Cycling Becomes The New Normal

India is the second-largest producer of bicycles with 2.2 crores units sold every year.

In this unprecedented time, we all have seen businesses shutting down, shops are closing, and Automobiles are facing a shortage of demand. In this time people are finding their new normal whether it is online studies or home workouts, all of us are trying to be safe as well as healthy. In the way of finding their new normal, people find cycling as their new normal and it can be verified from the stats available at different cycling stores.

India is the second-largest producer of bicycles with 2.2 crores units sold every year. Out of which major demand was from rural areas, where people usually use bicycles to commute but now as the development happens, people are switching to motor vehicles which are a faster way to commute.

Mr. Pankaj Munjal, Chairman and Managing Director of Hero Cycles said that at the same time last year they sold around 2.75 lakhs bikes and now they are pepping for 4 lakhs, he also added the demand for bikes is nearly doubled.

The demand of kids and geared bicycles account for around 45% of the total sales and now it is expected to hit around 55% to 60% said Mr. K.B. Thakur, General Secretary All India Cycle Manufacturers Association.

One of the emerging brands in the health and fitness category, Decathlon Sports India also reports that after the lockdown, the demand for their bikes has been doubled with “Bikes” been the most frequently searched keyword on their online portal and on their app. Avon cycles also report the increase in their sales by 20% as compared to pre-COVID times.

It all seems that the cycle industry which was previously growing at 4% to 5% annually, is now expected to grow at 15 % to 20% annually lead by first-time users.

Not only in India, all across the world, demand in cycles increased and all is happening as people are avoiding using public transport to maintain the norms of social distancing. Countries like Mexico are adding extra lanes for bicycles, Mexico added 70km of extra lanes for bicycles only. The demand in the USA has been seen a 121% increase in bike sales. Bogota has a plan to increase the city’s biking network by 50%. Budapest added temporary bike lanes and reduce bike rentals so that people prefer cycling over public transport. France is also planning to increase 3% of daily commuters by cycle to 9% by 2024.

The demand that is surged in this time is facing a constraint of the disrupted supply chain. Industries are working only with two-third or at some places, it is operating with one-third workers only which limits the production of cycles and the industry is not able to meet the demand, and customers have to face a wait time of 1 week and at some places, it is of 2.5 months also. Although, major of the parts of cycles are made in India, so we can expect that the industry will meet the demand shortly.

Cycles is not a necessity product (Not for all), it is just in trend now. Also, it has a good impact on the environment as it doesn’t contribute significantly to pollution levels. The only thing that the industry wants to know is that is it going to fade away with time or it is going to last long and will settle as the new normal.