The global cycling industry is bracing for another “lost year” as manufacturers and retailers backpedal from an unexpected burst of enthusiasm during the pandemic when people turned to the sport for transport and exercise. At the world’s largest cycling trade show, Eurobike in Frankfurt, which runs until Sunday and is expected to attract up to 70,000 visitors, “everyone is talking about the slowdown,” said Manuel Marsilio, general manager of the Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry.
Its sales increased 22 per cent in 2023, but its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were down 9 per cent. A foray into the sector by buyout group KKR was less successful. In early 2022 it acquired Accell in a deal valuing the company at €1.6bn, which then had to deal with a significant rise in inventory from late 2022 and a costly recall of faulty Babboe cargo bikes. Sales fell 10 per cent last year and ebitda, which was €140mn in 2022, dropped by more than 90 per cent.