The old bicycle shop...

Economic News Service journalist Niam Seet Wei won a consolation prize under the Best News Portal Report category at the Malaysian Press Night 2018 and presentation of the 2017 Malaysian Press Institute (MPI)-Petronas Journalism Awards in Kuala Lumpur last night. She earned RM1,000 and a certificate.

The following article “Old bike shop Choo Ho Leong spurred by renewed interest in cycling” released on Aug 29, 2017 was among three reports she submitted for the competition.

Renewed interest in cycling has witnessed a thriving business among bicycle shops in the outskirt of the capital.

In Rawang, a small town just to the northeast of Kuala Lumpur, about 10 bicycle shops are capitalising on the dramatic rise of cycling and ride-sharing – a new craze in the capital.

One of the bicycle shops, which passed through generations unscathed, was the 77-year-old Choo Ho Leong in Jalan Bandar Rawang 2 in Rawang, home to over 120,500 people.

Opened in 1940, it built its reputation over the years through hard work, service and quality products. It has gone through difficult times when the bicycling business was regarded as a sunset industry in 1980s.

Its present owner, Mah Swee Meng, 66, the oldest of 10 siblings, took over the shop from his father, Mah Kim Soo who passed the baton to him after 23 years.

The senior Mah set up the shop upon arrival to the then Malaya from China’s Fujian Province during the second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1945.

Now it is a good time to be in the bicycling business, prompted by deep interest in cycling, as well as the phenomenal growth of bike-sharing which has made its way to the capital.

The business is riding on the wave of cycling craze despite competition from big retailers, supermarkets, hypermarkets and online platforms.

For Swee Meng, he had to give up schooling when his father asked him to take over the shop.

“I had to drop out of school when I was in Form Three. In a traditional family, the oldest son has to bear the responsibility of looking after the family.

“So, my father stopped me from schooling and insisted that I inherited the business,” said Swee Meng, who is aided by his son, Mah Chung Siang, 42, and daughter-in-law in running the shop.

Reminiscing the past, Swee Meng said bicycles were not expensive then, as most of their parts and frames were locally made, while only a handful were imported from Japan, Taiwan and India.

When China began to open up its economy in 1978, he said local factories producing bicycles and its spare parts and frames were eventually pushed out of business due to rising costs as they could be imported from China at cheaper prices.

“Made-in-China items were then 30 per cent to 40 per cent cheaper than the locally-made ones, and now, more than 80 per cent of the items in my shop are sourced from China,” he said, adding that bicycle designs from China were also quite modern.

Swee Meng said of late, Malaysian cycling enthusiasts, especially young people were motivated by quality, so they were willing to spend thousands of ringgit to buy a bike of their choice, as well as safety equipment such as helmets, gloves, and knee and elbow pads.

During the booming period three years ago, he said the Choo Ho Leong bicycle shop could sell more than 30 luxury bikes – an exceptional scenario in Rawang.

“I had never imagined that demand for expensive bikes could be so overwhelming, as the bicycle industry was once described as a sunset industry by a local Chinese newspaper,” he said, adding that in 1980s sales dropped as people spent so much money on cars and motorcycles.

“Now, the bicycle industry has revitalised due to rising ridership as youths and health conscious people are turning to cycling, while bike-sharing is gaining popularity in the city,” he said.

On the contrary, his son, Chung Siang expressed concern over the challenges confronting them as higher demand meant stiffer competition, as they had to face up to nearly 10 bicycle shops sprouting in the small town since the last decade besides supermarkets and online platforms.

“However, we bank on our service, repair and maintenance. We service and repair all kind of bicycles, ranging from mountain bikes to regular bikes, electric bikes, old bikes, and even wheelchairs,” he said.

Occasionally, one or two customers would ask the Choo Ho Leong bicycle shop to restore their vintage bikes from the British colonial era, he said, adding that, “The skills in restoring old bikes made us irreplaceable, and we are likely the only one in town that are able to do this.

”We are thinking of selling our bikes online to widen our customer base, but the price war and lack of understanding of the digital world made us take a step back. The steep competition will slash profit margin. We are still studying it,” he said.

-- Bernama