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For the nation鈥檚 bicycle shops, the past few years have probably felt like the business version of the Tour de France.

Early in the pandemic, a surge of interest in cycling pushed sales up 64% to $5.4 billion in 2020, according to the retail tracking service Circana. It wasn鈥檛 unheard of for some shops to sell 100 bikes or more in a couple of days.

The boom didn鈥檛 last. Challenged by pandemic-related supply chain issues, the shops sold all their bikes and had trouble restocking. Now, inventory has caught up, but fewer people need new bikes. So, bicycle makers have been slashing prices to clear out the excess. It all adds up to a tough environment for retailers, although there are a few bright spots like gravel and e-bikes.

鈥淭he industry had a hard time keeping up with the demand for a couple of years, but then demand slowed as the lockdowns ended, and then a lot of inventory started showing up,鈥� said Stephen Frothingham, editor-in-chief of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. 鈥淪o now for the last, a year and a half, the industry has struggled with having too much inventory, at the supplier level, at the factory level, at the distributor level, at the retail level.鈥�

In 2023, bike sales totaled $4.1 million, up 23% from 2019, but down 24% from 2020, according to Circana. The path out of the pandemic has been uneven 鈥� national retailers, such as REI and Scheels, are stabilizing faster than independent bike stores, said Matt Tucker, director of client development for Circana鈥檚 sports equipment business.

For John McDonell, owner of Market Street Cycles on the popular thoroughfare of Market Street in San Francisco, the shift to hybrid work brought about by the pandemic has been particularly tough on business. There used to be 3,000 bikes passing by his shop a day during the summer. That鈥檚 fallen to below 1,000, with fewer people commuting to work.

According to Pacer.ai, which tracks people鈥檚 movements based on cellphone usage, San Francisco lags all other major cities when it comes to workers returning to offices, with April office visits still down 49% compared with April 2019.

鈥淥ur downtown is still a wasteland,鈥� Mr. McDonell said.

Independent bike stores not only have to compete with national chains, but increasingly, bike makers such as Specialized and Trek as well. They鈥檝e been buying bike shops and selling their bikes directly to consumers, essentially cutting out the middleman. Mr. Frothingham estimates there are now around a thousand bike shops in the country owned by either Trek or Specialized.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e got the money to absorb the fact that bike stores, you know, are not a super profitable thing, and in the process, they鈥檝e also been able to cut us out of it,鈥� Mr. McDonell said.

Mr. McDonell has been forced to cut down to using a skeleton crew of himself and another staffer, down from five previously. His dream of selling his shop to a younger bike enthusiast when he retires is fading. He might close his store when his lease is up in a couple of years.

鈥淣ow I am just trying to land it with both engines on fire and trying not to lose money on my way out,鈥� he said.

In Boulder, Colorado, Douglas Emerson鈥檚 bike shop, University Bicycles, is faring better, boosted by its location in one of the most popular places to ride bikes in the country. He鈥檚 had the shop for 39 years and employs 30 staffers.

Like other bike stores, the pandemic spurred a frenzy of bike buying at University Bicycles. Mr. Emerson recalls selling 107 bikes in 48 hours. But right after the聽boom, sales slowed dramatically because inventory was scarce, and rentals died down since no one was traveling.

鈥淚t became a struggle right after the boom,鈥� Mr. Emerson said. 鈥淎nd since then, the manufacturers have overproduced. And they鈥檝e slashed prices dramatically which is good for the consumer. But with the small shops they鈥檙e often not able to take advantage of those prices.鈥�

Mr. Emerson says the shop reached a 鈥渟aturation point鈥� 鈥� everyone who wanted a bike bought one. Now, he鈥檚 selling those customers accessories like clothing, helmets, and locks. His shop has returned to its 2019 sales numbers.

University Bicycles has also benefited from some of the shifts in buying patterns. Continued high demand for e-bikes and a growing demand for children鈥檚 bikes have helped. And gravel bikes, which are designed to be ridden both on paved and gravel roads, are replacing road bikes as a popular seller.

John Ruger, who has been a cyclist for 50 years and is a loyal University Bicycles customer, hasn鈥檛 bought a bike in 10 years, but plans on taking advantage of the current prices to buy a gravel bike. A top gravel bike he鈥檚 eyeing that would normally sell for $12,000 to $14,000 is currently retailing for $8,000, he said.

鈥淭he timing is good,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can get a bike now because they鈥檙e less expensive and my bikes are getting old.鈥�

Shawna Williams, owner of Free Range Cycles in Seattle, Washington, didn鈥檛 have the sales surge others did because her 700 square foot shop was so small she took customers only by appointment from March 2020 to May 2021.

But Ms. Williams did have to deal with the eventual shortages. She spent a lot of time 鈥渃hecking in with other shops to see if we could buy something, even at retail, from them, just in order to get a repair done or a build done.鈥�

She adapted by offering more services like repairs and maintenance to offset lower sales of bikes. The maneuvering helped her keep overall sales steady even throughout the pandemic.

鈥淏ike sales, the way that I have kind of framed the shop, are an awesome bonus, but we really need to be sustaining the shop through repair and, like, thoughtful accessory sales,鈥� Ms. Williams said. 鈥淎 bike sale to me, if we do things well, that means creating a customer for life.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽