CO Bike Summit
Economic Impact of Cycling
The Colorado Bicycle Summit is turning into quite the success story. Last year’s attendance was terrific. This year’s was even better. Once again, Governor John Hickenlooper was one of the Keynote speakers. Governor Hickenlooper is an avid supporter of bicycling and the rights of bicyclists. He, and many others, spoke of the huge, positive impact that cycling has on the economy of Colorado.
Bikers: The Other 60%
One of the themes of the conference was the need to reach out to the biggest, yet most underserved, segments of the biking population. According to statistics presented at the conference, about 1% of bike riders are the ones who would ride at all costs. They are the ones who are completely fearless (or senseless, depending on your point of view) and will ride their bikes in any condition, no matter what. These are the bikers we hear the most about, for good or bad. They are also the competitive bicycle riders. The next group is the “enthusiastic & confident” bike riders. This group makes up about 15% of the potential bike market/bike industry. This is the most visible group on the roads (usually) and trails (sometimes). This group is also the one represented the most in the bicycle industry. This group is the one that the bicycle apparel, bike accessories and bike manufacturing industry caters to the most. We’ll skip the most important group for a bit and quickly cover the 24% of the population who has absolutely no interest in biking. For whatever reason, these people do not currently nor will they ever probably have much impact on biking infrastructure or the bike industry. Then there’s the biggest group of all, and that is the “interested but concerned” group. This group is by far the biggest and makes up 60% of the entire population. This group is not made up of daredevils, racers or “bike nuts.” This group has mostly fair weather bikers who value comfort, safety & convenience. You will not see this group on the roads very often because they value their lives more than they value biking for the sake of biking.
Reaching the 60% of (Potential) Bikers
The vast majority of the potential biking market may or may not even own a bike. In fact, they may hardly ever get out biking. It’s not because they don’t want to. It’s because they don’t want to bike unless it is safe, convenient & accessible. And, even though this group is the biggest of all, they are the group that is ignored by the entire biking world, from bike clubs to bicycle companies. And the reason for this is simple human nature. Most people who own bicycle manufacturing corporations, run bicycle clothing companies or lead bicycle groups and bike clubs are cycling aficionados. So they can’t relate to folks who want to bike just for fun: not for competition, not for thrills and not to become buff. If riding bikes is dangerous, they don’t want to do it. If bicycle riding is uncomfortable, then count them out. If it’s overly expensive, then forget about it.
Copenhagen Bicycle Culture
So how do we reach the “interested but concerned” bikers? It can be done, because other cities & countries have done it. A good example is the bike culture that has been established in Portland, Oregon and Copenhagen. And the Colorado Bicycle Summit provided guest speakers to discuss the biking infrastructure in both of those communities. So we’ll talk about that in a future Trailsnet blog post.
