At the height of the pandemic, with gyms closed and public transportation made less attractive by fear of contracting Covid, Boris Johnson vowed to usher in a “golden age of cycling.”
Then prime minister the minister made the announcement when he announced a £2bn package to encourage cycling, including segregated bike lanes.
During the pandemic, the number of bicycles sold rose 22% to 3.3 million in the year to January 2021, according to Mintel.
With no public transportation, cycling has become the obvious choice for getting around during a pandemic. Photo: Jeff Gilbert.
Three years later, like online grocery shopping, any hope that the boom would last has collapsed.
Sales of mechanical bicycles fell by almost a quarter in 2022 from a year earlier, according to the Bicycle Association, due to a soaring cost of living squeezing consumers and skyrocketing theft rates.
Meanwhile, bike retailers who had hopes for further growth have been forced to struggle with excess inventory or face bankruptcy.
“In the absence of public transport, cycling was the obvious [choice],” says Roger Geffen, policy director for the charity Cycling UK.
“The weather at the time was phenomenal, which was one of the silver linings of all the horrors of the pandemic – the discovery of birdsong and nature and the opportunity for families to take to quiet streets with much less traffic. .”
The Dutch e-bike manufacturer VanMoof, once dubbed the “Tesla of e-bikes”, has been the victim of the bike crash.
VanMoof, whose e-bikes cost thousands of pounds and rival Teslas thanks to their sleek, minimalist design and patented technology, was declared bankrupt by an Amsterdam court less than two years later this month after raising $128m (£98m) from investors to spur its expansion.
A VanMoof e-bike could cost over €2,500 (£2,170). Photo: Andrew Crowley
Reports from the manufacturer's UK business showed that it had a net liability of £1.7m at the end of December 2021 – up from £267,000 at the same date the previous year.
According to official figures, there are still around 11% more bikes on UK roads than before the pandemic and almost 24% more than in December 2013. But defenders are disappointed that the “golden age” promised by the former prime minister has not arrived.
“We seem to have overlooked that silver lining,” says Geffen. “Some people continued – and it may take a long time – but we missed the opportunity.”
However, for many in the bicycle industry, the sharp drop in demand after the pandemic was not just a disappointment, but a disaster.
Inspired by the rapid growth in sales during the pandemic, bicycle retailers ordered large quantities of goods, expecting the boom to continue.
However, it soon became clear that this was not the case as life returned to normal. Mechanical bike sales are down 22% in 2022, down nearly a third from pre-pandemic levels, according to the Bicycle Association.
Demand for bikes is falling
Jonathan Harrison, director of the Association of Bicycle Sellers (ACT), said earlier this year that many bike retailers were facing “excess inventory and commitment.”
In December, Giant, one of the world's largest bicycle brands, asked its suppliers to delay payments, citing falling demand and rising inventory levels.
A few months later, Moore Large, a Derby-based bicycle distributor founded in 1947, went into administration. Its director, Adam Biggs, told Derbyshire Live: “The bikes arrived in the UK at the same time every year, which meant there was a huge oversupply.”
This has forced retailers to rely heavily on rebates to move goods, making it difficult for retailers to cover their costs.
At the same time, the rising cost of living is forcing households to cut back on contingencies. Buying a new bike has become much less of a priority for a large segment of the population.
“It's because consumers don't have a lot of spare cash, which leads to discretionary buying,” says Lee Kidger, managing director of Raleigh in the UK.
Graham Stapleton, chief executive of Halfords, agrees that customers are putting off buying bikes unless it's essential to their daily lives.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper has cut the government's budget for active travel, which covers cycling infrastructure. Photo: CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/Shutterstock
Industry leaders have criticized the government's decision to cut funding for walking and cycling initiatives, which they say could help capitalize on the boom when enthusiasm was high.
The government's active travel budget, which covers cycling and walking infrastructure, was cut by Transport Minister Mark Harper in March.
Pledged infrastructure investment for walkers, cyclists and cyclists was cut from £308m to £100m million pounds over the next two years.
In an open letter to ministers in March, the Cycling Association called it “a step backwards for the economy, climate and health.”
Adding to these woes is growing dissatisfaction with the high rate of bike theft and distrust of the authorities in apprehending criminals.
Some 74,000 bikes were stolen across the UK between June 2022 and 2022. However, 90% of police cases were closed without identifying the suspect, and only 1.7% resulted in charges.
“We know for a fact that when you suffer from a bike theft, there is a risk that you will not continue,” says Geffen. “Especially if you've been hit by two bike thefts, that's a really big drop.”
The trust in the police in dealing with thefts is low. More than three-quarters of people who took part in a YouGov survey last year said they did not expect the police to properly investigate bike theft.
Some cyclists have even taken the law into their own hands, trying to recover stolen bikes and hunt down the thieves themselves. The Cambridge-based Facebook group, where users share reports and images of lost bikes and information about thieves, now has over 11,500 members.
1,706 bike thefts
Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman of the National Council of Chiefs of Police insists bike thefts are “taken seriously” and that police have invested “significant funds” in investigating and preventing them.
< p>She adds: “In some cases, the police may not have enough information to take action or prosecute…I understand the frustration of victims who are not getting the quality service from the police or the results they would like from the criminal justice system.”
Despite these problems, bosses believe there are problems. there are still grounds for optimism.
Interest in electric bikes is on the rise, Raleigh's Kidger says, and the company now sells more electric bikes than non-electric ones.
The cost-of-living crisis hasn't affected luxury bike sales in general. “Roughly £5,000 and up, they're still in high demand,” he says.
Stapleton of Halfords adds, “It's interesting that kids' bikes… and commute bikes are much more sustainable because customers see them as part of their lives.
“These are really recreational bikes that people can use once every few months, and people have decided to put off buying for now.”
It all goes to show that Love Brit cycling is not over yet, even if the honeymoon is over.
“You know, we're facing a climate crisis, an obesity crisis, an air pollution crisis, a congestion crisis, and all these crises for which cycling is such an obvious answer,” says Geffen.
“Sooner or later we'll find politicians who understand this and really put their weight on it.”
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