COVID-19 has brought bike craze through Amarillo

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The Owner of Sun Adventure Sports Shop says as soon as the Shelter-in-Place order went into effect in Amarillo, bicycle shop sales increased dramatically.

“It started here in Amarillo when the quarantine hit. We started getting bombarded on bike sales, repairs, used bikes, basically anything with two wheels. It was either crazy or just trying to get people back on bikes with repairs," said Nugget, owner of Sun Adventure Sports Shop.

Bicycle shop owners are now calling this a “bike craze,” as the quarantine has influenced many residents to use cycling as a way to get outside and stay active during the pandemic.

“People are looking for something to get outside and do, so the bike craze would be people getting outside and hiking and running, and just doing stuff outdoors, getting out in the sun, exercising and being mobile," Nugget said.

Since sales at bicycle stores across Amarillo were significantly higher at the start of the Shelter-in-Place order, most places to purchase bikes in the city are running low on inventory. Hill’s Sports Shop says they are now being impacted by the lack of bikes they have to sell.

“It impacts it quite a bit, because people are wanting to order bikes, and we can’t order them, and they’re looking at August, mid-August, some as far back as September before we can get them. We’ve got specialized kind of trickling in, just whatever they have, they’ll send us, but you can tell by looking at our racks over here that it’s just ridiculous," said Trisha Hill, business manager of Hill’s Sports Shop.

Both Hill’s and Sun Adventure are now mostly doing repairs during their daily operations, since their bike racks remain empty.

“We’ve gotten bikes that have been hanging in backyards or barns or wherever for many, many years that are now coming in to be repaired and get fixed up, so people can ride or get exercise during this time," Hill said.

Hill is hoping their inventory will be back to normal at least by Christmas, since that is a big season for their annual sales, but she isn’t sure that will be the case.

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