In 2021, German bicycle dealers missed the record sales from the first Corona year due to ongoing supply chain problems.

Price-adjusted (real) revenue from the bicycle, bicycle parts and accessories business fell by 3.2 percent compared to 2020, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday.

However, at 28.2 percent, it was still well above the sales level of the pre-crisis year 2019. In the first pandemic year 2020, the retail trade with bicycles had recorded the largest increase in sales since the beginning of the time series in 1994 at 32.4 percent.

"Popular leisure activity in Corona times or a contribution to the traffic turnaround - the trend towards cycling continues to bring retail sales at a high level," the statisticians summarized the development.

"In 2021, however, the record level from 2020 could not be surpassed again, which is not least likely to be related to global supply chain problems."

Above-average price increases

Increased production costs, the persistently high demand and the limited supply due to supply bottlenecks have also made the bikes significantly more expensive: the prices for bicycles increased by 5.8 percent last year.

They grew almost twice as fast as consumer prices overall, because in 2021 the inflation rate was 3.1 percent.

The lowest price increases were for conventional bicycles without a motor, which rose by 5.7 percent.

E-bikes increased by 5.9 percent and the service of an inspection was even 7.3 percent more expensive on average.

Even though more and more people are switching from classic bicycles to e-bikes, more non-motorized bicycles have been produced again.

Their production grew by 10.0 percent to 1.43 million units.

The total value of bicycles produced was 771.9 million euros - an increase of 11.2 percent compared to 2020. However, the number of bicycles produced without a motor was 6.1 percent and their total value 3.0 percent below the 2019 level. The turnover of the bicycle retail trade in Germany does not result exclusively from domestic production; conversely, not all bicycles produced in Germany are intended for sale on the domestic market.

According to the statistics, private households own almost 61.1 million classic bicycles and 7.1 million e-bikes.