Premium bicycles win new fans among China’s city folk

BEIJING, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Zhou Changchang likes to spend his spare time cruising alongside the streets of China’s capital along with his biking membership pals, on his Tiffany Blue bicycle made by the British firm Brompton.

The 42-year-old instructor is a part of a rising military of biking fans in China, who’re forking out on premium bicycles made by the likes of Brompton, Large and Specialised, fuelling a market that consultancy Analysis & Markets estimates may very well be value $16.5 billion by 2026.

Social media and e-commerce platforms say there was a surge of curiosity in biking over the previous yr and gross sales of bicycles and equipment are booming.

Sometimes, Chinese language cyclists pays greater than 13,000 yuan ($1,870) for an inner-city, high-end foldable bike made by the likes of Brompton. Excessive-performance highway bikes, made for longer journeys, begin at round 10,000 yuan ($1,450) and may go many occasions greater.

Final month, media reported {that a} bicycle made by luxurious model Hermes offered for 165,000 yuan ($24,500).

“The vast majority of using hobbyists are keen to splurge,” e-commerce platform JD.com stated final month.

It stated highway bike gross sales on its platform had greater than doubled from June to August in contrast with the identical time final yr, whereas using attire gross sales had jumped 160%.

China has had an extended love affair with bicycles and was as soon as often known as the “kingdom of bicycles”.

For many years, bikes made by the likes of the Flying Pigeon firm crammed the streets.

Biking fell out of trend when a rising center class turned to vehicles however bike producers noticed a revival in 2014 as bike-sharing firms like Mobike and Ofo sprang as much as flood cities with their fleets, providing rides as low-cost as 1 yuan.

Zhou, like many cyclists, stated he acquired into biking to get match. COVID-19 and its lockdowns additionally created a urge for the open highway.

“I actually longed for the outside and contemporary air,” stated Shanghai workplace employee Lily Lu who went out and ordered a Brompton bike for 13,600 yuan ($1,965) the day after she was launched from a three-month lockdown.

Because the craze gathers tempo, producers are struggling to fulfill demand. Lu stated she needed to wait two months to get her bicycle. Brompton didn’t reply to a request for remark.

China’s Pardus, which makes racing bikes that may value greater than 30,000 yuan ($4,335), stated gross sales doubled from final yr and its manufacturing facility was working across the clock.

“All the things is out of inventory,” stated Pardus branding director Li Weihai.
($1=6.96 yuan)

Reporting by Sophie Yu, Brenda Goh; Modifying by Robert Birsel

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