OPINION


before, and retailers who position themselves at the heart of that shift will benefit most. The shift is coming, and it’s coming fast. Finally, as an industry, we need to do better to reach beyond our leisure market. Encouraging more people from all walks of life to visit shops is paramount in making bikes appealing to a wider audience. This is a collective effort, but bike shops also need to ensure they appeal to a wider “non-cycling” audience, as well as being warmly welcoming to women and families. For a non-cyclist, a bike shop can be quite overwhelming given the number of options; we need to simplify this somewhat whilst highlighting the everyday benefits of bikes rather than focusing on Tour de France wins or brand heritage. The industry could also do more to work with local authorities and blue-chip companies to encourage bike use for transport and commuting, educating employers about the workforce benefits. And, to address the elephant in the room: safety. Mainstream media widely reports on e-bike fires and the dangers of illegal e-bikes, but often falls short of educating the public on what is safe, what is legal, and how to spot and report illegal bikes. There’s a risk of “tarring by the same brush” if we don’t address this, and non-cyclists are the key audience for such messaging. We also need to consider that widespread reporting of “us versus them” when discussing cyclists and motorised traffic “clashes” can be very off-putting for anyone considering bikes as a transportation method. We all start life by learning and being educated, and the bike adoption journey is perhaps no different. 


www.bikebiz.com November 2025 | 35


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