COVER FEATURE: New contributor William Keith gives a first hand account of your LBS and the Corona effect

Your editor and I – or is that my editor(?) go way back, to a time when chest and facial hair was the second most desirable thing for a teenage boy. We lost touch for a few decades but then this wonderful sport of ours reconnected us, as I am sure it has for many of you out there. About 18 months or so ago, we were attending the same industry function showcasing the latest and greatest gravel bike. High school insults were hurled across a crowded room and we promptly retired to a conveniently situated pub across the road for a Guinness or dozen. I shall not bore you with those details suffice to inform that it was after the eleventy’th Guinness that our illustrious editor started his campaign to have me write, in my own inimitable style and humour, a series of articles for Full Sus Magazine. Here goes nothing!

he Time of Corona. Yes, life will T be different from now. During past difficult times, the people oft turned to their leaders. One such leader was Sir Winston Churchill. He was a bit of a cantankerous old bastard but in difficult times he “got things done”. Amongst his many talents was a mastery of the English language, possibly best illustrated by his very long list of memorable quotes. One such quote that carries so much relevance to our Time of Corona is “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. Stop and think about that for a moment or two. It’s a pretty good turn of phrase isn’t it?

There should be no argument that our country’s economy is in a state of crisis. Now, without trying to get too political on this one (otherwise this article would probably be redacted) the power to do something about it lies in our hands. Yes, our hands. The regular Joes and Janes of our country, owners of small businesses, wage and salary earners, the house husbands and wives of our country. How do we assist our economy? By changing our buying patterns to support South African companies, South African mom & pop stores, the local greengrocer, the local

independent pharmacist, the local independent hardware store. Let’s face it, Bezos and Amazon.com sure as hell don’t need any more of our hard earned SA Rands. Your local bike shop surely does, not the mega multinationals siphoning Rands offshore at the click of a keyboard button. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what will keep the passion of our sport alive and kicking in South Africa.

I was once asked many years ago by Bicycle Magazine to answer a question for newcomers to our sport on how to purchase their first bicycle. Understand, I had not been trading for too long but I was and still am immensely proud of my bike shop. It does after all, have my name above the door! Therein lies a heavy clue on what to expect from an Independent Bike Dealer aka “LBS”, if it has the owners name in it, chances are you’ll meet a passionate cyclist who wants nothing more than to see more bums on bikes. The answer I gave for that article was: “There is quite possibly more than one bicycle shop in your neighbourhood. Do not bog yourself down in bicycle brand or whether this bike has an XT rear mech and that one a GX but rather have a look around the shop. Soak up its

atmosphere, chat to the owner or shop staff, definitely chat to another client. Does the character of that store suit you? Could this be your home away from home because let’s face it, you WILL sooner or later want to shoot the breeze about a particular rock on a certain trail or how vicious is that climb yet the descent making it so worthwhile. The LBS that has an owner and staff who ride trail will know that rock and that climb. Then choose a bike from what they are able to offer you. You’ll soon find out if they also know how to swing a spanner. Giant Bicycles South Africa will probably kill me for this but there really isn’t such a thing as a truly bad bike anymore; if there was, the brand wouldn’t survive. Choose your LBS and support their range of product.”

How does all that fit into the subject title of this piece you may now be asking? Well, the LBS has its work cut out for it; that is for sure. I truly believe we are entering, no, have entered a time where we must all help each other to survive and thereby prosper. South Africans actually have a good track record of helping each other outside of government structures and programmes – we’ve had to!

Now is a time to encourage your non cycling friends and family to purchase a bicycle. Not necessarily a R40k race machine or R160k+ from some brands (although that would put a smile on any bike shop owner’s face). No, we need to start at neighbourhood type riding. We need to become a nation of cyclists. We have all seen how Mother Nature very quickly reclaimed her space and how quickly she started the process of healing. Look at the clean waters of Venice, wild animals strolling through suburbia, the lack of smog and pollution across many of the world’s major cities. The Time of Corona accomplished in a very short time what the Green Warriors could not, so now it is up to us to carry the good fight and NOT go back to roaring 2kms down the road in our SUV for the bread and milk at the local café but to hop on a recreational bike, hopefully with a basket on the front or carrier at the back and cycle down to that local store. How cool is it in the mornings between 06h00 and 09h00 to see your neighbourhood’s little kids, sporting huge grins, with mum or dad rolling along at a pedestrian pace on their bicycles without fear of the SUV or 4x4 roaring past at great speed? We are also greeting each other again. This is taking advantage of a crisis in a humane manner in which we are all capable. Communicate with your local authorities to have them redesign suburban roads, town and city streets into cycle friendly highways. A relatively simple example would be to turn a two-way, one lane each way street into a one way street for motorized traffic but two way for bicycles. Get creative but pressurize your local authorities into action. Now is the time to do it.

The challenge for your Local Bike Shop is to ensure they have a range of products to cater for this new age of cycling lifestyle that you, yes you, need to encourage to all in this Time of Corona. Your LBS has (at the time of writing) enjoyed, sic, ZERO income for six weeks. During that six week period they have still had all the overheads associated with

normal business. Rent, salaries and wages (although I would imagine most LBS owners only paid staff, not themselves) creditors for stock ordered but not able to sell, insurance, medical aid, VAT and UIF, the list goes on. If your LBS doesn’t have what you want on his or her shop floor the moment trade re-opens, consider cutting them some slack, express your desire to support that brick and mortar establishment by asking them if they are able to order it in for you. Offer to pay a deposit, or even better prepay in full. Chances are they will need to pay COD and extra courier costs to have that item delivered for you, certainly for the initial few months until cash flow for suppliers and bike shops improves.

If your LBS is a little prickly regarding the social distancing measures and health hygiene measures they are having to employ for your safety, forgive them. They will be dealing with the public and the great array of personalities we have in our sport on a person by person basis – something staff at supermarkets will not have to deal with to the same extent.

We need to find our sense of community to exit this Time of Corona stronger, healthier and with vigour. Let’s do this together. What better way than for all to adopt the bicycle as the favoured vehicle of transport and leisure? Support your LBS, you may not realise just how much you need them but rest assured, they know EXACTLY how much they need you. Make it your Corona exit strategy to encourage all South Africans to ride a bicycle.

WILLIAM KEITH, local bike shop owner since ‘05. A bicyclist of many years and (in)famous builder of wheels. Extremely passionate about putting bums on bikes as well as a firm believer in commuter bicycle networks. A proud father and husband with the philosophy that singlespeeding keeps life as it should be.

“WE NEED TO FIND OUR SENSE OF COMMUNITY TO EXIT THIS TIME OF CORONA STRONGER, HEALTHIER AND WITH VIGOUR. LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER.”