Increase in bike sales and service during COVID

As we wrote in our blog post about staying healthy and safe during the COVID pandemic, cycling has been, and continues to be, an excellent activity to stay active during COVID while also maintaining good social distancing practices. As a result, bike shops have experienced a strong increase in bike sales and service. During the pandemic, in most states in the US, bike shops have been deemed as essential businesses and have remained open, albeit with restrictions regarding how they must interact with customers. In a recent article by National Public Radio, and based on data provided by The NPD Group, sales of bikes during March 2020 increased 50% over March 2019 sales. Many bike shops in the US also have a large backlog of service requests or service appointments as well. In the US, retail stores that have a strong online presence have seen an increase in sales during COVID compared to stores without an online presence (depending on the type of goods sold).

For owners of bike shops and bike repair business, please remember that at derailleurhanger.com we provide a significant wholesale discount for bike shops and repair shops. We also stock over 600 different types of replaceable rear derailleur hangers, more by far than any other supplier in North America. In addition, our website provides selection tools and filters that make it very easy to find the correct hanger for a particular bike model. Also, if you require our assistance for hard-to-find derailleur hangers, we provide personalized customer service through our Contact Us form.

At derailleurhanger.com we have seen a strong increase in sales of derailleur hangers since March. Sales have accelerated by a month or more relative to the typical surge we experience during summer months in the North America. In addition, we have experienced a much higher percentage of sales of hangers used on older bikes, suggesting that bike owners are dusting off bikes that have not been used for a while and that require a new rear derailleur hanger. 

At derailleurhanger.com we have also experienced a strong increase in the number of requests from customers who are using our Contact Us form to request assistance to find the correct hanger for their bike. We do our best to respond to those Contact Us requests within the same day the request was submitted. A good portion of the requests require research on our part, such as when the request is for a bike from a bike manufacturer that is not well known, or for a bike model that has used numerous hanger types over the years and the owner does not know what year the model was made. We strongly encourage those who submit requests for assistance using our Contact Us form to include photos of the current hanger from their bike (at a minimum to include photos of the inner and outer surfaces of the hanger with the rear wheel taken off the bike). That saves the step of us having to respond by email asking for photos of the hanger, which results in an additional delay in us providing the information you are requesting. We have also received numerous requests from customers asking for assistance to convert a broken integrated hanger to a replaceable rear derailleur hanger (see our blog post here for recommendations for such), or to convert a single-speed bike to a multi-speed bike (see our blog post here for recommendations for that type of conversion). Regardless of the help you require, we are eager and happy to respond to any and all requests for assistance.

As always, if you are in need of a replaceable rear derailleur hanger you can use the “1-2-3” process and filter mechanisms available on derailleurhanger.com to quickly find the hanger required on your bike or your customer’s bike. If needed, you can also click on the “Contact Us” link on our website and we will respond quickly to provide personalized assistance. At derailleurhanger.com we work very hard to provide the best quality replaceable derailleur hangers, carry more hanger types than any other provider in the US, and to provide excellent personalized customer service.

Please let us at derailleurhanger.com know if we can assist you in any way. Happy riding!