Booming bicycle repair

“It was about time we opened up, because demand is exploding. “ In Rennes, David Piederriere, co-president of the associative bicycle repair workshop La Petite Rennes, is pleased to have swapped, at the beginning of September, a cramped room in the city center for a space of 160 square meters in the eco-district of the Courrouze, on the site of a former barracks.

Every day, between 30 and 40 people push the door of the workshop, “To repair their bike, buy a wearing part, get information”, continues the manager. In exchange for a membership of 20 euros per year, members can use the tools at their disposal and benefit from the advice of employees. If the association insists on its “united” mission and on its commitment to reuse objects rather than throwing them away, a good part of its members are not activists. Indeed, in Rennes, the ten bicycle shops are not enough to absorb the demand, and the times for obtaining an appointment can be counted in weeks.

The bicycle repair market has changed a lot in the last few years. Until the mid-2010s, to restore his bicycle to its original state, in addition to the 300 existing association workshops, users could contact a bicycle dealer in their neighborhood or, failing that, “A nice neighbor who does everything”.

Connecting repairers and city dwellers in a hurry

Then, in Paris, Strasbourg, Bordeaux or Lyon, platforms launched a home service. The Cyclofix company, created at the end of 2015, brings together independent repairers, most of them self-employed, and city dwellers in a hurry. Today, the platform centralizes the schedules of 200 mechanics, in 14 urban areas. In the meantime, the distribution brands have equipped themselves with repair workshops, most often at the back of the store or in the basement.

Read also Article reserved for our subscribers In France, bicycle shops are booming, boosted by the increase in the practice of cycling

The pandemic and the strong increase in the use of cycling have turned the market upside down. The shortage that the sector has been facing for more than a year has revived the image of old biclous retypes. Taking an idea from the French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB), the State funded, between May 2020 and March 2021, an endowment of 50 euros for each bicycle repaired. The operation, which consisted of “To leave the cellars” the bicycles which once served as a Christmas present and have since rusted, heated the tools in the workshops. Finally, among the new cyclists, many are those who admit without shame not knowing how to change an inner tube or replace a brake pad.

You have 53.93% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.

source site