General News
21 March, 2026
Fueling reasons to get on your bike
WITH some fuel prices increasing by about 50 per cent in barely two weeks, along with the potential spectre of reduced availability, many members of the local community have looked for ways to reduce their car usage costs, including digging their dusty bicycles out of the back of the shed to see if they were a viable transportation alternative.
Horsham Cyclery owner, Damien Cook, said he has noticed an increase in phone calls and walk-in customers, not just for assessments and repairs, but preparedness to slap some money down for a new bike entirely.
“They’ve brought in bikes that’ve been sitting in storage for a while and (saying) ‘we've decided that we need to ride to work’, or they’ve got a group of friends in their workplace that have all decided they’re going to start riding as well,” he said.
“That's all starting to happen … you can sort of sense that it was going to happen, but you didn't know when.
“We have had more of a spike in interest for new bikes too, (checking) what there is available, what the price point is. So I don't know whether people are balancing out, ‘let's wait a week or two and see what's going to happen’, and then going from there to see what's going to be the best option.”
He said there was a definite trend of people looking at “more commuting ones” when it came to the type of new two-wheeler they wanted.
“But then they're balancing it out, whether they spend the money on an electric bike, or whether they go (with) a mountain bike to go along the river as well – not just to commute to work,” Damien said.
“The main style of bike we sell is a mountain-bike style. It's not as if they're designed just for mountain biking; it's just that's the style of bike. To me, I class them as an all-purpose bike, so you can still ride to work, you can ride along the river, you’ve got a little bit wider tyres, so you've got that chance to go wherever you want. You're not restricted like on a hybrid-style bike, which is just for roads.”
He said the dilemma for those considering e-bikes was the potential to spend from $2000 to $3000 – or even more – on something where “they might only use it for three weeks”.
“Who knows what's going to happen with all this?” Damien said.
He said there was even a bit of an uptick in people who already had a well-functioning bike, but realised they now needed extras like a pack rack.
“They (say) ‘I need panniers on there, I need a basket, because I need to start taking a little bit more things’,” Damien said.
“Helmets, locks, lights, all that sort of stuff there as well. Mud guards are starting to get into that point, because the weather's on and off … so people are starting to prepare that it might be through winter that they're going to be riding.”
Damien also warned that potential customers needed to be aware that the bicycle sales and repair business in general had still not fully recovered from the disruption of COVID, with the supply of both parts and new bikes subject to extended pauses.
In the corner of the shop, bike mechanic, Brendan Atkins, echoed the concerns, saying in the five years he’s been there, “it's just consistent with repairs” with overseas supply unreliability often making his job harder.
“All the components are going on new bikes, and there's still not enough for maintenance,” he said.