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Originally Posted by oldpotatoe
Bike and bike stuff sales in general in the US have been flat for years..BIG bump mid, late 80s(Lemond) and index shifting, clipless pedals..another for LA7, smaller but vast majority of bike sales in the US are the lower end, $170 type from WallyWorld and Costco. The mid to high end, like the low end, sales very flat to negative. Coupled with internet ease of buying..that's why bike shops who try to sell the same thing as MO/online, are having a really tough time.
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In the last few years, there have been roughly the same number of bicycles sold in the US as cars (about 17 million per year for both), and like Peter says, most of those bicycles were low end models sold in big box stores.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldpotatoe
BTW-altho GRoad bikes and riding seem to get a lot of press..riding a road bike on the road is still the largest type of 'enthusiast's' riding..Roads 'may' be more dangerous or are perceived as such, again due to press and internet, and there is more GRoad riding..but still pretty small in comparison.
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Speaking of relative amounts of press vs. sales, e-bikes get lots of press in the US, but they only represent about 1% of all bikes sold. I suspect that the amount of attention being paid to these bikes has more to do with the fact that they are one of the only types of bikes whose sales numbers are increasing, and also that they have an average selling price much higher than the average bicycle price (by roughly a factor of 10:1). No wonder many bike retailers seem to be jumping on the e-bike bandwagon.