DE PERE (NBC 26) — As the temperatures are getting warmer in Northeast Wisconsin, people have begun taking their bikes out and hitting the trails.
For the Bike Hub in De Pere, the owner says it’s been quite busy recently with people either shopping for new rides or coming in for repairs.
“It’s been crazy, people with the warm up, people realize you know its time to get on the road and start cycling,” said Scott Steeno, the owner of the Bike Hub. “I think as soon as March got underway and the weather started warming up people started coming in the store."
He said with the pandemic, everyone wanted to get their hands on bikes - something he says he is still seeing and people this year have started buying early.
“Last year everybody ran out of bikes. The pipelines are empty. It’s just hard to get product.” Steeno said. “So bikes have been trickling in now during the winter months, so we have a fair supply right now but it will run out again.”
He said while right now it will be difficult to put in new orders for bikes, he says there’s still a wide variety in-house to choose from.
“It’s been pretty crazy at the store, people do we want to get out and start riding,” Steeno said.
For one 10-year-old boy, he and his brother came out to the shop to get some new wheels.
“The bike I had before used to be my brother’s when he was young. Then I got it. Then it kind of started getting flat tires and so it was a tiny bike,” said Jonah Ludtke.
He said he got into biking last year.
“I just saw how fun it was just biking with my friends going to get ice cream. I biked in our neighborhood. The wind in my face just felt so good,” Ludtke said.
He says going out on the trails with his big brother has certainly become a bonding experience.
“I really like biking with my brother. It’s kind of a fun experience. We kind of laugh during the way like if someone falls off the bike or something,” Ludtke said.
Steeno said right now the hot commodity are electric bikes.
“It’s the biggest growth area for cycling right now. They're absolutely huge. We call them a game changer because for that person that wants to go out and ride their bike and they went out five miles and now they turn and there's a head wind. With the electric bike there's no more head wind", Steeno said.
