Bikes now outselling cars in Ireland as bike industry soars to record values; here's the proof

The bike is finally starting to win the battle with the car in the Republic of Ireland, with bikes outselling their motorised friends and the "bicycle economy" booming as the overall economy has imploded.

Bikes are now outselling cars in the Republic of Ireland as economic conditions in the recession and the boom in leisure cycling for fitness has seen cycling grow more popular than ever.

New figures obtained by stickybottle reveal the bike industry in the Republic has completely bucked the trend of the wider economy.

The bike business is stronger now than at the height of the economic boom six years ago. Indeed, as the wider economy has plummeted, the "bicycle economy" has boomed.

The value of bikes and related goods being brought into the country for sale has reached €49.14 million.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) data for bike and related imports for the past 10 years in terms of Euro millions per year is as follows: 2012, €49.14m; 2011, €46,49m; 2010, €63.1m; 2009, €45.22m; 2008, €42.65m; 2007 , €46.31m; 200,6 €45.32m; 2005, €43.77m; 2004, €37.37m.

The wider economy peaked in 2007-2008. The spike in the ‘bicycle economy’ in 2010 occurred because that year was the first 12 month period of the ‘cycle to work scheme’; a Government initiative under which people buying bikes are granted generous tax breaks on any new bike they buy to cycle to work.

However, taking that exceptional year out of the equation shows that last year the bicycle economy was at record levels.

Because very little bicycle or component manufacturing occurs in the Republic, it means the import figures obtained by stickybottle from the CSO account for almost all of the bike-related trade that occurs in the Republic.

It does not include goods bought online from abroad that arrive via the postal service or through private couriers.

Because sales in Northern Ireland are included in the total figures for the United Kingdom, it is more difficult to determine the exact figures for that one part of the UK.

A separate set of data compiled by the Association of the European Bicycle Industry reveals bikes are now outselling cars in Europe for the first time in the modern era and that Ireland is no exception.

The study reveals some 19,719,000 bicycles were sold in 27 EU member States last year compared to 13,854,662 motor vehicles. In Ireland there were 95,000 bikes sold last year and 91,732 new vehicles sold.

The ratio of bike sales to vehicle sales in the Republic of Ireland has been influenced by both the boom in cycling and the decline in car sales because of the recession.

The data for the value of the sector here, and also the figures showing bikes are now outselling cars in the Republic of Ireland, come just days after it emerged the increase in Cycling Ireland members is gaining pace despite having increased exponentially since 2007.

There are now just over 18,000 members of the national governing body, with numbers having increased by 35 per cent in the 12 months to the end of June.

Numbers are set to exceed 20,000 next year; some five times higher than during the last boom period for cycling at the height of the Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche era in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Most of the growth has come in the leisure, rather than racing, sector.