If you're a fan of the bike rental program in downtown Huntsville but have noticed the bikes are now missing, there is good news.

New bikes will soon be available in an upgrade to the rental program, according to Chad Emerson, CEO of Downtown Huntsville Inc.

The Zagster program is being replaced by Pace.

"It's a big improvement," Emerson said. "You know how Toyota has their brand, which is fantastic, and then they have Lexus, which is the luxury brand, Zagster has something analogous, which is their Pace brand, which is their Lexus of bike share."

Zagster had bikes on racks throughout downtown Huntsville available for renting in a program that began last year. Bikers could rent bikes at one Zagster rack and return them to another Zagster rack.

Part of the upgrade, Emerson said, is that bikes can be returned to pretty much any public bike rack in the downtown area - not just a Zagster, or now Pace, rack.

"The really cool thing about this is that with the Pace system working closely with the city's GIS department, you can park and finish a ride at any public bike rack in the downtown area," he said.

Zagster approached Huntsville about the upgrade due to high usage over the past year, Emerson said.

The bike inventory will also more than double with Pace - from 42 now with Zagster to about 100 bikes.

There will also be three new locations for Pace racks: Outside the AM Booth's Lumberyard on Cleveland Avenue, the Huntsville/Madison County Visitor's Center on Church Street and at the Roundhouse at the Historic Huntsville Depot at the north end of the new downtown bike path on Spragins Street.

"The new racks are up and new bikes should arrive by the Fourth of July," Emerson said. "You can spend your Independence Day riding brand-new Pace bikes all over downtown."