales and repairs in such a short amount of time.

In Washington, Rider Sales LLC-owners Rodney and Rita Stogdill said they've sold about eight-10 bikes a week early this summer, more than their normal rate of about three or four per week. But they still have enough inventory to keep up with demand, Rodney Stogdill said, just fewer bikes in what he called the 'economical” range.

Backed up on repairs

But Rider Sales is about two-three weeks backed up on bike repairs due to the sheer number of calls for service the shop is receiving, Rodney Stogdill said. He added that usually service calls pick up around June because of RAGBRAI, which was canceled this year to try and help curb the spread of COVID-19 in Iowa. But nothing like what he's seeing now.

'I've made it a point to, if somebody calls, I'll tell them right off the bat I'm at least three weeks out,” he said.

Bike parts too, are difficult to come by at moment, Rita Stogdill said. Tires, tubes, and gloves are in short supply.

'When I go to order cheaper mountain bike tires, they just don't have them,” Rodney Stogdill said.

Their 102 E. 3rd St. location is the sole bike shop in Washington, and opened in 1993.

Rodney Stogdill said one of his friends started biking from Washington to West Chester on the KeWash trail, about a 15-mile round trip.

For people buying a bike for the first time, both the Stogdills and Smith recommend buyers to decide what kind of biking they want to do - offroad, paved trails, road biking - and what price range they'd be able to pay. Bikes at their shops range between roughly $350 to into the thousands for bikes with more gadgets, like an electric-assist bike.

Smith also recommended wearing reflective gear or adding lights to bikes if bikers go on a busy roadway since dangers could arise if a motorist is distracted. He added that paved bike trails have grown in popularity in the last decade, adding safer routes for bikers looking to get exercise.

'I have a young family now, and I used to ride on the roads all the time and didn't think about it,” he said. 'But I think twice now because I don't want to risk it to the degree I did when I was single.”