Seema Sachdeva
When 75-year-old Gurdeepak Kaur rides her seven-gear Trek bicycle on the roads of Chandigarh and round, all eyes transfer in her course. This spirited lady, who enjoys her golf periods simply as nicely, began biking about 5 years again. This ardour has led her to cycle as much as locations like Fatehgarh Sahib, a distance of 43 km, and uphill until Dharampur (50 km). “Cycling is the best exercise our body can get. It keeps one fit and young at heart. The best part is that you can do it irrespective of the weather,” says Gurdeepak, including that “not even a pandemic could stop you from cycling”.
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For entrepreneur Manish Nagpal of Mohali (49), shopping for a fat-tyre bicycle — meant for using on snow or sand — for health was one thing that he was initially sceptical about. “But then, I didn’t want to be stuck in a gym full of people, not with the Covid scare still high. Riding a fat-tyre bike on the plains is a lot of hard work. It is like doing a set of weights, along with cardio. Hopefully, it’ll help me fulfil my fitness goals.”
If there may be one issue that has singlehandedly given impetus to the premium bicycle phase, it’s the pandemic. Earlier, mild and geared cycles had little market presence, restricted to sports activities and recreation biking. The non-geared black bicycles or roadsters have dominated the Indian bicycle market owing to authorities/institutional purchases.
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Rs 13,303
The KPMG report of June 2021 states that at an annual manufacturing of two.2 crore, India is the second largest producer of bicycles. A 12 months earlier, NITI Aayog talked about the large hole in bicycle utilization. The bicycle possession per 1,000 individuals in India is a meagre 90 in comparison with China’s 300, Japan’s 700 and the Netherlands’ 1,000.
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Rs 39,999
The pandemic appears to have modified all of it. According to the All India Cycle Manufacturers Association (AICMA), a complete of 41,80,945 bicycles have been bought in the nation from May to September 2020. With the sale of premium bicycles going up by greater than 100 per cent, individuals needed to wait to purchase their favorite bicycles. The humble black bicycle had metamorphosed itself right into a health important. The newest entrant is the electrical bicycle or e-bike. “At present, the demand for e-bikes is driven mostly by students and office commuters,” says Tiijwant Pahwa of the gross sales portal worldofcycles, including that he will get 10 to 12 queries every day whereas round 10 are bought in a month.
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Rs 1,72,499
When everybody wished a bicycle
“Covid was an eye-opener,” says Capt Umesh Mudgal, proprietor of Panchkula-based Crossbow Sports. “The health awareness it brought, coupled with restrictions on swimming pools and gyms, saw a spurt in the sale of mid-range and high-end bicycles. Sales have come down a little of late but the demand has stabilised. The sport is now finding serious takers among those who consider it a viable alternative to workout in a gym,” he provides.
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Rs 3,29,400
Ajay Pathania, gross sales retailer incharge at Phirki, Chandigarh, attributes the rise in the sale of premium bicycles to the straightforward availability of finance. “With companies like Bajaj Finance and HDFC offering easy loans, people no longer hesitate to spend even Rs 4-5 lakh to buy imported bicycles, which cost more than double the Indian bicycles in this segment.”
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Rs 1,89,999
While the normal single-gear cycle would begin from round Rs 3,000, the mid-range geared bike begins from Rs 10,000-15,000 and the premium phase can begin from Rs 25,000-40,000, with the high-end ones going as much as Rs 7-10 lakh. According to Abhishek Kashyap of The Bike Store, Hoshiarpur, “The usual age of those going in for premium bicycles is 35 years and above. This buyer has the spending power and is willing to experiment with long distance routes, go off-roading or mountain biking. A comfortable ride is the key factor here.”
Cycle firms are realising the potential of this rising market. India’s bicycle trade is pedalling to a decadal excessive demand development of greater than 20 per cent for premium and youngsters vary, says a Crisil report. The KPMG evaluation has predicted a possible enhance in market measurement by 4 occasions in 10 years. According to KB Thakur, secretary common of the AICMA, the Indian trade proposes to make 60 lakh premium and 30 lakh electrical bicycles by 2030.
To money in on the rising demand, widespread worldwide manufacturers like Giant, Trek, Firefox, Scott, Raleigh and Bergamont have introduced their cycles in totally different value ranges. Meanwhile, the Indian bicycle trade, 80 per cent of which is predicated in Punjab, suffers from a significant technological hole. Most producers are utilizing first-generation metal frames whereas imported cycles come in a lot lighter Al alloy, carbon fibre and titanium.
Says Shagzil Khan of Szel cycles, an Indian cycle manufacturing unit primarily based in Kochi, “Using reverse engineering, a lot of Indian brands have started making quality cycles that can compete with international standards, but the cost comes out to be much more since most of the raw material has to be imported.”
The many considerations
The demand for premium variations signifies the acceptance bicycles are lastly getting from all sections, says Onkar Singh Pahwa, CMD of Ludhiana-based Avon Cycles. However, only a few Indian cities have correct biking tracks, he says, including that “unless we have safe cycling zones, we cannot have a cycling culture like Europe”.
SK Rai, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director (Works) of Hero Cycles, Ludhiana, concurs. He says that whereas many cyclists got here out on roads throughout Covid since there was no site visitors or air pollution, as soon as the restrictions have been lifted, the congestion on roads and insufficient infrastructure have made biking tough.
The ill-lit cycle tracks make it tough for girls cyclists to enterprise out late in the night, says Sameera Auluck, a Ludhiana-based bike owner who typically goes for cross-country rides. She remembers many stalking incidents she needed to face as a lone rider.
“There are no proper cycle parking stands in most markets or office buildings,” says Pawan Kwatra of Darshan Cycles, Chandigarh. Due to no parking choice, the worry of theft stays excessive, he provides.
Varied advantages
The rising gas value because of the Ukraine conflict is making biking a viable choice for everybody. In its report, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) had talked about that biking for shorter distances may result in an annual advantage of Rs 1.8 trillion to the Indian financial system.
“The paradigm needs to shift to sustainable urban mobility eventually. Sooner it is done, the better it will be,” says Dr Thakur, including that “cycling is the best solution to most problems in our cities today. You save on fuel, avoid traffic congestion, no noise or air pollution, more employment opportunities, besides better health.” It can do wonders in the long term to cyclists, cities and our nation, he concludes.
The scorching segments
Premium bikes: Made from specialty supplies like high-grade aluminium alloy, carbon fibre and titanium, this phase contains hybrid, racing, journey, MTB (mountain terrain bikes), fat-tyre bikes, and many others. The value vary begins from Rs 25,000 and might go as much as Rs 10 lakh relying on the options.
E-bikes: The e-bikes have seen a 100 per cent development with the demand being to deal with on a regular basis commuting. These begin from as little as Rs 25,000 and go as much as Rs 2 lakh. The demand for e-bikes, which come in two propulsions, pedal and throttle help, is rising in cities like Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, which have good biking infrastructure.