The Ride
Owners: Erik and Tara Leamon
2100 Meadowlake Road, Conway
Therideonline.net
501-764-4500
The Ride in Conway does it all. In it’s 17th year, The Ride does a little bit of everything related to the bike world, including sales and repairs. The bicycle industry has not been immune to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the disease has forced Arkansans to isolate and limit socialization, demand for outdoor equipment like bikes has outpaced the supply. Mountain bikes are in high demand, but overseas manufacturers have struggled to keep up, according to The Ride’s owner Erik Leamon.
We recently caught up with owner Erik Leamon to talk about mountain bikes, the changing bike scene and more.
What do you specialize in?
We do it all. We’re the only shop in town. We kind of hit all the spectrums of the bike world.
What’s selling?
If I could get mountain bikes in, mountain bikes would be selling like crazy. People want mountain bikes, but we can’t get them. We’ve had mountain bikes on order since last March, April, May and have just gotten a trickle of those in. Everything we’ve gotten in has pretty much sold immediately.
What’s new?
In the bike industry, they’re always creating new stuff. They are always innovating. That’s one of the things that is so fun about this industry. It’s innovation that you can see and touch.
What's on the horizon you're excited about?
Tomorrow. This year is going to be very interesting considering bikes are so hard to come by. I’m kind of looking forward to the challenge that this year is going to present.
Shifting Gears
Gravel bikes are a new class of bike that offer an adventurous rider an experience that lies someone between those of the road bike and mountain bike. Leamon says gravel bikes allow riders to avoid the traffic of the road but offer an experience closer to road bikes than mountain bikes offer. . . Leamon says the bike industry is always “reinventing the wheel” so to speak with tweaks that make bikes “better, faster and more fun to ride.” Electronic shifters, for instance, are one example of how Leamon says the industry is innovating. Leamon is looking forward to bicycle events returning once it is safe. “Even if you aren’t a racer, events are a great way to come together with like-minded people.”