How is the bicycle industry doing, what are the most serious challenges currently at hand and what role does the Eurobike show play in the current situation? The Show Daily reached out to some decision makers to take the pulse of the industry.
Due to a mix of the inherent inertia of global supply chains, a lack of real-time sales data and wishful thinking, the bicycle industry managed to drop from its highest highs in early 2022 into a serious vale of tears. When demand collapsed in the spring of 2022 the industry could not scale its production down fast enough. As a consequence, warehouses filled up quickly, inventory levels spiked and turnover dropped almost as drastically. Despite this effect already showing in the second half of 2022, that year still saw a lot of new records being set in terms of numbers of bicycles and e-bikes sold—or at least being delivered and invoiced. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing, the escalation of the Near East conflict in October 2023 added to the bad consumer sentiment (think energy costs).
Throughout 2024 none of these issues got solved for good. Inflation levels were coming down, and consumer sentiment was rebounding somewhat. But inventory levels were still precariously high, and to fight inflation many federal banks increased their interest rates. This aggravated existing liquidity issues for companies that had relied on loans at zero interest in order to expand their production and cover the high demand during the pandemic. German e-bike manufacturer Advanced fell victim to this effect, going out of business in early February 2025. Pierer Mobility got into deep trouble and decided at the end of April to discontinue its bicycle-related New Mobility branch in favor of saving its motorbike business. This was the end for Husqvarna E-Bicycles and Gas Gas Bikes, while Felt Bicycles continues under new ownership.
Other brands such as Dutch e-bike specialist Qwic, German cargo quad builder Ono Motion or iconic Canadian mountain bike brand Rocky Mountain managed to find new owners or investors after having gone into administration. Throughout the industry, brands and manufacturers have been restructuring their operations and reducing staff to cut costs, compensate for the losses in sales and margins and somehow balance their books. Platforms such as LinkedIn give a clear and bleak picture of the ratio of firings to new hirings in 2024. And the number of big brands opting not to exhibit at this year’s Eurobike is telling as well. At the same time, companies such as Giant, Merida and Canyon were forced to make substantial write-downs due to the eroding value of existing inventory.
Not all is dire, though. The first-quarter numbers of big industry players such as Shimano, Fox Factory, Giant Group and Merida Industries were all up year-on-year, and so were Taiwan’s exports of bicycles and parts from January to April. Certain segments of the market, most notably dropbar bicycles, still see healthy demand. And the sales of spare parts and accessories are doing well. There is more trouble on the horizon however, as the Trump Administration aims to reset global trade radically by starting a trade war against the entire world. Amidst rumors of container ships making a U-turn on their way from China to the United States, threatened tariffs were put on hold. If one thing hurts business and global trade seriously, it’s uncertainty and volatility.
Unsurprisingly, the pending announcement of arbitrary reciprocal tariffs was one of the big talking points at the Taipei Cycle Show in late March. The U.S. market may not be the most important one for the global bicycle industry, and in the end those arbitrary tariffs will be paid for by American consumers. But higher prices will cause a dent in sales numbers, and the U.S. dollar still is the industry’s lead currency, so volatility of its exchange rate is not exactly helpful. Given all of this, the Show Daily reached out to some key players in the European bicycle industry to tap the pulse and hear how they see the current state of the bicycle industry.
While Paul Lange & Co’s CEO Bernhard Lange stands for a key distributor’s perspective, ZIV-CEO Burkhard Stork represents Germany’s bicycle industry and Schwalbe’s Chief Sales Officer Nico Simons and Bosch eBike Systems’s CEO Claus Fleischer speak for key OE players.
One of the bicycle industry’s most pressing issues has been the overstock that has caused extra costs and eaten into margins along the value-added chain. But according to Bernhard Lange things are improving. “We have seen inventory levels decreasing step-by-step in the past three years. Although they are still high and far from what could be considered ‘normal,’ we see a steady development in the right direction and we expect this to continue in the second half of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.” This observation is shared by Stork, albeit with some nuance: “Inventory levels vary greatly from company to company and also depend on the bicycle category. Last month’s discounting has certainly driven the reduction in stock.”
These price wars were ongoing across almost all of Europe in 2024 and into 2025, with the turnover resulting from bicycle sales dropping harder than the units sold in many countries. Simons confirms this observation: “The slow but steady normalization of inventory levels has been shaped by a combination of key factors, notably, aggressive clearance efforts on all trade levels that maintained high sell-through rates, and a gradually recovering demand, particularly in the aftermarket, where momentum remained strong and was further boosted by a favorable European spring season.” Keep in mind that spare parts and aftermarket are overlapping for a tire manufacturer, and the demand for spare parts has been fairly stable thanks to more bicycles circulating since the pandemic.
As the CEO of the distributor of Shimano in various European countries, Bernhard Lange adds, “We definitely see a rebound in the retail sector, particularly regarding parts and accessories, but also spare and wear and tear parts. As for the OE business, we see promising signs indicating a rebound in late 2025 and in 2026. Sales have been strong particularly in the road and gravel segments, and e-bike growth should be back up in 2026.”
Simons, overseeing the international sales of a supplier that has a considerable OE and aftermarket business, talks of a similar trend. ”Yes, we’re finally seeing measurable signs of a rebound, in both demand and sales. Our road and gravel segments are experiencing strong momentum, and the e-bike category continues its growth trajectory.”
The strong attendance seen at various consumer events and bicycle festivals throughout Europe this spring has been adding to the cautious return of optimism. “The Velo Berlin and Cyclingworld trade shows were well attended, showing that consumers are in high spirits for the season. In Berlin and in many German cities, I see crowded cycle paths that unfortunately often leave too little room for the public’s desire to cycle. This makes me very confident about the prospects for our products,” Stork adds. Both Simons and Lange agree that dropbar bicycles and the upper e-bike segment have not suffered as badly while the entry-level segment and conventional mountain bikes still see their sales eroding.
As for the biggest challenges ahead for the bicycle industry, opinions differ slightly. Simons is calling for more long-term thinking. “The most pressing challenge lies in realigning supply chains with sustainable, realistic demand levels, and doing so through industry-wide coordination to avoid the resurgence of bullwhip effects. Right now, short-term market impulses are often running up against limited inventory and production capacities that are still ramping up.” Meanwhile, Stork is more worried about red tape, the lack of predictability, and the competitiveness of German companies: “I see major challenges for the bicycle industry in Germany regarding the major issue of reducing bureaucracy and, in the long term, the shortage of specialized staff. Therefore, we should defend and strengthen both the Schengen area and the common Euro currency.”
Claus Fleischer points at another topic that is causing lively discussions as of late. “One of the big challenges is to safeguard the legal status of the e-bike as a bicycle. Maintaining this classification is essential for the accessibility, infrastructure integration and regulatory stability. However, the lack of a clear EU-wide definition for peak motor power is a risk. We are supporting the stance the ZIV has taken in suggesting the industry to limit peak power to 750W to safeguard this status as a bicycle and further promote active mobility.”
The EU has just implemented new regulations for cargo bikes, and some e-drive suppliers are calling for looser limits for the maximum power of e-drive systems. Lange calls for unity. “It is of utmost importance that the industry and its organizations speak with one voice and bring all their combined weight to bear in order to avoid developments that might endanger not only the legal status of e-bikes but also limit the possibilities to ride e-bikes in general.”
There is a giant orange elephant in the room of course, being the arbitrary tariffs imposed by the current U.S. administration on most of the world. Simons is frank in his assessment. “Any form of policy-driven uncertainty undermines the fundamentals of global trade. What businesses need most is predictability and long-term stability. While currency fluctuations can typically be managed if they remain within a reasonable range, sudden and politically motivated tariffs introduce structural risks that are far more disruptive. These kinds of shocks complicate planning, burden international supply chains, and weaken trust across markets. Frankly, in the current phase of ongoing normalization within our industry, we could have done without these additional, externally imposed stress factors.”
Given the limited business that German bicycle manufacturers and component suppliers have in the United States, Stork does not expect heavy implications of the tariffs. “The depreciation of the U.S. dollar could even lead to falling prices for bicycles. However, we are already feeling a certain pressure on goods, especially in the component sector, as Chinese companies are increasingly trying to expand their European business.” Lange even sees the bicycle industry in a prime position to profit from current disruptions and to come out of this situation as a winner.
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