Utility and niche bikes killing road and MTN softly
Posted June 4th, 2006 in Industry
Are the road and mountain bike categories going to live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse? Or will they rage against the dying of the light as the utility/niche bicycle takes center stage?
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News comments on a demographic gorrila in the room but also misses an important point about where the growth of the utility/niche bike category is really coming from.
Even more worrisome is the road demographic. Is it mostly 40-year-olds and older? Or, as some suggest, mostly 50-plus? How long are they going to keep buying bikes?
Sky Yaeger of Bianchi USA.
My fear is the market is my age or older. Other than the odd racer out training, when was the last time you saw a high-school or college-age rider?” she asks
As someone who works at the coalface of the industry, my perspective is to back up most of what is in the BRaIN article - my on the floor view is that the Australian market stats do follow those of America. When you add our shop floor response to the changing market you end up with this observation.
If the road category is expanded to pavement bikes, including both road and hybrid, the long term outlook is brighter. According to the Bicycle Products Suppliers Association (BPSA), dollar sales of pavement bikes equaled sales of 26-inch bikes for the first time since the mid-’90s mountain bike boom.
Still, I think we should avoid this ‘lumping in” of categories to make the road scene look healthier. I understand that it’s all cycling in the end and we should probably just go with the flow, but clear analysis and planning demands that each category stands and falls on it’s own set of numbers, so isolating the growing strength of utilitarian/niche bikes ends up producing clear shifts that demands this be viewed as a separate entity.
So what are those shifts? One is the crowding out of the MTB on many shop floors in favour of utility/niche bikes and bikes more suited to general riding - so apart from isolated strongholds, mountain bikes are clearly the first big casuality of this shift, with road cycling’s current status as “the new golf” allowing it to rage against the dying of the light.
Yeager also notes that Bianchi’s niche products are being purchased by younger consumers, but my view is that the growth of this category cannot and should not be influenced by this perspective because this group is a pretty small one in comparison to that of their their parents generation, it’s the boomers who have the critical mass and income to change the direction of the industry.
So, the second and most important point (the one alluded to in the opening para) is that the growth of the utilitarian bike is itself directly related to the ageing baby boomer demographic.
Further analysis should reveal that there is a clear and large shift away from road toward funky and useful utility/niche bikes amongst the older riders (40/50/60) who only a few years ago would have considered road. We know this by the increasing sophistication and price in this category, it’s something that is influenced and demanded by the single biggest and wealthiest word changing generation in history.
So what does this all add up to? Yep, utility/niche cycling is the new golf! You heard it here first.
technorati tags: cycling, bicycles, industry,
What others have to say…
In effect what we’re seeing is the anglo countries (Aus/US/UK/Can) catching up to their more enlightened Euro cousins.
I actually see this slow shift as an increasing sophistication in the market, this comes from many Australians who travel OS and see what the Euros have to offer, then look for the same here. The world is getting smaller.
I don’t actuall see this shift as a problem for a brand like Masi Tim, I’d market these potential Masi categories as a sophisticated/elegant/genteel Euro one, Masi has that potential given it’s Italian roots.
Bianchi does a beautiful line of these kinds of bikes, based on their elegance as a brand.
That would be a nice self identification way of marketing IMHO.
The Masi Eleganza city bike, in red, town bars, brown leather seat and grips, 3 speed, etc…..
1950’s B/W imagery, nice suits, palazzo’s etc..
Masi Eleganza
“To proceed, not speed”
Coming soon to a dealer near you.
if i was a bike retailer instead of an IT wage slave, I’d jump at the chance to import distribute and retail machines like these:
http://www.workcycles.com/workbike/index.html
http://www.utopia-fahrrad.de/
September 25th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Its rather late to be adding to this rather old thread but its a topic near and dear to my heart. That’s my company, WorkCycles above.
The field of load-carrying and daily use bicycles is indeed growing but by bicycle industry standards its still miniscule. A few weeks ago I was at the Eurobike expo (2007) and there was hardly a real city bike to be found amongst the lovely, high-tech recreational bikes. There were plenty of bikes with mudguards and lights but most were nontheless still too fancy and fragile to be subjected to the rigors of daily use and ourdoor life.
I agree with the assessments above that the growth will happen slowly and organically. At least I hope so.
Those interested in this field will probablyi enjoy my blog: www.bakfiet-en-meer.nl
Greetings from Amsterdam,
Henry
October 13th, 2007 at 11:47 am
oops, sorry for the incorrect link: the blog about transport bikes is: http://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl
-Henry
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The growth is there, but the numbers are creeping up so slowly (on the whole) that most manufacturers aren’t sure of what to make of it all. The plus to slow growth is that it is likely more sustainable in the long run (ride).
Brands like my own, where utilitarian bikes are going to be hard to add to the line (if at all) will have a hard time adjusting to the shifting sales. It will be interesting to see where larger, more in depth brands are able to go and grow. I personally love utility bikes, but I have a hard time selling them under my brand (so it’s good that Haro… my parent company… is an all inclusive brand).
Honestly, though I make a living off of road bikes, I look forward to the growth of utility cycling. I think that it will benefit the entire industry in the end, making it more healthy. That is good for all of us who like/ love/ live cycling.