However, there are vast differences in the way that bikes sales are allocated among countries. Confirming ECF’s position that daily cycling is good for business, the graph above illustrates the link between modal share and bike sales for 2012 in 26 countries of the European Union. Malta is absent from the sample due to lack of data and the statistics of Croatia will start to be included in the report next year.

Denmark is a leader in both modal share and bike sales for 2012 – this maintains the argument that more cycling brings more sales. The Netherlands make a more complicated case study as the high modal share did not directly translate into a large absolute number of bike purchases last year. This is still an important country for sales of bicycles. But the purchase of a bicycle in the Netherlands is a more expensive investment than in any other country in Europe so it is predictable that there would have been a small slowdown in sales due to the financial crisis, however this was nowhere near as much as the decline in car sales. Hungary is also a country where the financial crisis is having a huge impact; the announcement that ECF and seven partners have reached an agreement with the government to spend €200 million on cycling infrastructure is vital to unlocking the potential sales in this market which are much higher than might be predicted by this analysis.

Without being a perfect scientific match – reality never is – the numbers clearly indicate that countries where cycling is a main mode of transport obtain a high score in bike sales despite the crisis.

 About the Author

Zoé Kruchten is a Communications Assistant at the European Cyclists’ Federation. She has a BA in International Relations and loves to fix bicycles.