First a flashback: In 2013, the bad weather that lasted from March to the beginning of June dampened the desire of bike consumers to buy. After two good sales years in 2011 and 2012, the poor spring weather in 2013 depressed new bike sales figures: In total, 5.3% fewer bikes were sold in 2013 than in 2012. Mountain bikes with a 29" wheel size were in very high demand in 2013, while sales of electric bikes fell by 6.7% to the 2011 level.

2014 then presented itself from its best side: the bike industry benefited from the glorious spring weather from February to June in 2014 and sold a total of 325,900 bikes, an increase of 2.4%. An even better result was prevented by the wet and humid summer months, reports Roland Fuchs from the Swiss Center for Bicycle Issues.

27.5 inch market emerges abruptly
From 2013 onwards, the bicycle industry turned its back on 26-inch bikes with new developments at breakneck speed - and this is visible in the statistics: while in 2013 only just under 3,000 bikers added an off-road bike with 650b tires to their fleet, in 2014 almost 32,000 27.5-inch bikes changed hands. The proportion of twentyniner bikes has also risen by 10,000 units, while the 26-inch share has fallen by around 42%.

Including junior MTBs, almost 155,000 new mountain bikes were sold in 2014. In addition, 11,000 cross bikes and 15,600 road racing bikes were sold, making a total of 181,600 sports bikes. Overall, the sports bike sector grew by 4.2% compared to the previous year.

Overachiever e-bike
57,600 new e-bikes were sold in 2014, 16.7% more than in 2013. Three quarters of these were in the conventional category up to 25 km/h and a quarter in the fast category up to 45 km/h. One thing is clear: the e-bike boom is continuing, and the slight drop in demand in 2013 was "just a brief blip on the way to a new sales record" according to the specialist office for two-wheeler issues. Since 2005, over 300,000 new e-bikes have been sold in Switzerland, of which around 270,000 are on Swiss roads on a more or less regular basis. For its part, the electric bike boom is putting pressure on city bikes. Many buyers are choosing an e-bike instead of a 'normal' bike, riding them more often and covering longer distances, says Fuchs.

Original statistics for 2013: 186,477 sport bikes Published in March 2014: 174,299 sport bikes for 2013

Silent correction
Velosuisse had tacitly adjusted the figures downwards for the 2013 sales year. The originally published market statistics for 2013 (see here) showed a total of 186,477 units for sports bikes. The 2014 market statistics now show 174,299 units of sports bikes for 2013. According to Roland Fuchs, the difference of over 12,000 bikes was caused by a provider involved in the survey who overstated the figures and subsequently had to adjust the statistics.

www.velosuisse.ch