Originally Posted by
corrado33
Unfortunately, the C&V market in my town is gone. Mainly because the interest in road biking is also gone. I talked to my friend who is a purchasing manager for a bike shop the other day and he said that last year he sold 2... that's right... 2 road bikes.
Admittedly he does work at one of the well known mountain bike shops in town, but they still stock plenty (20 or so) road bikes.
I think road biking itself is dwindling and mountain biking is taking over.
They've got the Van Garderen blues up that way. He's an incredible talent for certain - just not quite the world-beater so many had hoped he'd be.
I really think that road cycling in general is doing pretty well - but obviously, most folks want new, whether they are commuting, riding for leisure, posing for status, or actually racing. We're a bit of an anachronistic fringe group, and I've seen peak interest here on Bike Forums shift from 70's bicycles to 80's in the 11 years I've been around. Peak demand seems to be sustained by 40 somethings and active 50 somethings for the most part.