Members of the Cycling Industry Club met at Eurobike this Thursday, pledging more support for advocacy.

Industry leaders and ECF excited about estimate that cycling is worth €200 billion to the EU

Industry leaders and bicycle advocates attended ECF's Advocacy Summit at Eurobike this Thursday, where ECF presented a new study that estimates cycling's overall benefits are worth more than €200 billion to the EU. ECF and industry leaders said that if politicians get this message, cycling and the bike business will benefit.

The huge numbers - more than 10 times the size of the cycling industry's own estimates - confirmed that cycling's overall benefits are an impressive contribution to the EU economy, a view that ECF and its Cycling Industry Club have long been promoting.

Speaking from the same podium as Angela Merkel two days earlier ECF president Manfred Neun addressed a room full of industry representatives wanting to know more about cycling advocacy. He said that if politicians were made aware by advocates that cycling is contributing over €200 billion to the European economy, cyclists and the bike industry would benefit.

Jeroen Snijders Blok, COO of Accell Group, said "These numbers show how big cycling really is when you look at all the combined benefits. ECF helps us to get this message out to politicians, that's why we are working with them, that's why we are a member of the Cycling Industry Club."

The Cycling Industry Club (CIC), founded in 2011, is ECF's industry support group and includes leading global bike companies such as Trek, Giant, SRAM, Cycleurope and the Accell Group along with a number of smaller companies. But now they are calling on others to join, too.

"I think every European cycling company should join the Cycling Industry Club," said Tony Grimaldi, CEO of CIC member Cycleurope. "Bicycles will be an essential part of cities in the 21st century. That is why we as cycling companies have to work with politicians, governments and mayors."

Like Grimaldi, SRAM CEO Stan Day called for more commitment from Europeans."Some global brands such as SRAM and Giant are already supporters of the Cycling Industry Club and the ECF", Day said. "We need more European companies to get involved, both with cycling advocacy and with local politicians."

The ECF study says that out of the total of €200 billion of benefits of cycling to the EU, €121 billion are
from health benefits alone.

Patrick Seidler from Wilderness Trail Bikes said this is one of the strongest arguments to get more people cycling. "We are sitting on a time bomb when it comes to health - less and less people are physically active. In the long run, that means less cyclists and less bikes on the streets, but we need more of both. ECF helps us create the conditions for that."

The ECF study says that other than its health benefits, cycling is worth up to €44 billion to the tourism industry, as well as €24 billion in congestion-easing. Bicycle manufacturing accounts for €18 billion in the total.