In the past year, bicycle manufacturers were often unable to build the bicycles they wanted to build and which they had already presented to retailers and the public as samples.
Due to bottlenecks and non-delivery of parts, equipment changes had to be made at short notice.
Slightly different bikes than planned and announced were offered to the customers.
They couldn't be too picky about one or the other detail.
That's an experience in the bike industry coming off another "absolutely great year".
That's what Burkhard Stork, Managing Director of the Bicycle Industry Association (ZIV), called the year 2021 when presenting the economic figures.
It has been shown that the sharp increase in demand in the first year of Corona was not just a "bubble" and that the positive development in the industry is continuing.
In view of rising fuel costs, this development will probably continue;
the bicycle, whether with or without an auxiliary electric motor, is generally available and offers “freedom of mobility”: around half of all distances traveled are shorter than five kilometers and can easily be covered by bicycle.
Of the 81 million bicycles in Germany, 8.5 million are equipped with a motor that supports speeds of up to 25 km/h.
Even in rural areas and not only in the city, distances of 15 kilometers are not a problem with such a pedelec;
Statistically, three quarters of all routes are at most that long.
Due to electric bikes, the average price has risen continuously in recent years: by nine percent in 2021 to 1395 euros.
More than three quarters of bicycles are purchased from specialist retailers, 73 percent in shops and another three percent online.
The sales channel self-service and DIY stores is clearly declining.
51 percent of the import of 4.14 million units come from Asia.
The assumption is wrong, said Stork, to expect only cheap mass-produced goods from there.
The sober figures of the industry, which turned over almost 6.6 billion euros in 2021, also reflect how obsolete some heated discussions have long since become: In the reporting year, around 141,000 mountain bikes were sold without a motor, but 680,000 with motor support.