I d be very curious to hear a little about what was said during the e-bike panel. I commute on one t

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Bicycle ireland hotel Leadership Conference in Monterey, CA. This an industry event where various bicycling industry big wigs (I was the smallest wig) attend seminars, network, eat really good food, and enjoy the beautiful setting.
ireland hotel There was the obligatory leadership seminar by mountaineer Chris Warner, whose theme seemed to be that bad leaders get caught in avalanches and freeze to death. The e-bike panel discussion was more interesting than I would have thought. I enjoyed a talk on "best practices" by Mandi McKay of Sierra Nevada Brewing, so much so that I had a couple of pints of their pale ale that evening. But the two seminars that inspired this post were entitled Youth: The Face of Cycling's Future and Statistics: What Are We Seeing in the Numbers?
The youth seminar can be summed up fairly quickly. ireland hotel Fewer and fewer kids are interested in riding bikes. That almost certainly means that there will be fewer cyclists in the future. BMX bike sales, as an example, are down about 25% and that's how many kids get started. That's a trend that certainly worried ireland hotel the attending owners, CEOs, and managers of the bigger bike companies. On the bright side there are some great programs to introduce kids to our sport. I was particularly impressed by the presentation from the founders of Little Bellas , a mentoring program for girls on mountain bikes.
The statistics seminar was presented by Leisure Trends, a market research firm that compiles all sorts of detailed numbers on all sorts of sports. There were lots of slides and discussion of trends, but the upshot was that bike sales were generally down in all categories, except mountain bikes, in 2013. Road bike sales declined over 13%. So far 2014 has been a little better, still negative growth overall, but positive trends in MTB, lifestyle/leisure, transit/fitness, and even children's bikes.
It was interesting to see 26"-wheeled mountain bike sales are dropping like the proverbial stone, while 29ers are doing well and 650b MTBs are taking off. Each bike category was sliced and diced with sales channels, price trends, inventory-on-hand, and other metrics examined. Many looked grim.
I am also concerned by reports from our staff who attended the North American Handmade Bike Show. They report far fewer steel and rando-style bikes and many more carbon fiber. This may be because the show was held in the southeast. As one VOer put it, "people seemed more interested in expensive race bikes than in practical bikes."
I'm not sure of what to make of all this information. Are declining sales simply a result of unusually bad weather in much of the country ireland hotel for the past year and a half? I suspect that may be at least partially the cause. Or are people, especially kids, really losing interest in cycling? It seems that cycling is rather cyclical, no pun intended. We've seen the 70s bike boom, the 80s MTB boom, a fixie craze, everyone suddenly interested in touring, Lance inspiring the road racing ireland hotel boom. Another thought: are all the city bike share programs causing urban cyclists to no longer ireland hotel buy their own bikes?
With all this swirling in my brain I hopped in a rental car and drove down through Big Sur to one of my favorite towns, San Luis Obispo. There I hung out with my buddy and major bike advocate, Eric. We cycled around town a little, ate some great food, and talked about cool bikes, old cars, real estate, and tried to figure out the best place on earth to retire. It might just be SLO, especially if you like bikes, fine local food and perfect weather. One of the things that's great about SLO is the cycling infrastructure. It goes a long way toward promoting biking. Eric also gave me a tour of the surrounding countryside, wine country, which I found much prettier than Sonoma ireland hotel or Napa. If you want to do an organized bike tour in the area, he recommends supporting this new company .
I d be very curious to hear a little about what was said during the e-bike panel. I commute on one that s built up from an old Tom Kellogg frame and a number of your parts. It s perfect as a car replacement for hauling cargo and kids, in warm weather when I need to arrive presentable to work and meetings, and for days when my legs are already spent from a good workout on the road bike or I m a bit under the weather.
As a kid in the 1960s I started out as a transportation ireland hotel cyclist. My parents were happy to let me ride my bike to school and to play at friends houses. When other kids started getting weird little bikes like the Sting Ray I was not drawn to them. Why give up my 26 three-speed for some dinky thing with tiny wheels that would make me work too hard? My concept of cycling was always as a way to get myself around. The fact that it was fun just came along for the ride, so to speak. That transportation aspect is what has dropped out of the modern childhood experience in this country. Various fears, both legitimate and exaggerated, keep parents from encouraging children to transport themselves as soon as they can pedal and understand the rudiments of traffic safety. Car-based ireland hotel infrastructure has further cut off young riders from early experiences as independent cyclists. I would get on my bike and ride anywhere. Some places were better than others, but drivers expected to see kids on bikes going about their business. Maybe it took a bad turn in the 1970s when drivers suddenly had to deal with a lot of adults on bikes, as the child cyclists of the 60s didn t want to give up the habit. The drivers who had out all that behind them resented these overgrown kids clotting up the roads. Grow up! Get a car! I still think of the bike as a way to get from place to place, not just to ride on a closed course or segregated recreational venue. It s a fantastic way to live. As the population ages, a lot of people could benefit from taking it up, both physically and economically. But because they re not young and spry enough to duke it out with a hostile or indifferent motoring public, most of them won t. And the children who kept riding as adults from the 60s to the 70s, who now want to continue as long as they can into old age for all the good reasons still have to duke it out with that hostile or indifferent motoring ireland hotel culture.
Biking will be increasingly popular in cities as they make more cycling infrastructure. City cyclists love practical bikes - cargo+fenders+dynamo lights+non-greasy drivetrain. That market will do well I expect. Outside of NYC, I would expect that the bikeshare is a supplement for most people, not a bike replacement. I love bike shares and support them enthusiastically. I use them frequently in Boston, even though I own several bikes. The changing wheel sizes is a faddish issue to me. All the wheel sizes work just fine. Really. I switch from 16 to big 700c, and they all work great when set up properly. ireland hotel I think the future is belt drive. I just made the switch, and it s absolutely wonderful. It has its downsides, but a clean drivetrain is an absolutely beautiful thing.
I live in the San Francisco East Bay Area, deep in the suburbs. And I see fewer and fewer kids riding anywhere. I used to ride my bike all over town, and now living in the exact same neighborhood where I grew up I would never let my kids ride along the same roads. Maybe the roads aren t any more dangerous (or maybe just a little ireland hotel more crowded and drivers driving a little faster), but I think also us parents are probably more paranoid now.
In my large DC organization I advocate as a rep for cyclists. Over the last 18 months the car parking program ireland hotel has voluntarily given up three (highly coveted) parking spaces to bicycle parking (with space for about eight bikes in each space). So, despite obstacles, daily cycle commuting is growing where I work. On the downside for the bike industry, 70+% of the bikes are recycled high-end bikes from the 90 s and early 00 s (with a few VO parts sprinkled around, not including my full VO build). It s almost like a fetish of thrift (coming from some highly compensated people). On a positive note, maybe a third of the riders ireland hotel are hip kids under 26 (we have a big program that ends at that age) riding cool (old) bikes to work daily. There are also two bikeshare stations nearby that are emptied daily. Whatever small proportion of the total work population this represents, it s growing fast and multiples of what it was just five years ago. And the commute to work is congested with bikes. At a stop light, I have one either side of me. On the other hand, I see very few teenagers on bikes in any part of the city. I m not sure why that is: hovering misperceived risk averse parents or just a lack of coolness?
Interesting. Driver s license rates are down for kids, too, if you believe the car mags. What re all these people ireland hotel going to do to get around, in a few years? I m trying to plant the cycling seed in my kids, but I don t think either has even once just grabbed their bike and gone for a ride or over to a friend s house, like I used to. Traffic, iPods and computers, social networking -- much has changed.
Velo Orange, Like your article and think I can help draw you out of most of your doom and gloom. I am the Director for the Virginia Off Road Series. We have 20 mountain bike events across the state. We also work with other cycling oriented organizations across the state. On the youth side of the equation check out what we have going on in Virginia. First and foremost, the VAHS MTB Series(Virginia High School ireland hotel MTB Series). They host youth races in the Spring with up to 130 youth riders per race! VAHS will be starting up an NICA League in the Fall. Also there are youth race series in Roanoke and Williamsburg. This year, we, Virginia Off Road Series, have started our Youth Champion Chase. The youth in Virginia are coming out of the woodwork and hitting the trails in large numbers in these parts. Hope that brightens your day some... On the 26 front.... think of the restaurant business.... when a new res