Since our start with the magazine in October 2007, every fall we have traveled to Montreal for the annual Canadian bicycle trade show, Expocycle, and to Las Vegas for the North American show, Interbike. As we prepare for our fourth and fifth respective trips this September, we take some time to reflect on our past four years with the magazine, and the growth, stagnation and change within the bicycle industry itself.
Walking the trade show floors in 2007 and 2008, a common response to the question: "What products do you have that cater to the transportation cycling segment of the market?" was: "Bicycling for transportation, what's that?"
Since then, a lot has changed: gas prices spiked in 2008 and shops could not keep enough "comfort" and "hybrid" bicycles on their floors. The concept of a "city bike" still wasn't used to describe an upright bicycle ideal for city riding (and city bikes continue to be slotted under the category of "hybrid" bikes today).
And then came the surge of brands that not only recognized that people in North America were biking for transportation, but that this was a growing market that needed products specifically designed to fit the bicycle lifestyle.
Industry leaders, such as Linus Bikes, Public Bikes and Po Campo, are exciting brands that have started and grown exponentially over the past few years. We attribute their success to their ability to acknowledge the true potential of the market (the 90 percent of people who don't yet ride). People want products tailored to their everyday lifestyle needs and, in particular, the needs and desires of women! We are crossing our fingers that the big players in the bicycle industry will follow suit soon, too.
Putting a floral pattern on a road bike and painting it pink will not satisfy a modern-day urban woman's desire for functionality, style, elegance and simplicity. And bike shops that are greasy, cluttered environments with salespeople who focus on the technical and sports aspects of biking, such as carbon fiber and frame geometry, don't inspire the average woman.
Now, of course, it takes much more than high fashion and a nice bicycle boutique to get women interested in riding a bike. It takes infrastructure, family support and the mainstream acceptance of cycling. "Dutch, German and Danish women cycle as often as men, and rates of cycling fall only slightly with age. The situation is quite different in North America, where women account for only 29 percent of daily bike commuters in Canada and only 24 percent of daily bike commuters in the USA."* North America is long overdue for a change.
To the bicycle industry: If you want to see the market grow, you must support the agents of change that will make this possible. It's time to give women what we want and need in order for us/ them to become bicycle enthusiasts, too.
Tania Lo and Mia Kohout
Publishers,
Momentum Magazine
mia@momentumplanet.com
tania@momentumplanet.com
*Source: John Pucher et al. "Bicycling Renaissance in North America? An Update and Re-appraisal of Cycling Trends and Policies," published in the journal Transportation Research in 2011.
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