iamlucky13

I was looking at information on aluminum extrusions (work related stuff) on SAPA Group's website, when I was distracted by the bicycle frame portion of their website. A little-known fact about high-end mountain bikes made in the US is that most of the production frames for companies like Ellsworth and Santa Cruz are manufactured (tubing formed, frame welded, heat-treated, and powder coated or anodized) right here in Portland, OR. I got to see this in action when I went on a tour in college.

Anyway, one of the pages discusses the worldwide market, and has rather some interesting statistics about bicycle usage in different countries. For example, in the Netherlands, 30% of trips are accomplished on a bike, compared to 5% on public transportation and 45% by car. In contrast, the US shows only 1% of trips on bike, 3% on public transit, and 84% by car (I don't know how walking is figured in, but I admit probably 90% of my non-walking trips are by car...I have a fairly long commute). There is also a table of what share of the transportation bicycles make up in some major cities (77% in Tianjin, China!), and bicycle production by country. Not surprisingly, production has been steadily increasing in China and India, and slowly declining in the US and Europe. The final table shows bicycle sales in the US from 1991 through 2000. Pretty surprising.

Here's the page for your viewing pleasure: SAPA Bicycle Market Overview

Artkansas 

The change in the U.S. between 1997-1998 was frightening. Was that the year Schwinn put all their production off shore?

Production went from 5.4 million to 2.0 million. Imports went from 9.8 million to 13.8 million.

I wouldn't call that a slow decline.

iamlucky13

I know, pretty crazy.

On the other hand, 20 million bikes are sold in the US every year. That's encouraging. Now imagine if half those people actually rode them.