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Slowdown in bike boom good for customers

During the pandemic, Newswatch 16 brought you several stories about bike shops in our area struggling to keep up with demand.

LYCOMING COUNTY, Pa. — As the supply chain is starting to correct itself, bike shop owners hope that the summer will heat up the demand again.

Stanley Zimmerman owns Cedar Run Bikes in Limestone Township, just outside Mifflinburg. He started his bicycle sales and repair business in 2018 and moved to the current location in 2020 during the pandemic and bicycle boom.

"When the bike sales were at the top, I was out of bikes and couldn't get any," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman says he would only get in a few bikes every month during the pandemic. Now his shop is full of bikes and supplies.

"It looks a lot better. A lot of the bikes are still pre-ordered, but for the most part, there is a lot available all the time."

He admits that the demand for bikes has dropped compared to the levels seen during the pandemic.

"March, when things do tend to heat up a little bit, was still slower than normal. April was slow, had a good month of May and June which helped."

However, people looking to buy a new bike will be able to do so at a much better price.

"The price has dropped. From last year to this year, they definitely have dropped a little bit. There are some models in clearance that didn't get moved last year that have super-good prices."

Zimmerman's bike shop has also seen a decline in repairs because of available supplies.

"The pandemic had a bunch of guys come in here for tires and tubes because they got their bikes out of the shed that haven't been run in 10 years. But that slowed down. For a while, tires were very hard to get because everyone was using so many tires they were out of stock."

Zimmerman tells Newswatch 16 that he has dozens of bikes ready to go for people looking to get out and ride this summer.

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