Media reports bike buying boom thanks to fuel price hikes

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Monday, October 3rd 2005 at 12:55PM

Two 'bikes are back' stories have hit the wires today, one from Yahoo News in the US and the other from South Africa's News24 reporting on Zimbabwe. Both report a surge in bike sales thanks to the rising price of oil.

"Bicycle sales are near an all-time high with 19 million sold last year -- close to the 20 million sold during the oil embargo in the early 1970s," said Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong,

The US Chamber of Commerce says more bicycles have been sold than cars over the past 12 months.

http://news.yahoo.com/.../usstormenergyenvironmentbicycles_051001131406

"The fuel crisis is definitely having a major influence as more and more people turn to cycling," said Yunis Mahomed, owner of Manica Cycles, Harare's oldest bicycle shop.

He said companies especially were buying bicycles for their workers, mainly in an effort to cut down on the time it takes people to get to work.

"The only problem is that I'm battling to replenish my stock. It's difficult when you sell, say 200 bicycles this month, and there's no foreign currency to buy more," Mahomed said.

http://www.news24.com/.../0,,2-11-1662_1810164,00.html