University of Virginia Library

Teeming Cyclists Create Big Boom In Business

By ANDY BALLENTINE

Until only a few weeks ago,
there was a void in
Charlottesville. More and more
University students tired of
fighting the traffic, were
relying on their trusty bicycles
to speed around – to class, to
work, or just to take off on a
pleasure jaunt. But when those
delicate spoked wheels could
take no more punishment they
needed to be fixed, and there
was no place to turn.

Then some people saw an
opportunity to make some
money by opening up a bike
shop, and in the space of a few
weeks, two shops were
christened at the Corner, one
appeared several blocks away
on Main Street, and yet
another made its debut in the
Ivy Square Shopping Center.

Charles Flaherty, who has
operated the Bicycle Express
since the third week in March,
sums up the feelings of the new
dealers. "Business is great," he
said. "An awful lot of people
are buying bikes and having
them repaired." Surprisingly,
not all of the new customers
are young people. "A lot of
older people are coming in and

they're interested in setting up
a bike path system," Charley
said.

Becky McDermott of Big
Wheel Bikes also sees her stock
moving at a brisk pace.
"Business is better than I
expected," she said. "People
have been in and out of here
just looking around and I've
really been pleased."

However, bicycle customers
are not a consistent breed, and
sometimes Charlottesville's
new shops are deserted. "The
weather has a lot to do with

it," Becky emphasized.
"Nobody came in those few
days when it was cold and
rainy. But if it's sunny, people
are just in the mood."

Bill Gray opened Blue
Wheel Bikes during the last
week of March, and he can
detect no clue pointing up how
well his new enterprise will do.
"It's very erratic," he said, "I
made a lot of money last week,
and I'm making nothing this
week. But I can't see a pattern
– I didn't even advertise last
week"

Moving down the Corner to
the old University Billiard
Parlor, The Spokesman has
opened a branch of the original
store on Harris Street. "It's a
different kind of atmosphere
here than it was down there,"
mechanic Rick Brandt
explained. "Here, people just
walk in off the street to talk.
This is probably because of the
University atmosphere – it's
slower and pleasanter."

Repair And Replacement

While the other shops do all
of their repair and replacement
work in one place, The
Spokesman sends most of the
repairs down to the Harris
Street location. "There's also a
continuous flow of personnel
back and forth between the
two shops," Rick said. "We
just opened up this place to be
closer to our customers."

An obvious danger to the
rapid addition of bicycle
service centers around the
Grounds is over-expansion. For
instance, Rick feels that
business is not as heavy as it
was this time last year, which
may be due to the competition
of the other shops. However,
he admits that it is too early to
tell.

"Each shop that opens has
its own personality," Becky
said. "I don't know how it's
going to be in a year or so; I
don't know if there's room for
four bicycle shops. But we'll
see."

Diverse Backgrounds

These young businessmen
have arrived in Charlottesville
fresh from diverse
backgrounds. For instance,
Charley originally comes from
Wilmington, Delaware, and
knows little about this area.
However, his partner graduated
from the University English
Department, and was familiar
with Charlottesville's former
lack of bicycle repair facilities.
"I came down here because the
town needed a bicycle shop.
And now it has one," Charley
said with a self-righteous smirk.

Like Charley, Becky and
her husband had friends living
here who painted a picture of a
town desperately needing a
bicycle shop. In fact, Rick is
the area's only representative.
After graduating from college,
he was offered the Spokesman
job, commuting from his farm
in the country.

The Blue Wheel's Bill Gray
has the most interesting
background, because he
abandoned a job as a teacher
in Atlanta to work with
bicycles. But he took a
roundabout way to
Charlottesville, first bicycling
around New Zealand for a
year, and then working in
Denver, Colo. bike shop for
$1.75 an hour.

"I find this to be the most
satisfying work I can get," Bill
said. "I love bicycles and I love
working with my hands. If I
was not running a shop, I
would be working in one."

All of the new proprietors
asserted that Charlottesville
was a little behind the rest of
the country in adopting the
"bike boom." "In Ohio it's
already happened, and it's just
starting here," Becky said. "I'd
like to see the city get into
bike paths. It would really be
nice because the scenery is
beautiful around here. Ohio
doesn't even compare."

Charley has found an
encouraging trend for
environmentalists. "About one

third of all the people who
walk through the door are
happy to see the shop first of
all because of the ecology
movement," he said. "And you
know, that's a pretty good
chunk of people."

Concern for the
environment is only one of the
factors persuading people to
ride bicycles. Both students
and townspeople are turning to
"velocycles" because they are
quiet, and invigorating. They
also avoid gas and oil bills, but
perhaps the greatest argument
in favor of bicycles is the sheer
feeling of joy that a rider gets
when he whizzes past stalled
cars in Charlottesville's eternal
traffic tie-ups.

"In this town especially,
people are using bikes for
transportation," Rick said. He
attributed much of this to the
fact that this is a college town,
full of students who are more
likely to ride bicycles.

Owners of bicycle shops are
often not primarily motivated
by money. The pay usually
isn't outstanding, but the
people are. "I've really enjoyed
being here," Becky said. "The
people that come in here really
respond to you. We always get
a kick out of showing people
bikes and just talking to them
about their bikes."

Bicycling Towns

"A lot of people are coming
down here to school from
bicycling towns like
Philadelphia and Washington,
and they want a good bike
shop around," Charley
concludes.

So far, the picture is rosy.
Relations between the owners
of the competing shops are
good – friendly telephone
calls are not unheard of and
often one mechanic will refer a
customer to one of the other
shops for parts that may not be
in stock. It may be too early to
tell, but now the customer's
demand equals the
overwhelming supply.

***

Charlottesville's growing
interest in bicycling is not
unique. Nationally, thousands
of cyclists are getting off their
bikes and getting into politics,
writing letters, calling
Congressmen and cajoling state
legislatures to improve
conditions.

Diverse politicians from Los
Banos,Calif., to Poughkeepsie,
N. Y., are making headlines by
constructing bike paths that
will soon allow 100 million
cycling Americans to glide
through beautiful scenery,
unmolested by smog-producing
cars and their drivers.

However, not enough is
being done to keep up with the
crushing demand of America's
teeming bicyclists. Trails are
needed that cater not only to
the cyclists who ride for
recreation on Sunday
afternoons, but also for those
who shun engines and rely on
their spoked machines every
day for transportation. We're
working on it.