East Texas Business

By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor

With the price of gasoline setting records, some people are becoming interested in stepping on a different kind of pedal.

David Gersch, co-owner of Elite Bicycles, said he has seen an increase in bicycle sales and repairs for people who want to ride more.

“For the first time in the past 10 years or so I’m seeing people actually coming in and asking for bikes that they want to use to mostly supplement their driving,” Gersch said.

These are for short trips to the grocery store or to commute some of the time or all of the time to work, he said.

“Occasionally over the years I’d have people come in who would want to do that, but not with the regularity I’ve seen,” he said. “Usually a day doesn’t go by that I don’t have somebody come in who wants something related to the gas prices.”

Gersch said his shop is performing “record numbers of repairs” to bicycles.

“People who don’t buy new bikes are taking their old, dusty bikes in the garage, wanting to get them repaired to start riding,” Gersch said. “Sometimes they will come in and they will want to make upgrades to their bikes so they can start riding with baskets. I’m seeing things like racks and baskets from our distributors out of stock.”

Gersch said this indicates that the interest in using bicycles to supplement driving is occurring everywhere.

And bicycles can really save money, Gersch said. He knows; he rides a bicycle to work nearly every day.

“If you commute on your bike a couple of times a week, the money you save in gasoline will probably end up paying for the bike by the end of the year if you get just an average bike,” he said. “I ride my bike almost exclusively, maybe drive the car once every couple of weeks or so, depending on what the weather’s doing. And last year I spent less than $200 on gas for the entire year, and put less than 2,000 miles on my car.”

Gersch said the last time he filled up his car was in early February.

Tyler resident and veterinary technician Kristin Blaise said she uses a bicycle to ride to her job.

“I can go three or four days without driving my truck,” said Ms. Blaise, an avid bicyclist since 2001.

She said she started using her bicycle to go to work around June 2007, after she bought a house that was only about a mile and a half from her employer.

“It takes me three minutes to drive to work, and it only takes me seven or eight minutes (on the bicycle) depending on whether I have to stop at one intersection,” she said. “And I think it’s well worth the extra five minutes that I put into it.”

Ms. Blaise said she used to put gasoline in her truck about every 10 days. Now she gasses up every 14-18 days.

“That’s a huge improvement,” she said.

Tyler’s transportation infrastructure is largely geared toward automobiles, but Gersch said there are ways to get around the city on a bicycle. He said he commutes on a bicycle without any problems by taking residential streets whenever it is practical.

“The biggest problem that Tyler has is that there’s just not a lot of bicyclists out, and when you don’t see a lot of cyclists, they can get singled out by motorists and there can be a sense of hostility. I’ve seen that to some extent,” he said. “But if you take the miles that I ride, I’ve had very, very few occurrences with people in cars.”

But he has lived in other cities where a greater percentage of the population rides bicycles.

“Motorists get used to seeing people on bikes, and it’s not such a big deal anymore,” Gersch said. “They get used to them being in the way, so to speak, and having to slow down or move around a cyclist turns into no big deal, and that hostility goes down.”

But a community will not see a large increase in cyclists, upwards of 3 percent to 5 percent, until more integrated trails are constructed, he said. Tyler has a 6.2-mile bike trail along some of its streets, and the signs denoting it as a bike trail lends legitimacy to the cyclists who use it.

Confrontations with motorists are very rare, he said.

“But it’s no comparison to a progressive community like Portland, Ore., or Boulder, Colo.,” he said. “When you look at their bike paths they have in the city, they’re loaded with bike-friendly trails.”

Gersch said he believes the demand for non-motorized transportation will grow, and he believes new generation, high-tech vehicles will come to the forefront.

“The minimum wage worker I think is going to be really taxed and will have to be looking at alternatives,” he said. “Do I think bicycles will replace cars? Absolutely not. I think it will supplement driving.”

Tyler Simpson, owner of Simpson’s Fitness and Adventure Sports, also said his store an increase in people purchasing bicycles for work transportation or “just to get around on.” It has also seen more families purchasing bicycles to use for recreation.

“We sold four bikes to one family that said, ‘This is going to be our summer recreation, playing with these bikes,’” Simpson said.

His store, too, is experiencing a lot of tune-up work on old bikes that people are taking out of storage.

Bicycles can be purchased at many outlets, but a good quality bike generally starts at about a few hundred dollars, Simpson said. Depending on the style and the features, they can run into the thousands of dollars

But those interested in bikes can expect a price increase with the new model year, Gersch said.

The higher cost of fuel causes price hikes on everything because just about everything is either made using petroleum products or is transported via a petroleum-powered vehicle.

“Since January, the companies have been warning us of price increases,” Gersch said. “They didn’t do any price increases for the 2008 model year, but the 2009 models, which are coming out in July, August, September, the increases are the biggest that I’ve ever seen, all blamed on fuel.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS: David Gersch, co-owner of Elite Bicycles, works on a bike in his shop last week. Gersch and Tyler Simpson, owner of Simpson’s Fitness and Adventure Sports, said they have seen more bicycle sales and more people bringing in their old bikes for tune-ups. They said more people are showing an interest in using bikes for work transportation or general transportation.
(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)