Spending on bikes and other cycling goods surged by as much as 70 per cent as the Republic emerged from the first period of strict Covid-19 lock-down earlier this year.
A combination of bike factory output being interrupted in Asia and an unprecedented demand for bikes has meant a shortage of bikes in Ireland in recent months, which continues to the present day.
However, despite that major problem for Irish bike shops, the first financial information on the 2020 bike boom shows it was very real and not just media hype.
Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has compared the spending habits of about one million customers over the period from January 2019 to September of this year.
That analysis has enabled the bank to assess trends across the economy, as the number of credit cards reviewed is so large, and a key trend that has emerged is a massive spike in spending in bike shops.
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While the cycling trade overall in the first nine months of this year was up by 32 per cent, that includes the first 2½ months of the year - before Covid-19 really hit and before the bike boom began.
And the increase of 32 per cent in cycling spending this
year also includes the first part of the lock-down when even bike shops were
closed.
But once cycle shops were allowed to re-open in May, as an essential service, the bike boom was immediate and it was very large, according to the AIB spending data for this year compared to last year.
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Bike sales increased by 49 per cent in May and were 70 per cent up in June of this year compared to the same time last year.
In July bike sales were 63 per cent higher and in August they were 53 per cent higher, a slight slow-down in the growth of sales but still a bonanza for Irish bike shops.
This was despite shops proving unable to get their hands
on bike deliveries fast enough to keep up with demand across the country as
Irish people switched to cycling for safer commuting in the pandemic and for
exercise having been stuck at home for months.
Even in September, the last month for which figures are
available, spending on bikes and other cycling goods was 63 per cent higher
than last year.
Overall this year, there has been a 59 per cent increase in sales in Westmeath this year, almost double the national average increase for the whole country for the first nine months of this year.
In Dublin sales were up by 40 per cent but in Kerry the
spending increase on bikes was much more modest, at two per cent according to
AIB.
People over the age of 55 years accounted for the biggest
increase in spend, with those between the ages of 55 and 64 spending 41 per
cent more than last year, and those over 65 years spending 48 per cent more in
bike stores than in 2019.
Women also spent 41 per cent more on bikes this year,
while men’s spend was 29 per cent higher than in 2019.
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