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UK bike sales fall to lowest level in 20 years

The Bicycle Association has published its Annual Market Data Report for 2022 and noted the sales slowdown since the Covid bike boom

The extent of the challenge facing the bike industry has been highlighted in the Bicycle Association's Annual Market Data Report for 2022, with sales of bikes in the UK dropping to the lowest level in two decades.

Combining sales figures and other data the Association's research suggests that mechanical bike sales fell by 22 per cent in 2022, down to 1.8 million units and 27 per cent below pre-Covid levels.

The 61-page report, titled Riding out the Storm, notes that children's bike sales fell even further, to 700,000 units and 28 per cent below 2019 numbers.

Cyclist and car (copyright Simon MacMichael)

On a more positive note, e-bike sales were reported to be more stable, even if overall volume has plateaued since 2020, while gravel bike sales are up eight per cent year-on-year and 59 per cent since 2019.

The report's author John Worthington, who is also the Bike Association's head of insights, said he expects the year ahead to be "turbulent" and "challenging".

> Halfords says cycling market is down 20 per cent year-on-year

"Once overall supply and demand return to a better equilibrium, and the economic environment improves, longer-term prospects for the cycling market are positive," he said. "But for the next 12 months the industry will need to weather a difficult storm."

It is not believed the problem is specifically one for the British-based bike industry either, with the report highlighting that sales in the United States are also lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Chiswick High Road 01 copyright Simon MacMichael

However, the Bicycle Association also believes more can be done, with e-bikes sales still lagging far behind European levels. On the continent, sales of electric bikes have helped plug the gap left by falling mechanical bike sales, and growing the overall market.

"This report is not an easy read," Simon Irons, the market data service director at the Bicycle Association accepted. "However, as an industry we have to rise to the challenges ahead of us and do everything we can to make cycling a safe and attractive method of transport for more people in the UK. Most worrying is the decline in kids' bike sales. This is a key area of work for the BA and our industry in 2023."

> Shimano's cycling sales hit record high despite slowing demand

Highlighting action to halt the sales slide, the Bicycle Association asked the government to commit to multi-year funding for Active Travel England and continued investment elsewhere in the United Kingdom, as well as more support and focus on cycling's role in economic growth and net-zero strategies.

Along with local investment the Bicycle Association urged an increase in short journeys to be undertaken by bike wherever possible to reduce motor emissions.

Steve Garidis, the Bicycle Association's executive director, last summer said more needs to be done in the UK to boost cycling uptake, including providing further investment in infrastructure, secure bike parking facilities, and e-bike charging networks and subsidies.

> UK's cycling market and infrastructure "being left behind" by Europe, experts warn

In August, Garidis said "things are very difficult right now", an assesment which appears to have continued into 2023 based on the report for the full year previous.

"Since May 2021 sales have been tracking at below pre-Covid levels, and if you take out the 2020 mega boom in cycling and sales, we're now doing worse than we were before Covid hit," he said.

"When I look at the comparison between the UK and what's happening in Europe it's just a bit depressing, it's sort of stark.

"There's a definite sense that we’re being left behind, in terms of the size and value of the cycling market, but also left behind in terms of how people are getting around, both for leisure and for everyday [trips]."

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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26 comments

Avatar
rscrase | 1 year ago
1 like

E-cargo-bikes might be a brighter picture, although I've not checked the stats in the UK. All cycle users can ask for better infrastructure. I wonder whether 'business-users' of cargobikes in particular will be taken more seriously? The only way towns will meet carbon reduction targets is increasing cycling of all types, and that requires much better infrastructure. I'm currently in Trondheim, cycling on studded tyres on the snow and ice, where the local target is 8% of journeys by bike. They've put in 140km of cycle ways which they generally keep clear of snow.

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wtjs | 1 year ago
0 likes

I think 'bike' and 'e-bike' do the job.

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kil0ran | 1 year ago
1 like

Lots of unsold bikes out there both new and used. Most 2023 models are available in all sizes from the larger manufacturers, who are also busy discounting the remaining 2022 stock. eBay full of lockdown bikes at very optimistic prices - I'm looking for a very specific Defy Advanced and the same bikes are showing up week after week, all overpriced

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grOg replied to kil0ran | 1 year ago
1 like

yep; people still think they can get excessive covid era prices.

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Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
3 likes

I dont think this is anything more than averaging out from the Covid spikes.  Regardless of why for most poeple a bike is a once every few years purchase and Covid brought some sales forward.   Sales will bounce back over the next couple of years.

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mctrials23 | 1 year ago
1 like

Less money in peoples pockets, all time high hate against cyclists, an ever increasingly unfit and sedentary population. Its only going to go one way unfortunately.

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Steve K | 1 year ago
1 like

Quote:

while gravel bike sales are up eight per cent year-on-year and 59 per cent since 2019.

Isn't this really just more bikes are marketed as 'gravel' rather than a real shift?

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ubercurmudgeon | 1 year ago
1 like

Quote:

...research suggests that mechanical bike sales fell by 22 per cent...

What kind of weird-ass bicycle is non-mechanical?

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ChasP replied to ubercurmudgeon | 1 year ago
1 like

To differentiate from ebike

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Owd Big 'Ead replied to ubercurmudgeon | 1 year ago
1 like

An e-bike, hence the old school description.

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kil0ran replied to Owd Big 'Ead | 1 year ago
0 likes

Very old school.

Mechanical bicycle
Motor bicycle - motorcycle
Electric bicycle

I'm off to coin a new word - mechcycle

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CyclingInGawler replied to kil0ran | 1 year ago
0 likes

According to something I heard a few months ago, the term "Acoustic" is now making its way from the world of musical instruments to other areas i.e. bicycles that aren't e-bikes are now (in some quarters, at least) being described as acoustic bikes! Utter madness!

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ktache replied to CyclingInGawler | 1 year ago
0 likes

Ebikes are often noisier.

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IanEdward replied to CyclingInGawler | 1 year ago
6 likes

That'll be why I feel the urge to scream 'Judas'! at every e-biker I see 😂

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Rendel Harris replied to IanEdward | 1 year ago
3 likes

IanEdward wrote:

That'll be why I feel the urge to scream 'Judas'! at every e-biker I see 😂

If there's a better niche reference on this forum this year it will have to be a very good one, chapeau!

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OnYerBike replied to CyclingInGawler | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'm yet to hear a term to distinguish non-electric bikes that seems at all natural.

I have heard the "acoustic" one before and it just sounded completely weird, not to mention being linguistically non-sensical. 

Mechanical bikes is ok, although not entirely clear cut given that e-bikes are still very much mechanical devices. Indeed, "mechanical" bikes are not "mechanically propelled vehicles" in UK law, where as an e-bike would be if not explicitly exempted under the EPAC regulations. 

An "ordinary bike" already has a meaning and most ordinary bikes are not "ordinary bikes"! The term "safety bicycle" was used to distinguish from "ordinaries" but feels very dated now that "ordinaries" are pretty extraordinary. 

"Traditional" or "classic" bike similarly conjure images of something old fashioned and would feel odd used to describe a modern road bike. 

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Rendel Harris replied to OnYerBike | 1 year ago
2 likes

How about "E-powered" and "Me-powered"?

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grOg replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

how 'bout just bike and e-bike..

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PzychotropicMac replied to CyclingInGawler | 11 months ago
0 likes

Im a brit but I work for 99Bikes (Aussie company, in Brisbane) but we've just bought Hargroves Cycles. 

Internally, non e-bikes are referred to as "analogue".....seriously.

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brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes

Could sales be down because there haven't been the bikes there to actually buy?

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Boopop replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

My guess would be the sort of person who buys a bike in the middle of a COVID lockdown after realising, actually, cycling is fun (bumping up sales), is not the sort of person that buys another bike less than 3 years later.

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Awavey replied to Boopop | 1 year ago
3 likes

I havent bought a new bike for nearly 10 years.

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Steve K replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes
Awavey wrote:

I havent bought a new bike for nearly 10 years.

I did buy one during the pandemic, but that was nine years after I'd bought my previous bike and I'm not expecting to buy another one anytime soon.

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giff77 replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
1 like

Awavey wrote:

I havent bought a new bike for nearly 10 years.

Same here. And if my bike hadn't have been totalled I would still be using it. 

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60kg lean keen ... replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
0 likes

Front line NHS, my bike is circa 2014.  The cost of even a basic bike that isn't a BS0 is totally nuts, that, balanced against my wages and the bills going out that I need to pay, so as to live, I can't afford to buy a new bike! 

 

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Fignon's ghost replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

It's time to wake up.

Brexshit has fucked cycling.

It's time to take back control!

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