CIN Bike Market Data: Owning the expert bike educator space?

Revealing what kind of things customers are heading to their local bike shop to talk about is something akin to gold dust for the bicycle trade… we discuss exactly that in our latest extract from the CIN Market Data project…

As a publication, we wrestle a bit with new technology and innovation. On one hand, new tech is exciting, something to talk about, can provide a competitive edge and – crucially – something that drives sales. On the other, technology can be baffling and make the first steps for beginners seem discouragingly large, which is unhelpful when you’re aiming to grow your market. Quite the conundrum.

What does seem pretty clear is that new technology requires education and the expert bike shop is well placed to provide this. How that balances with maybe younger customers who are happy to be educated by online individuals, is the kind of issue that really should be on the radar of the industry. Shops moving into that online educator role to ensure they continue to fulfil that role might become more important as time goes on and newer generations are deciding where to spend their cycling cash.

But enough preamble – what are the trends that are in ascendancy with customers stepping into bike shops right now? Once again, tubeless technology figures highly. MTB tubeless was picked out by 34% of shops taking part in the CIN Market Data survey, while road tubeless was identified by 38% of dealers, both clearly the biggest trends identified. Tubeless has been with us for some time, but it’s continuing to drive customer conversation and – presumably – footfall unlike it seems any other, so if your shop has room to develop its tubeless offering, surely that’s an area to explore.

Less positively, one of the other larger trends cropping up in bike shops was discussions about eBike battery fires (27%). It’s a reminder for the trade and industry at large that there’s no sense in resting on our collective laurels about hammering home the eBike Positive message and how reputable eBike dealers and brands are the way forward.

Participation in group rides or clubs also factored highly, with 26% of respondents reporting it to continue to be a big conversation drivers in shops.  Something your shop could work on? Another one to mull over…

COMING SOON
The 2026 CIN Market Data will be available shortly, sent free of-charge to all survey participants and, for everyone else, available to purchase. Contact: [email protected] for more details.