US suffering major bicycle shortage due to high demands
The US is experiencing a shortage of bikes due to high demands, as global supply chains remain interrupted amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The reluctance to use public transport and the need to exercise has caused sales to skyrocket, leaving shops struggling to meet demands. Bicycle shops are experiencing double, even triple, their normal customer intake. Sales have soared over 600% compared to this time last year. Manufacturers are two to three months behind on deliveries and most retailers have nearly sold out of their existing inventory.&nbsp;American importers predict new shipments will arrive in mid-June.&nbsp;
Some bicycle shops in Brooklyn are selling twice as many bikes as usual and drawing blocklong lines of customers. A chain of shops in Phoenix is selling three times the number of bikes it typically does. A retailer in Washington, D.C., sold all its entry-level bikes by the end of April and has fielded more preorders than ever in its 50-year history.

As the coronavirus pandemic shrinks life in major American cities — limiting pastimes and discouraging use of buses and subways — hundreds of thousands of Americans are flocking to one of the most basic forms of mobility: the bicycle.

In March, nationwide sales of bicycles, equipment and repair services nearly doubled compared with the same period last year, according to the N.P.D. Group, a market research company. Sales of commuter and fitness bikes in the same month increased 66 percent, leisure bikes jumped 121 percent, children’s bikes went up 59 percent and electric bikes rose 85 percent.

By the end of April, many stores and distributors had sold out of low-end consumer bikes. Now, the United States is facing a severe bicycle shortage as global supply chains, disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, scramble to meet the surge in demand.