Originally Posted by
Kommisar89
Maybe in total numbers but I think you'd have to corrolate that to total world population and filter out bikes being sold in China and India as they become more afluent to get an apples to apples comparison. 6+ billion people in the world today and 2+ billion Chinese and Indians will skew the results if even a small percentage of them start buying bikes as they no doubt are.
Wouldn't increased affluence for Asian countries mean buying fewer bikes and more cars? That's pretty much what this 2004 article says in regard to China:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/s.../FK12Ad04.html
At any rate, the world population has less than doubled from 1970 to 2005: 3.7b to 6.5b. Yet the number of bikes sold over that time (or to 2003) has just about tripled: 36mil to 105mil. That, of course, doesn't include used bikes. Just seems like a some sort of boom to me.
Neal