Bicycle Sales Are Exploding
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 10. 2.05
In the past year, more bicycles than cars have been sold in the US. That hasn't happened since the 1973 oil crisis! "Bicycle sales are near an all-time high with 19 million sold last year [worth five to six billion dollars] -- close to the 20 million sold during the oil embargo in the early 1970s," said Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, an association based in Boulder, Colorado. "Some 87 million people [in the US] have climbed on a bike in the past 12 months," he adds. ::Bicycle sales boom in US amid rising gas prices, ::Bikes Belong, thanks to reader fishtoes2000 for the tip.
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- 7 Ways the Troubled Automotive Industry Could Change Your Car and Your Commute
- Bike to Work and Get $20 Bucks a Month
- Surf Green with Eco-Friendly Surf Gear
- Does Your Car Qualify for the Federal 'Cash for Clunker' Program?
- Save Over $1,000 with These Six Green Tips
- Preserving the Harvest: Strawberry Balsamic Jam
I hope they're riding them!!
The numbers could be higher, if you counted used bikes. There's loads of good 20-40 year-old bikes out there, and I've seen lots of people buying them. Most cars get 'used up' or rust apart before they get that old.
I had a 30 y.o. Schwinn, which I just sold. Paid 25 bucks for it at a thriftshop, traded it in for $50. The shop sold it the next day for $80.
Last year, in Australia, bicycles outsold cars by 30%. And have outsold cars for the past 5 years. But the majority of sales have been for recreational use, not for commuting or day-to-day transport. Since 1997 bicycle sales have increase about 90%. All according to BikeOz News.
"But the majority of sales have been for recreational use, not for commuting or day-to-day"
Well, that's still a good thing. It usually start with recreational use, and then turns into something else.
I am fairly optimistic about the use of these bikes. These days more and more people are asking me questions about bike commuting. I think at some point as gas prices rise, people will stop complaining about the cost and start changing habits.
We ride 2 Dahon Foldup Boardwalk 7 speed Bicycles we ride 4 miles to town around 3 times a week, we are in are 60s, NO OIL NO GAS Be Nice more citys put in bicycle lanes
In America, only (so far) about 1/2 of one percent of commuters use bicycles. With that figure as the start, it can only go up - as gas prices go up. More people will resort to bike use as gas prices climb to each person't "breaking point, until a "critical mass" is reached when large numbers of bike users alleviate the safety issue by sheer numbers. Then it will take off like a jet plane on steroids.
Bikes are a VERY GREEN form of transportation.. Join the discussion and give examples of how green bikes are... at link above.
I have been biking for 20 years, and have gone considerable distances. I have biked to Sausalito (64.5 km from home), Hollister (82.2 km), Oakland (54.5 km), Santa Cruz (46.5 km), and Half Moon Bay. I have biked to San Francisco 21 times (57 km).