Austin bike shop co-owned by Lance Armstrong will no longer participate in police contract

Mellow Johnny's, an Austin, Texas bicycle shop co-owned by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, has announced its decision to back out of a contract to buy, resell and service police bikes.

"In the context of the current evaluation of community policing in Austin, we have decided to no longer purchase, re-sell, and service police-issue Trek bikes and accessories under a City of Austin RFP the shop was previously awarded," the store said in an online statement.

"It's difficult in these times to balance the needs of a business and a community," the statement continued. "Our entire employee group was engaged in this dialogue and we delved deep into our community to understand how we could best do our part to keep our customers safe and this city moving in the right direction. These are certainly trying times and we understand people will object to any decision made along these lines."

The move comes amid ongoing anti-police protests, scattered anti-police violence, and a national push by the Black Lives Matter movement to defund police departments.

But the business said that it does not harbor anti-police sentiments.

"We are not anti-police," the shop said in its statement revealing the move. 

"We do believe our local police force will protect us from the very threats we are receiving right now," the shop said.