British bicycles on a roll – with sales and production up 70% in a year

Sales and production of British-built bikes leapt almost 70% last year, as the industry continues its revival on the back of a wider cycling boom.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, sales of UK-manufactured bicycles reached £60.2m in 2014, up from £35.6m in 2013.

Demand for British-built bikes soared in the year when the first stage of the Tour de France was held in Yorkshire.

There was a corresponding 70% year-on-year growth in the number of bikes being produced in Britain, the ONS said, with the numbers more than doubling to 120,000 in three years since 2011 – a period in which Britain’s cycling excellence was underlined at the London Olympics and at the Tour de France.

The number of UK-built bikes sold is still only a fraction of the overall retail market – almost 70 bikes were sold in Britain for every one produced here in 2013.

But the ONS numbers point to a continuing revival for quality bikes. Large-scale production collapsed when Raleigh plants closed at the beginning of the century.

The biggest remaining producer is Brompton, which opened its first UK bespoke store in Covent Garden, London, in 2013.

Commuting by bike has grown in popularity in the capital – although the proportion of the population cycling to work remains highest by some distance in Cambridge, where one in three people regularly commute by bike.

Adrian Williams, managing director of Stratford-upon-Avon based manufacturer Pashley, the UK’s second-biggest bicycle manufacturer, said: “We have seen a general upswing in demand for British products.”

The growth underlines trends reported by British Cycling, the governing body for the sport, which has more than doubled its membership since Sir Bradley Wiggins won the Tour and Olympic gold in 2012.

A Sport England survey reports that 100,000 more adults now cycle regularly than did in October 2012, with more than two million people now cycling at least once a week in England.

British Cycling campaigns manager Martin Key said the UK sales reflected cycling’s popularity, but also said authorities need to do more to provide cycle lanes and make life easier for cyclists.

“With so many people now riding their bikes regularly, it’s time that the proper transport infrastructure is put in place to allow them to get around safely and in the manner that many of our European counterparts currently enjoy,” he said.