EDITOR'S Note:

Shanghai's strong economic growth should be attributed to not only the robust performance of state-owned enterprises but also the emerging power of the private sector. The number of private businesses now account for 72 percent of the total in the city, according to the local statistics bureau. Shanghai Daily has launched a biweekly column about small business people in Shanghai and how they cope with the challenges of entrepreneurship.

In China, more people are abandoning the once ubiquitous bicycle and embracing the speed and convenience of motorbikes and automobiles to get around.

But the classic two-wheeler hasn't disappeared. It's just changed its role from basic transport to recreational sport, and Wang Kongjun, 34, was among the first to spot the trend and build a business around it.

Wang knows a thing or two about bicycles. He started work 15 years ago in a bike assembly factory.

He now runs his own business called Bikehome, encompassing two large shops and an online platform.

He sells bikes and parts, provides do-it-yourself advice to bicycle enthusiasts and organizes cycling competitions.

Wang employs 10 people. He pays 60,000 yuan (US$8,860) in rent for the shops each month, more than half of his total operating costs. The monthly net profit can amount to as much as 10,000 yuan, part of which is invested to buy more products.

It's rags-to-riches story for the son of peasants from rural China.

"I always made friends with customers..."

Wang was born on a farm in Anhui, one of China's poorer inland provinces. The eldest of three children, he left home at age 18 to go out and earn money to support his brother and sister through high school.

"I had to leave because we were really destitute, and anyway, I wanted to see the outside world," he recalled.

He arrived in Shanghai in 1995 and found the bicycle factory job through an acquaintance. The plant manufactured two of China's most famous brands of that time - the Phoenix and Forever. "We earned about 400 yuan a month," Wang said. "That was a fair income for someone coming from a farm."

He worked at the plant for about a year before he reassessed his situation. There were fewer and fewer bicycles being made at his factory, and everywhere on the streets he saw people zipping around on mopeds.

An idea was born. Taking one month of his income, he signed up for a training class on how to repair mopeds. He found a job with a repair shop, where he honed his mechanical skills. But the itch to become his own boss still chafed.

He took his first plunge into entrepreneurship when he and two friends pooled their savings to open a small shop selling cheap grips, tires, valve caps and other bicycle parts. In 1999 he struck out on his own, opening a shop in a 6-square-meter room across from a middle school.

Timing was part of his luck. That was the era when bicycle culture was changing everywhere in the world. Mountain bikes were becoming popular. Races like the Tour de France were reviving interest in cycling competitions, and new healthy lifestyle trends were promoting cycling as a way to keep fit.

"I always made friends with customers," Wang said. "And I listened to what they were saying. You can't do business well without knowing what people want. And what they wanted were the latest trends."

He slowly adapted his business to meet the new demand and his shop became a favorite of cycle enthusiasts.

"Cycling is contagious," said Wang. "About 80 percent of the people I knew who took up the sport fell in love with it."

"Why not start such a website in Shanghai?"

He moved to a larger store in 2003, and expanded it into a club where cyclists could socialize as well as buy products.

The biggest change in his business strategy came late that year when Wang discovered the potential of the Internet.

In online communities emanating from Guangdong and Fujian provinces, home to factories building famous Taiwan brand bikes, he found young people were enthusiastically chatting about bikes, trading second-hand parts and organizing cycling activities.

"Many young cyclists in Shanghai were becoming acquainted with each other through those websites," said Wang. "So I thought, why not start such a website in Shanghai?"

The result was his bbs.bikehome.net. It's divided into three sections: activities, trading, and chat space. Wang also displays his products there.

"The website is a good form of promotion," said Wang. "But most importantly, it is a channel through which people can meet and arrange to cycle together, no matter whether they buy things from us or not."

In 2005, United States bicycle maker Trek was in Shanghai looking for an agent to expand its brand in China. Wang bid for the business and won out over a lot of bigger rivals because the US company liked his business model of selling the products as well as the services.

His bicycle shop now sells bikes ranging from cheaper models for kids to racing models that cost 50,000 yuan. He also sells parts and helps customers repair or assemble their own bikes.

Why people pay tens of thousands of yuan for a bicycle

Wang himself owns a Trek bike that costs more than 10,000 yuan.

"If you understand why people are willing to spend tens of thousands of yuan on a camera lens, then you can understand why people would be willing to pay similar amounts for a bicycle," he said.

Wang expanded his business into expat areas of Shanghai with a second shop in the Hongqiao area in 2005.

"Most of my foreign customers are overseas students or senior managers of multinational companies," he said. "They make up more than 50 percent of the bike sales in all our shops. But most importantly, I have learned a lot about the spirit of the sport of cycling from them."

Wang and a colleague organized the first Shanghai Bicycle Race in 2006. It has grown to become one of the most high-profile amateur cycling events in the Yangtze Delta, drawing up to 300 participants every year.

"There is no prize money," he said. "We have a few sponsors to keep the race going, but we don't want to make it commercial."

Success breeds competition. There are now about 20 sports cycling shops in Shanghai. More and more of them are also organizing cycling clubs and competitions.

Wang worries that the potential for growth in recreational cycling may be limited by shrinking open spaces in crowded, traffic-snarled Shanghai.

"People coming from abroad would think it's impossible to cycle in this city because of crowded streets and heavy air pollution," said Wang. "But we are surviving anyway."

But the options for cyclists are narrowing.

"It's now impossible to persuade the government to close a road for competition as we did years ago," said Wang. "And most of the interesting places on the outskirts of the city are being shut off from the public so that tourist operators can charge big entry fees. Then, too, roads are always under construction in the city."

Wang said he wishes that the government would lend more support to cycling. After all, he pointed out, it's a low-carbon activity in a city that is touting the need to go green.