BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — As gyms eagerly await the green light to reopen, bike shops have been deemed essential since March. It’s why places like Action Sports in Bakersfield have been seeing a large boom in business.
“Probably 5 to 7 times the normal amount of repair bikes, and then it is truly 3 to 4 times the amount of sale bikes," said Kerry Ryan, the owner of Action Sports.
Ryan says his store is having an unprecedented amount of business during these unprecedented times. He normally has about 1,000 bikes on the floor, but right now he’s down to a few hundred. He says he would usually sell about 10 bikes a day before March, then that changed.
“I would say in the height of when we had a good amount of inventory, 30, 40, 50 bikes a day," he said.
And then there are the repairs. Because many more people are riding bikes much more often, Action Sports’ repair shop has been just as busy. A flat tire used to be a 15-minute fix, now it’s a 24-hour one. The shop can hardly contain the number of bikes waiting to be repaired. The shop’s rock climbing wall area now being used as storage.
“Regular repairs, it used to be a 24-hour guarantee unless parts were needed. Those are now out one week to two weeks depending on if you bought the bike from us or not," Ryan said.
Those browsing for a new bike will be brought in, escorted by an employee, one person at a time. Ryan says it’s cool to see so many people exercising safely during the pandemic.
“There’s just a lot of activity, so it’s really encouraging to see Bakersfield getting more fit," he said.
