Obeast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bike_boom

Wikipedia says the UK is going through a bike boom right now but what about other countries? I see plenty of ebikes around but it is used by mostly old people as the kids have basically abandoned bikes for scooters or just stay indoors playing GTA and Minecraft.

Lemond1985

Could be a "micro" bike boom.

The first warm days of the year always draw out a few people on weekends, the ones who have been patiently waiting months (or years) for "the perfect 72 degree day with no wind, chirping birds, puffy clouds, and a sunny blue sky" to get on their dusty unused bike for an idyllic 4 block ride on their 35 pound clunker with a heavily-padded seat. Once they get that out of their systems, they're good for the rest of the calendar year, and you won't see them again until next spring.

trailangel

I think we just had a bike boom for about the last 5 years, and now is tapering off. After the road bike boom in the 70s.... it was followed by a MTB boom. I think we are seeing some of this repeated.....road sales down... MTB/gravel/ebike sales up.

Lemond1985

Kinda hard to have a "bike boom" when the serious riders are all in their 60's and 70's. But anything is possible. Among younger folk, I suspect we might be at the tail end of a "Scooter Boom", or at least I sincerely hope so.

trailangel

Ya, the bike boomers from the 70s are now 60-70 years old... and they have more time on their hands now to get out and ride.
In about 1970 we never saw old people riding bikes.....and if we did it was a Schwinn 3sp and they were going around the block.

livedarklions

We may be starting an ebike boom. Too early to tell if this is just something of a fad, or a segment of the market that's going to be around.

Pedal-powered bikes seem to be more about year-to-year fluctuations in demand and categories rather than any huge trend.

daoswald

Wholesale bike sales are down sharply year to date in everything but eBikes:
https://www.bicycleretailer.com/stud...s#.XNBTgnVKhhE

If wholesale is down, it's because retail is down. If retail is down, it's hard to call this a bike boom.

honcho

In the United States, the bike boom of the the early 1970s coincided with most of the large cohort of baby boomers being teens and young adults, along with factors such as the OPEC oil embargo, rising environmental and health awareness. I believe, youth cycling then, as compared to now, had many more young people on bikes. Where I live there are plenty of kids but it's rare to see any on a bike around neighborhoods. However, there is a cycling boom of sorts going on in many urban areas of the USA with conventional bicycles, e-bikes, and e-scooters being promoted and adopted, particularly by young adults living in urbanized areas. However, I don't think it's nearly as widespread across the population as the boom of the 1970s.

As part of the growth of cycling, the attempts to place large numbers of rental dockless e-bikes and e-scooters are being fueled by speculative investors hoping to capture the attention, use and dollars of the population. So far, the results have been mixed both in adoption by riders and the success of the companies involved.

You won't get any argument from me regarding the value of bicycling as both transportation and recreation. We need a huge boom in cycling infrastructure to make cycling in general take off but the competition for infrastructure resources is fierce everywhere so I'm not too hopeful to see the boom anytime soon.

Obeast

yeah, lots of urban hipsters riding fixed gears and BMX and just bikes that seem really impractical for long distance rides. However, most of them seem to be secondhand conversions so I don´t think the bike industry makes much money from them. There continues to be a huge expansion of high end bikes costing more than $5k. This is insane since most of the people who buy them are 50+ year old people so I don´t think the market is that big.

OldTryGuy

IMO, "same as it ever was" or Déjà vu all over again.

livedarklions

If we had reliable figures for bikeshare usage, it might be possible.

ridingfool

Can see many riders on a nice weekend on 9w by the GWB. Can see a few thousand riders between both directions but the 15 mile ride it takes me to get to the route might see 5 riders I'm on the new Jersey side tho most of the riders I think come from the city as far as a boom not to sure about that most of the riders on 9w seem to be out there every weekend at least I am and see alot of the same people

MEversbergII

I thought there was one c. 2010 or so - I definitely saw an uptick in "cycle commuting" web presence, anyways. It seemed to taper off in or around 2015 or 2016, so I figured it was just a downward trend from then to now. Economic times are better, so it's less likely you'll need to do it for financial reasons, the "hipness" of it seems to have waned, and I suppose it ultimately ended up not being as practical as people would have thought.

M.

fietsbob

Or the write computer code, so are tech yupsters , plenty of salary, so

able to pay for expensive bike but skipped the mechanical training for the digital ,

In need physical exercise after the screen time in the cubicle ..

L134 

Bike share came and went in San Diego. Very passé.

Gconan

In the last two years, I have bought a mountain bike, adventure bike, and a road bike. I have been blessed.

sputniky

What makes someone a "serious rider" in your opinion?

dbf909

At least 9 bike stores have closed in my area (within 20 miles of my house) in the last 12 months. General sales volumes at the remaining shops are down or steady at best and although sales of high dollar bikes (>$4k) are up the overall market simply cannot support the number of shops we had 2 years ago.

I would say any "bike boom" that could be defined here over the last 5-7 years is definitely over.

Lemond1985

Someone who rides once a week or more would be at least somewhat "serious". And / or been into it for decades like many of us here have been.

sputniky

How did you determine that the serious riders are all in their 60's and 70's?

Are you being held prisoner in some kind of retirement community or something?

Kabuki12

I am turning 65 this year(HELLO Medicare!) . I tell my 22 year old daughter who is into roller derby, that at my high school you had to get there early to get a spot on the bike rack. Bicycles were our life here in Southern California. She has a couple of real nice bikes and doesn't ride. I don't see a real "boom" happening , but there are quite a few cyclists I see out and about , just not the younger crowd like it was in the 70's . I think us teenagers were at least part or a majority of the real boom in the 70's. Hell, even the rock stars were into ten speeds! I remember seeing one of the Fogerty's on a Varsity on one of the Creedance Clearwater albums. Joe joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

livedarklions

That's happened in several cities. Other cities are seeing huge use of them. The Boston area mups are teeming with them, for example. There's a lot of use of them in the DC area as well.

Lemond1985

I'm still trying to figure out who this group is. Pic was posted in another thread. Almost looks like a 70's album cover.

The guy in the front has "singer / songwriter / cult leader" written all over him. Early Fleetwood Mac or Starland Vocal Band? ABBA? Who knows, maybe they were just regular 1973-style hippie folks "getting back to the land" or headed to the nearest Charlie Manson or Billy Jack commune for some Free Love, "One Tin Soldier Rides Away" and all of that. Hope they packed their tambourines (and antibiotics).



Seriously though, people in their teens and 20's these days seem absolutely repelled by bicycles. it's the strangest thing. But they love scooters and skateboards. Good luck commuting to school or work on one of those. Must be some sort of generational attitude, plus the fact that that age group was, for the most part, driven everywhere and never had to walk much. I dunno, you can lead a horse to water ...

bcpriess

I don't know about you, but the weather around STL has been kinda cruddy for much consistent riding this year. It's May, and I have had one or two weeks this year equal to last year's mileage, not for lack of trying. If it's been like that elsewhere, sales would logically be down.

indyfabz

Philly too. Locals and tourists alike use bike share.