NAPPANEE — Many of us may think of bicycles as a source of fun and recreational exercise — and they are — but for many, particularly our Amish neighbors, but others, too — bicycles are a main form of transportation.
Three Nappanee bicycle shop owners, all members of the Amish community, have experience guiding their customers toward the best bicycles to use for commuting.
Jeff Yoder of Cedar Lane Bike Shop said he rides a bike year-round and most who use bikes for transportation like “more of a cross type bike — between a road bike and a comfort bike.”
Yoder said some people ride racing-style bicycles year-round, even when the roads are slippery, but not everyone. Most would not use a mountain bike for commuting as they have more rolling resistance due to their wider tires.
“The cross series — some call them comfort series — are what most like for transportation,” Lyle Harshberger of L & J Cycle said. “Some do want racers, but a lot more are after comfort versus speed.”
The addition of a trailer for hauling cargo is also a factor.
“If you’re pulling a cart behind the bike, too fancy of a bike is not stable,” he added.
Marlin Hochstetler of Triple Oak Sales thinks bicycle selection depends on where you’re going to be riding.
“If you’re riding in a city, a hybrid bike — a cross between comfort and road bikes, are pretty decent options,” Hochstetler said. “For the Amish, a lot use what they call the comfort line — there’s a little more suspension in the front, which gives a more relaxed ride. Some of the young guys go for road bikes — a gravel bike line.”
The reasons why one would choose a bicycle as his or her mode of transportation versus a horse and buggy or hiring a driver are varied.
Yoder said if he’s going to town to get groceries he’ll take the buggy, but if he only has to go to one store “the bike is faster than the buggy.”
As to hiring a driver, he said cost is a factor. He carpooled with others into work in the winter but it doesn’t cost anything to ride his bicycle.
Harshberger said comfort also comes into play.
“Twenty or thirty years ago if they didn’t have the right size bike it wasn’t comfortable,” Harshberger said. They’ve learned if they get a bike that fits you correctly it’ll be a more comfortable ride.”
He said time and weather are also deciding factors.
Hochstetler said in his household, because he likes biking, he’ll tend to take the bike where his wife, if it’s more than a mile, she’ll take the buggy and relax during the ride.
“Some don’t like riding a distance,” he said.
So he said the distance of where one is going is generally the deciding factor.
“Once you hit the four-mile mark, take the buggy,” Hochstetler said. “If it’s 15-20 miles most will take a taxi because of the toll it takes on the horse.”
He shared that while rare, he knows someone who will buy a new bicycle in the spring and by late summer or early fall will have 3,000 miles on that bike.
SHORTAGES & SAFETY
Just like other bicycle shops, these shops have also experienced product shortages due to the pandemic. Harshberger said he only handles bikes from one company and that supplier is out of two of its models. Bikes he ordered last September are expected to arrive in June or July — maybe.
He said the only reason that delivery is possible is because he went in with another bike shop on the cost of a shipping container and the cost of that container increased about 300%. He said the cost went from $2,500 to $9,200.
Harshberger said he and other local bike shop owners have become friends and help each other out — exchange parts with one another, etc.
“It’s a positive thing to be working together,” he said.
Harshberger said the part shortage hasn’t hit him as badly.
“I’ve always been an overstock person,” he explained.
When the pandemic bike boom first hit everyone was pulling bikes out of their garages and those had flat tires.
He said there was a couple of times he was down to not having any tires so he did some sharing and swapping with other shops. He’s been in the business for 28 years, so his experience has helped him weather through.
“I can pump the tire up and it’ll be OK to get by — hopefully until supplies open up,” Harshberger said.
Hochstetler, on the other hand, is fairly new to the bike business. He said his passion for owning a bike shop started early when he was just a boy.
“There was a bike shop in Nappanee — Fox’s Bike Shop — and my dad would take me with him and while he talked to Mr. Fox I looked around and ooh and ahh over everything,” he said. “So when Burlington Bike Shop came up for sale a few years ago I thought, now’s my chance!”
That was 2018. He thinks more non-Amish customers have been coming in since the pandemic but since he’s fairly new in the business, he can’t say for sure.
“My hopes and dreams are to satisfy the needs of both,” he said.
He said this bike boom has been good and bad for him — good because sales are up and bad because it’s hard to get parts.
“It’s frustrating to have a bike come in and know it’s going to be sitting there because it’ll be a challenge to get the part for repairs,” he said.
He said his business is half new sales and half repairs.
“I have some bikes but I don’t have the amount I’d like so I might run dry at some point but so far from what I’ve seen things are a little better than last spring,” he said.
Hochstetler offered this piece of advice for those shopping for bikes.
“If you find a bike you think you like, you might as well buy it right then — unless you’re willing to be patient enough to wait a year,” he said.
When it comes to safety, all three men encourage the use of reflective safety vests and lights.
“With vests you’re more visible,” Yoder said.
Harshberger was involved with the bike safety committee that was formed in Nappanee in 2008 after 21-year-old Eric Helmuth was killed on US 6. Two other riders were also killed around that time. Harshberger said the committee met for two-three years and U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski attended one of the meetings and a representative from then U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman’s office attended once. He said he believed the committee did bring attention and awareness to bicyclists.
He said the state asked the Amish school students to wear safety vests.
“They pretty well adhered,” he said.
He said he knows some people who wear their vests in the morning riding to work but not on the way home.
“I think it’s a good idea to wear them all the time,” he added. “My advice is to always wear a safety vest.”
Hochstetler said to wear reflective vests, brightly colored clothing and he said he recently learned the importance of a daylight visible flashing taillight.
“I’ve been told drivers can see the bike better with little blinking red light — I rarely go on the road without mine — you can see the way traffic responds,” he said.
Hochstetler shared a quote an elderly gentleman shared with him.
“You might have the right-of-way but you might be dead right,” he said.
Yoder said he thinks the “safety issue should be talked about more.”