With many New Yorkers nervous to take public transportation, bicycling has become a more appealing alternative. But getting your hands on a bike isn’t so easy nowadays. Bicycle Habitat, which has locations in Chelsea and Brooklyn, warned on Thursday that there aren’t many bikes out there to buy right now.
“There is a national bike shortage, unlike anything I have seen before. This is due to increased demand and extensive disruptions to the supply chain. My advice: when you see something that you like – BUY IT. I expect to have a very limited inventory of our most popular bicycles very soon.”
Bike stores in other parts of the country are reporting a similar trend.
How are you getting around, aside from your feet? And if you’re not getting around, how do you expect to move around when restrictions are eventually lift?
Check out Master Bike on 72nd and West End! They’re open and have great bikes.
The guys at Master Bike are my favorite people right now. I just came home to NYC last weekend and decided I needed a bike. I knew which one I wanted, but it was sold out EVERYWHERE. I think I found literally the last one in the city, yesterday, when Master Bike called me to say they had one that another customer had had held, but failed to show up and collect. I bought it immediately.
Imbert has been a bike master on the UWS for maybe 30+ years. He started as a mechanic at Toga maybe going back to the previous owner Richard. He also had a smaller space on Bway for a few years. He was very happy last year because 3 of the top 10 Pro racing cyclists in the world hailed from his home country of Colombia.
If you’re up by Columbia U. – Larry’s on 110 will help you get rolling if you can dig out your bike from basement storage. Bicycles last a long long time. Marcos at Champion on Amsterdam Ave. is also super honest with repairs.
If money is not a concern, the 2 Trek store, Toga, and Renaissance will take care of you also.
I have a bike and an electric scooter, which might just have enough battery to get me to work one-way, where I could charge it up for the ride home.
This totally makes sense to me- I plan to bike to work when my office re-opens, as I’m too nervous covid-wise to take a crowded subway. I wish the Mayor would do more to promote a fully connected system of bike lanes so that biking to work could be safer so I don’t have to fear from my life from crazy speeding drivers.
Streetopia UWS sent out a survey last week asking people how they commuted pre COVID and how they anticipate to commute afterwards. Article coming out soon with results, but suffice to say that we will see a huge shift (at least at first) away from public transit and towards biking. The follow-up article here should be about WHERE we need better bike infrastructure especially for newbie cyclists and wanna-be newbies. We welcome you with open arms!
Lisa, you’re doing great work! Keep it up!
As a West Sider – Togo on West End Avenue in the low 60s is a great local bike store
TOGA
I would NEVER use a city bike and or any bike rental in any city. I do antimicrobial polymer research and have presented my reersrch at various scientific conferences. Even before the C19 issue Citibike never properly cleaned them, nor have the other companies. The seat, handlebars etc are made with a hard body of thermoplastic polymer with a thin soft porous padding that is made of an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer which does not require the application of a covering layer. The key word is “porous”, meaning in layman’s terms it will absorb liquids and then off gas them into the surrounding environment as they evaporate, residual residues can also remain behind on a nano scale. Visualize a workout machine in a gym after someone has used it and left it with sweat on it. You would not want to use it would you? This is the same on a lesser principle but still the same microbial/viral contamination viability issue. You can wipe them down all you want but the porous nature of the copolymer will hinder the process.
This is not to say you will get C19 or even the common cold if the previous rider had an infection of some sort. Its just common sense to lessen exposure, especially now. Even before C19 must people that took the subway washed their hands asap upon getting home.
Did you read the article? It was about personal bikes, not Citi bikes. Next time read the article before copying and pasting your comment here!
What Kevin here said…