Bicycle market: Sales will remain poor in 2024

The association ZIV - Die Fahrradindustrie has published the market data for the bicycle industry for the 2024 financial year. The figures show that 2024 was also a difficult financial year. "Many dealers and manufacturers still have a high level of stock, says Katharina Hinse, Head of Economic and Industrial Policy at ZIV." A total of 3.85 million bikes were sold in Germany (2.05 million e-bikes and 1.8 million bikes), which is 2.53 per cent fewer than in 2023. Total turnover in the bicycle market was €6.33 billion, which corresponds to a decline of 10.3 per cent. Discount campaigns in retail have pushed down the prices of e-bikes by an average of 10.1 per cent. Bicycles without a motor, on the other hand, rose in price by 6.4 per cent. "The economic situation in our industry remains tense. And not everything is over yet. Nevertheless, the declines are less than expected. We currently expect the market to normalise from 2026," says ZIV Managing Director Burkhard Stork optimistically.

Bicycle market: inventories reduce production

In 2024, the German Bicycle industry 1.97 million units produced. This means that the production level is roughly the same as in 2019. The production of classic bicycles fell by 11.7 per cent to 641,000 units (2023: 726,000 units). The production of e-bikes fell by 14.8 per cent to 1,330,000 units (2023: 1,561,000 units).

ZIV corrects e-bike stock

The number of classic bicycles in Germany grew to 73 million. Last year, the association put the number of e-bikes at 11 million for 2023. The ZIV has retrospectively corrected the figures for previous years upwards due to new findings on scrapping. The figure for 2024 is now 15.7 million e-bikes. This means that there are around 89 million bicycles and e-bikes in Germany in total. The bicycle market remains difficult, but there is no shortage of orders in the workshops. Dhe bicycle trade association Verbund Service und Fahrrad (VSF) reports full order books in the workshops. The bicycles are obviously being used diligently: Almost 90 per cent of businesses have recorded a significant increase in workshop turnover.

"2024 was challenging, but we are slowly seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We expect 2025 to be a challenging year and are hoping for good business in the spring. The first signs of improvement can already be seen in the repair and accessories business. We expect a significant improvement for our industry from 2026," summarises Katharina Hinse.