Cycle shops in the Black Country are reporting a rise in the sale of bikes as fuel prices prompt people to swap four wheels for two.
The number of cycle repairs is also up by half at one shop as more workers ditch their cars and jump in the saddle to get to work instead.
Sales of new bikes has gone up by 15 per cent at Brotherton Cycles Ltd in Halesowen Road, Old Hill.
Boss Paul Wright, aged 38, who cycles the 11 miles to work from his home in Willenhall each day, said: “We are normally busy during the summer but there has been an increase in sales because of rising fuel costs. I think more people are choosing to cycle to work to save money particularly as most people only work within a radius of a few miles.
“Not only is it saving them money but people are realising it is better than sitting in your car in a traffic jam and is a great form of exercise.”
Jamie Price, a mechanic at Fred Williams Cycles, Snow Hill, Wolverhampton, said: “It is partly due to the rising fuel costs but also because of the cycle to work schemes that are taking place. We have been selling more bikes and the current wait to have a bike serviced is around two-and-a-half weeks.
“That’s also down to the fact that we are coming into the summer so people are wanting their racing bikes serviced at the moment.
“But we certainly have seen a rise in the number of commuter bikes being sold rather than race bikes at the moment.”
Chris Hayes of Hayes Cycles, Enville Road, Kingswinford, said: “The number of people bringing in old bikes for repair has increased by 50 per cent.
“It’s obvious they have been sitting in the shed for 10 years because of the state they are in and people have rooted them out to avoid using their cars.”
Bike repairer Vincent Morgan, who works at Great Bridge Bikes, High Street, Great Bridge, said: “There has been a big difference, in the last month especially. It’s got much busier – before that it was dead.
“We’d get three or four customers a day but now we’re getting loads. People seem to be bringing in these old bikes that they’ve had in the attic or the shed, some of them are really old and covered in cobwebs and I have to do what I can with them. It’s all started with the credit crunch and petrol getting expensive.”
7 Comments
thats good now there will be less petrol sold lets see what gordon hikes up now perhaps a bike tax also the police will have a field day fining for no lights and unroadworthy bikes also i wonder if helmets will become compulsary
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so if everyone’s buying a bike will the government stick a bike road tax on it,WATCH THIS SPACE.
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Bike sales may be booming, and that’s great news - but that’s bad news for pedestrians.
Next time you’re out and about, count the number of cyclists who use the pavement rather than the road.
The ones you see on the road, tend to be decked out in lycra and hooning really fast, whereas everyone else seems to be so scared of the big cars, that they ride on the pavement.
I even saw one grown man in a helmet cycling on the pavement. so he acknowledged that there’s danger in cycling (by wearing the helmet) but couldn’t give a **** about the fact that he could easily smack into anyone stepping out onto the pavement.
If all these new cyclists buying their new bikes were to cycle on the roads, cars would have to slow down anyway, making the roads safer for everyone and keeping the pavements safe for pedestrians.
Come on you people who cycle on pavements - you know that only little kids cycle on them. Grown ups cycle on the road. If you’re cycling on the pavement, it’s because you’re scared of the big bad cars, not because you’re big and tough.
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I’d like to be able to ride a bike to work, but I have to carry heavy n expensive equipment, and I’m really scared of getting knocked / run over.
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Not all cyclist who ride on the pavement do it because they are scared have you ever tried riding a bike when there is a car driver who insist in pushing you into the gutter and down all the drains and potholes then they see you are wating to turn left or right for that matter and decide to cut you up almopst knocking you off your bike this is what i have to deal with on a day to day basis if only the councils would listen and seperate more footpaths into cycle and pedestrian lanes then everyone would be happy
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Good! More cyclists. Lets get some more bike lanes and embrace it like places such as Bristol have done.
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So,Frances thinks pavements should be split into pedestrian and cycle lanes. Answer me this; how does a blind person tell the difference?
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