Mountain Bikes Continue to Decline in Sales

Subject: Bicycle Sale Figures for 2008
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:07:46 -0700

This summary is taken from Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, March
1, 2009, Vol. 18, No. 3, with significant statistics in red:


"Bike Sales Up Despite Dour Fourth Quarter" by Matt Wiebe

...The good news for bicycle suppliers is that bike sold better than
cars last year. The bad news is that when gas crossed the $4/gallon
threshhold in June, bike sales tanked...Sales (dropped) 13 percent in
the fourth quarter of last year. T
"The numbers for the full year were better. Sales grew 2 percent
for the full year compared with 2007...
"...Pavement bikes picked up market share, now they make up 64
percent of the overall market. And that doesn't include entry-level
front-suspension bikes bought for commuting purposes...
"The quick downturn in fourth quarter sales caught suppliers
flatfooted, and inventory climbed to historic levels in December. The
only other time suppliers were saddled with more bikes at year's end
was at the end of the mountain bike boom in 1995....
"Hybrid sales took off last year. The category saw a 7 percent
gain, by far the greatest success story. The gain supports a market
shift toward utility bikes, further corroborated by strong sales of
lights, fenders and racks.
"Road bikes picked up 1 percent in market share...this year the
mantra may be show me your best value road bike.
"The largest sales drop last year was in full-suspension bikes,
marking the category's first loss in five years. Sales fell 17
percent...Juvenile sales as a group also saw big losses. Suppliers
speculate this is an easy purchase for parents to skip in favor of
cheaper entertainment options.
"Surprisingly, cruisers and comfort bikes lost unit sales last year
when hybrids picked up large sales gains."

End of article. What is a hybrid bike? you may ask. Frank says it's
a bike with medium width tires and flat (not turned-down) handlebars
that can be used for both on-road and off-road riding. It's halfway
between a road bike and a mt.bike, with gearing, etc. A "comfort"
bike is a beginner's bike with suspension seatposts and suspension
forks, for a very soft ride. The small chart accompanying the article
showed that mountain bikes continue to decline in sales.

One of the more interesting stories is that a man named Craig Calfee,
of Calfee Designs in no. California, has launched "Bamboosero Bikes"
-- www.bamboosero.com -- and is establishing a "cottage craft" in
Ghana to train framebuilders on how to grow, harvest, cure, and make
bamboo bikes out of local bamboo!! Only a few have been made so far,
but one bamboo cargo bike carried 400 pounds of cargo and/or two
adults on the back. Calfee sees a huge potential. There is now a
Bamboo and Rattan Development Program in Ghana's government. It
sounds like sustainability at work.
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande