More demand for bikes in Inverness during coronavirus crisis

DEMAND for bikes has soared during the coronavirus lockdown, according to local sellers and enthusiasts.

Staff at Bikes of Inverness in the city’s Grant Street say orders there have actually doubled in recent weeks.

And with Highland Council currently in the process of developing a network of safe walking and cycling routes across the region as a way of making social distancing easier in response to the pandemic the interest could be set to continue for some time.

Former cycling international Roddy Riddle builds new bicycles in the Bikes of Inverness workshop and said he has recently been putting together around 10 per week.

“We are selling a lot of parts as well,” he added, with electric bikes and off-road bikes equally popular and orders coming across the board for both adult and children’s bikes and from both male and female customers.

Hoping the interest can be sustained he added: “We will end up having a far healthier nation.”

His brother Kenny, also a cyclist of international standard who, along with his brother, competed at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, runs the business and said it had been inundated with calls in recent weeks.

He speculated that quieter roads as well as people currently unable to take part in team sports looking for alternative ways to keep fit might also be behind the surge in interest.

“It’s created a whole new customer base than we had before,” he said.

“We will take in 12 to 15 repairs a day and can deal with orders coming in at the moment.”

John Davidson, convener of the Highland Cycle Campaign, said that he had visited another city bike store last week where staff told him they had hardly any bikes left to sell because recent demand had been so high.

“We have definitely seen an increase in the number of people cycling in Inverness and also, importantly, the type of people choosing to ride a bike while the roads have been quieter than usual,” he said.

“Safety and the perception of safety is key to getting more people out of their cars and onto bikes for more everyday journeys, and I think the quieter streets during lockdown have allowed people to cycle when they previously wouldn’t have felt safe doing so.

“The key is to harness this demand and quickly build safe routes for people to use – separate from motor vehicles and from pedestrians – that connect key areas across the city, particularly schools and workplaces.”

Society should take the opportunity to shift the way it thinks about travel and how we use public space he added.

Click here to read more news.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.