It’s tough.”Įven repairing a bike has its uncertainty. “It’s not just trying to assemble the bike,” Neustel said, “it’s all the little pieces that need to come together. That can be traced to makers of everything from aluminum bike tubes to carbon fiber components crippled by the virus, too, as demand suddenly hit unprecedented levels. “There is so much disarray in what’s happening that the vendors can’t even tell us when we are going to get our bikes,” Neustel said. Normally maybe a matter of days, special bike orders made in April are just starting to arrive for customers. Routine transactions changed, too, he said. The demand forced Ski Hut to look outside its core brands such as Trek and Specialized to accommodate customers. “Those bikes were sold out almost instantly, so we were scrambling just like everybody else,” Neustel said. Both traditionally are bestsellers in the Midwest. So, too, have comfort bikes built for leisurely recreational riding and hybrid bikes that are a cross of mountain and road bikes. And sales of electric-assist bikes, which already were immensely popular, nearly tripled.ĭave Neustel, manager at Ski Hut in Duluth, said the entry-level mountain bikes in the $500-$900 range are a “meat-and-potatoes” seller in a city known for its Duluth Traverse trail system. In June, sales of gravel bikes were 144% above year-ago levels. sales of bikes, parts and accessories nearly doubled to $1 billion compared to the same month in 2019, NPD Group, a market researcher, reported.Īs inventory dwindled through the spring, people turned to higher-end, more expensive rollers. The state’s robust bike industry, from hundreds of shops to major distributors and suppliers, was hit with unprecedented demand combined with major supply chain disruptions that still are rippling out - and will for months to come. While the public was flooding the outdoors to find refuge in early spring, many Minnesotans stopped at bike shops, too, contributing to a stratospheric number of purchases throughout the U.S. This, too, the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought - and it’s almost too much of a good thing, according to some of the state’s bike sellers and suppliers. There are no products matching the selection.A new normal in already bike-centric Minnesota is a landscape teeming with riders who either bought new wheels in the past five months or, in some cases, still are waiting for those purchases to arrive. "Your Mountain" doesn't just stand for the climb you face on your weekly ride it's any obstacle that stands in your way.įuji seeks to motivate its riders to confront and overcome their daily obstacles - whether it's attaining fitness goals, living a greener lifestyle or, quite literally, climbing cycling's most notorious mountain passes. It’s on the mountains where we thrive.įuji's logo and "Conquer Your Mountain" tagline is a call to action for riders, retailers and all fans of Fuji. These are our moments to shine and to come out on top: stronger, wiser, faster and more efficient. At Fuji we’re always on the lookout for our “mountains,” those seemingly difficult obstacles and challenges that stand in the way of becoming the best bicycle company in the world.įor us, these are opportunities. The mountain may be 12,000 miles away from our current headquarters, but its spirit inspires the way we think and how we operate. So perhaps it’s fitting that 117 years later the brand is still thriving. When Fuji was started in 1899, it was named after Mount Fuji, a Japanese symbol of strength and endurance.
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