With the annual high mass of cycling Velofollies behind us, it's time to take stock. An energetic Joule crowd saw that the bicycle continues to gain in popularity year after year. Although there are some shifts here and there. We took stock.
Normal growth is back from never before. A new market survey by sector federation TraxioVelo found that as many as 606,017 bikes crossed Belgian counters in 2023, up 6% from 2019. There were slightly more the year before, but 2022 wholesale transactions gave a distorted picture because of inventory growth at most retailers.
Remarkably, Belgians are increasingly finding their way to high-quality bicycle types. With 51.2% of bikes sold in 2023, the e-bike overtook the mechanical bike for the first time. In the sports segment, the classic mountain bike lost ground to the gravel bike. The number of mountain bikes sold fell from 89,000 to 54,000 while the gravel bike rose from 18,000 to 19,000. The road bike remains the absolute leader with 71,000 bikes sold. Then again, in the e-bike segment, the e-longtail walked away with the honor of biggest riser. This category doubled in one year from 3,000 to 6,000 bikes sold.
The future also has a saddle and two wheels. The same survey by Traxio shows that nearly 50% of consumers plan to purchase a bicycle - again or not - starting in 2024. Perhaps this is due to the increase in bicycle reimbursement. Or is the decline of the company car among them? Indeed, in 2023, for the first time, the number of private sector workers for whom a company car was part of the pay package dropped from 14.8% to 14.6%. More and more employees are discovering the benefits of the leased bike, and we can't blame them.
Want to keep up with the trends and technical gadgets in bicycle country? Bram Cours is our expert and would love to help you learn more about cycling!
Source: The Standard, Traxio
