BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Bicycle Product Suppliers Association members shipped fewer bikes to dealers through the first half of the year, compared to last year. But even so, they tallied more dollar business.
Suppliers shipped 73,795 fewer bikes to retailers through the first six months of the year — a 6.4 percent drop from last year. But, through June, suppliers' business with retailers totaled $564.7 million, or up 6 percent from $532 million last year.
This suggests that suppliers are selling pricier bikes to dealers, and could reflect the impact of higher-value e-bikes. Shipments of electric bikes were up a whopping 83 percent through the first half.
Shipment declines were seen across most categories. Besides e-bikes, the exceptions were BMX, which was up 21 percent compared to the same period last year, and full suspension 29ers, which were up 21 percent as well. Shipments of lifestyle/leisure bikes were up a modest 3.5 percent.
The road category overall saw a 1.5 percent decline in shipments, but sub-categories including "cyclocross" and "other" saw unit growth of 43 percent and 64 percent, respectively, hoisting the road category shipments' total value to $149.75 million, up from $135.73 million for the same period a year ago.
