Aug. 24, 2021

Wednesday will be opening day for the second Spoke-N-Sport in Sioux Falls – a move that brings the longstanding bike shop closer to the city bike trail than ever.

The new location next to Spencer Park on South Cliff Avenue in a former Get-N-Go eventually will stock about 150 bikes – once owner Chad Pickard can secure enough inventory.

“I have 40 or 50 now. We have a lot coming over the next couple weeks, it’s just not here yet, and we have parts and accessories, so that’s not an issue. We just have to get open,” he said.

“I’m excited to get it open, and then we’ll probably sell a lot of the bikes that are here really fast.”

That would be consistent with the past two years, which have brought strong sales across the industry. Combined with manufacturing and logistics issues, “our industry is projected to have limited inventory into 2028,” Pickard said.

That’s right: 2028.

Component manufacturers already were operating at 90 percent capacity, he said, and building more factories will take a few years.

“It’s really challenging,” he said. “I just hit ‘send’ on an order for 250 bikes that my vendor can’t tell me when they’ll arrive. They can’t tell me if they will be leftover 2021 models or 2022. They can’t tell me anything.”

In the meantime, customers keep buying, he said.

At the new location, “we want to focus more on mountain bikes and gravel/recreation bikes, so bikes that are going to be a little more expensive but more durable and last longer and be more enjoyable to ride,” Pickard said. “And a lot of supercool kids bikes. That will be our focus.”

The new store also will sell disc golf supplies and other gear those stopping along the bike trail might need.

The adjacent Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union will move out when its new location is finished at 69th Street and Cliff Avenue.

“We have some tenants that are interested, nothing inked yet, but we’re hoping to add something that adds to the hub of activity,” Pickard said.

Hours for Spoke-N-Sport, 3401 S. Cliff Ave., will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

“We’ve got some things planned for Mondays and Tuesdays, but that’s down the road a bit,” Pickard said.