When will bike boom end?

[Gravity Aided]

And define" has acess to". Sounds like there may be a bike near to 40% of the populace with a shoddy lock.

 

[Globalti]

When I think of my neighbours in my fairly average area I simply can't believe that 42% statistic. Casual observation would tell me 10% or fewer.

 

[theclaud]

When I think of my neighbours in my fairly average area I simply can't believe that 42% statistic. Casual observation would tell me 10% or fewer.

Nevertheless, you'd be wrong...

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Nevertheless, you'd be wrong...

Yup, I had a bike in the shed for 18 years I never touched, had access to it though, really good access.

 

[dellzeqq]

GrumpyGreg is right in one respect. The 'boom' is in London, and, in a much smaller way, Oxford, and Cambridge. Across the rest of the UK levels are flat or declining. I wish I thought it would improve elsewhere, but there's not much grounds for optimism.

 

[mustang1]

My friends dad has "access to a bike" because he bought one.

However there are 5 people in the house hold so technically they all "have access" to a bike but none of them ride.

Multiply this scenario up and down the country and you have some great statistics to publish.

Compare this to cars in that same household: there are 5 cars, each person has their own car.

 

[theclaud]

My friends dad has "access to a bike" because he bought one.

However there are 5 people in the house hold so technically they all "have access" to a bike but none of them ride.

Multiply this scenario up and down the country and you have some great statistics to publish.

Compare this to cars in that same household: there are 5 cars, each person has their own car.

The statistics on car ownership, availability and use are all available from the same place the ones about bikes came from. We know that access does not equal use, but it is access all the same. Five cars to a household is an unusually high level, and access to cars is very strongly correlated to income. Which is a polite way of saying that your friend's dad probably lives in a household which has more money than sense...

 

[Globalti]

Somebody probably took the numbers of bikes sold in the last ten years and divided that by the population. What they forgot was that half those bikes are BSOs and probably ended up in the canal, in the skip or rusting behind the shed.

It reminds me of my favourite statistic: there are 7 million cats in Britain and 10 million families who think they own a cat.

 

[Brandane]

And define" has acess to". Sounds like there may be a bike near to 40% of the populace with a shoddy lock.

They probably count 100% of the population of London as having "access to a bike" because of the Boris rental monstrosities. This has now spread to Glasgow, so throw 100% of the population of Glasgow into the stats too. Despite the fact that I have yet to see ONE of the Glasgow bikes actually being used! My bet is on that particular waste of money being abandoned after the commonwealth games.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

The statistics on car ownership, availability and use are all available from the same place the ones about bikes came from. We know that access does not equal use, but it is access all the same. Five cars to a household is an unusually high level, and access to cars is very strongly correlated to income. Which is a polite way of saying that your friend's dad probably lives in a household which has more money than sense...

Or three teenagers/children over the age of 17. You only have to be comfortable, if everyone is working and saving money individually, to have lots of people in a house owning cars. I've a friend with 4 people in the house and 5 cars (one with both of the daughters that they bought themselves, his, his wifes and the company car) fortunately they also own 12+ bikes...

 

[Pale Rider]

A bike shop owner told me bike sales have been about two million a year for as long as he can remember.

Reported increases can be misleading because the figures often relate to the amount of money spent on cycling.

Obviously, prices go up, so an increase in annual spend doesn't automatically equate to more bicycles.

With two million sales a year, bikes should be everywhere.

The fact they are not seen everywhere indicates most bikes are only used a handful of times before being relegated to the back of the shed.

 

[Globalti]

Well, yes..... but don't forget that bikes that are in use aren't left out in the open for fear of theft!

 

[Smokin Joe]

When I moved here 13 years ago it was unusual to be out on a ride and meet another roadie. This morning alone I've seen about six in the four hours I was out working in the car. However, they were not commuting or going shopping so the boom is purely a sporting one, I doubt if the car use of any of them has dropped a jot. They'll be off to Tesco or B&Q in the motor as normal after they've got home and showered. And thing that does not indicate the boom will be anything other than relatively short lived is the majority of riders are late thirties upwards, it's still very rare to see teenagers or twenty somethings on bikes.

The more I see it, the more I think it mirrors the motorcycling boom that began in the mid nineties and has now all but petered out with bike sales halving between 2008 and 2012. Personally, I couldn't care less. How many other people were interested in cycling at any given time has never bothered me, I like it and I do it and it's popularity has never had any effect on that. Indeed during my most active years There were probably less than 1 in 100 of the population who could have named a single pro cyclist, with the exception of that foreign bloke Earnie Muckx or something, you know the guy who won that french rally.

 

[Globalti]

It's ironic that at the time when sport cycling is growing in popularity, obesity is also increasing at a shocking rate. I do believe that this is largely income-driven: people with limited means will not be able to afford a decent bike that is enjoyable to ride and will tend to spend their meagre income on foods that give them the most calorific bang for their buck, i.e. laden with sugar and carbs. People who receive a reasonable and regular income can afford to spend upwards of £500 on a bike that's easy and enjoyable to ride and they begin to see the benefits of regular exercise. I also believe that the sport cycling boom is at the expense of other sports like golf as people in their thirties, forties and fifties grow tired of the petty restrictions and traditions of golf clubs and the fees and the problem of slow golfers holding others up.

The biggest influence in the growth of cycling is undoubtedly the bikes themselves; first we had mountain bikes with their smooth easy ride, great handling, go-anywhere nature, wide range of gears and good brakes so many born-again cyclists like me started out on a mountain bike. Then along came road bikes with great handling, stiff but smooth riding frames, light weight, compact, well-padded bars, easy gears and STI shifters, bringing many of the mountain bikers over to the road and new recruits straight into road cycling. If we were still riding old steel frames that handle like a farm gate with downtube shifters and skinny vinyl-wrapped bars and massive gears, I don't think road cycling would have taken off at all beyond the traditional diehards.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

This has now spread to Glasgow, so throw 100% of the population of Glasgow into the stats too. Despite the fact that I have yet to see ONE of the Glasgow bikes actually being used! My bet is on that particular waste of money being abandoned after the commonwealth games.

You are quite mistaken, the Next bikes are very popular, I see them used a lot.
By a lot I mean I see at least 3 used anytime I'm on the road myself.
On the inaugural day of the scheme I saw at least a dozen.
Mind, their use is restricted to the position of the docking stations.
Obviously they will be used less after the Games, when visitors leave and parking restrictions are lifted.