World Internet merchant Zhu Zhicong
Edited by Li Danchao
Middle-aged men do not love many sports, fishing first, riding can be second.
Stepping onto a high-performance mountain bike, facing the morning sun or evening breeze, and wearing a pulling gear through the blocked traffic, is not as dangerous as riding a motorcycle, but also suitable for physical and mental exercise.
In the past two years, the sport has become more popular, and there is a trend of "breaking the circle". Some cyclists claim that the cyclists they have known since riding are "from junior high school students to uncles in their fifties and sixties", and many high-end models are "difficult to find", and it takes 2-3 months to pick up the car; The luxury brand Hermès recently launched a bicycle with a unit price of 165,000 yuan, which was quickly sold out in Shanghai.
More and more players are starting to flock to this track. According to the statistics of the American Riding Network, the proportion of cyclists who have been "in the pit" for less than 1 year has doubled from 5.88% to 11.33%. According to iResearch data, the size of China's bicycle market in 2021 was 194.07 billion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 200 billion yuan in 2022.
From niche hobbies in the 90s to today's fashion sports, from high-end brands such as Giant and Merida to rookies such as SEKA and Ruibao, plus dozens of riding equipment and modified accessories, the changing riding form has spawned a 100 billion market with unlimited potential.
The old king and the new king
Xu Yue, who had recently entered the pit, decided to spend 1,800 yuan to buy a Decathlon road car.
Before that, he considered himself a seasoned rider, but his ride was limited to bike-sharing. It wasn't until he met several colleagues who also loved cycling that Xu Yue decided to buy a sports bike, "Their bikes are all 10,000 or 20,000, I'll buy a cheaper one to test the water first." ”
Before embarking on a wind-catching journey, enthusiasts must first choose their own camp: "mountain bike" or "road bike"? Both belong to the category of "sport bikes", but there are subtle differences between audiences, and even invisible "chains of contempt".
If you want to talk about seniority, there is no doubt that the road bike movement that originated in Europe has a longer history. But in the 90s of the 20th century, mountain bikes were the first to enter the Chinese market. Just as KFC represents "American fast food" with its first-mover advantage, mountain bikes seem closer to the "origin" of sports bicycles in the minds of Chinese consumers.
The gradual attention of road bikes is a trend in recent years. According to the survey report of the bicycle portal "Meiqi.com", the proportion of road bikes among its users surpassed mountain bikes for the first time in 2018, and it currently leads with a 65.73% retention rate. More and more consumers are beginning to experience the difference: mountain bikes focus on off-road ability, while road bikes are more suitable for paved roads and are more cost-effective in urban scenarios.
Now, Xu Yue rides around the Qiantang River with his riders every week or two, covering a route of 50 kilometers; Sometimes he also goes to Wengjia Mountain next to West Lake to "run the mountain", which is nicknamed the "Autumn Famous Mountain" of Hangzhou, and he can enjoy the thrill of climbing and rappelling.
This sport, which can be thrilling and leisurely, has won the love of many middle-aged men. According to the "2022 China Bicycle Industry Survey Report" released by Meiqi.com, men account for 95.1% of cycling enthusiasts, among which middle-aged men aged 31-40 and "silver-haired riders" over 50 years old have a particularly obvious growth rate.
Most of these middle-aged and elderly cyclists gather in local cycling groups, and a few are distributed on Baidu Tieba and other interest social platforms, sharing their cycling routines with Douyin and Kuaishou. In a social field full of glitz and disputes, the "Circle of Cycling Friends" has achieved a rare rapport: vehicles can be reduced, only love first.
Cycling is dangerous, and riders always talk about "safety first". The seniors who rode together warned Xu Yue that he must remember to buy helmets, lights, taillights, computer meters for calculating speed and other protective gear, of course, and a good car that may not be dazzling in appearance, but must be of reliable quality.
A wide range of equipment fills the shopping list of riders. Middle-aged men are always underestimated in terms of spending power, but when it comes to high-end bikes and their accessories, avid riders are not soft at all when it comes to spending money.
Consumption chain
Compared with Xu Yue, Lu Feng is obviously much more "arrogant" in terms of budget.
In the past 1 year of cycling, he has changed 3 road bikes back and forth, from the trek (TRIKER) of about 6,000 yuan to the SPECIALIZED (Lightning) of 70,000 yuan. Lu Feng revealed that due to the limited production capacity in 2022, some high-end brand bicycles and accessories have a high premium and are in short supply, and even new purchases and second-hand transaction prices can be "flat in and out".
In the expenditure of cycling sports, the most important thing is of course the vehicle itself, the data shows that the purchase budget of cycling enthusiasts is mainly concentrated in the range of 8,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan, which basically represents the entry price of a high-quality vehicle. In this price segment, the market favors both long-established big names such as Giant and Merida, as well as rookies such as SEKA and Ruibao.
Many niche models with higher prices and lower production volumes are "hard to find" due to the popularity of cycling, and it takes months to pick up the bike. Lu Feng's first two TREK road bikes made a net profit of more than 500 and 2,000 yuan respectively after the idle fish changed hands for sale, but he also stressed that this was caused by the mismatch between supply and demand at that time, "This year's production capacity has come up, let's not think too much." ”
The SPARK EVO model of the domestic brand Ruibao is priced at 39,999 yuan
This is followed by helmets, gloves, glasses, cycling clothes and other equipment. Although these products are easy to find "replacement", high-end brands can still charge a high premium. IN SPECIALIZED'S TMALL FLAGSHIP STORE, A PAIR OF LOCK SHOES FOR ROAD BIKE RIDERS IS PRICED AT 699 YUAN, AND MANY MODELS ARE IN THE STATE OF CODE BREAKAGE.
Finally, there is the all-encompassing range of retrofit parts. The handlebars, cushions, wheelsets, drivetrains, almost all large and small accessories except the frame can be modified. Even if the price of a full car modification is enough to buy a new car, there are many enthusiasts who enjoy it. In order to pursue the ultimate "customization", someone even 3D printed a manual transmission, gluing, grinding, painting and other processes are all handled by themselves.
As the component configuration changes, the riding experience will be very different, which adds a layer of "tailor-made" DIY fun to pure cardio. Lu Feng said that vehicle parts can be replaced according to their own preferences and economic strength, and resale and exchange between riders are common.
Always on the road
The boom in sports cycling, which briefly rose in 2013, fell silent.
At that time, active bicycles were "dead flying", and young people in strange costumes rode these vehicles without brakes to practice stunts. However, the site is limited, and GB3565 stipulates that dead flying must install front and rear brakes at the same time before it can be legally on the road.
A few years later, bike-sharing began to spread on the roads, and "dead flying" retreated to the proper place of a niche hobby.
Today's emerging mountain bike and road bike trends, due to changes in consumer subjects, seem to have more imagination than the short-lived "dead fly". In addition to the leading European, American and Taiwan-funded enterprises, cutting-edge brands such as SEKA and Ruibao, which started from foundries, have gradually conquered the high-end market, and national brands such as Permanent, Phoenix and Trinidad have also frequently entered the public's vision.
The "cycling craze" is on the rise, opening up new entrepreneurial opportunities in the distribution and rental markets. A netizen working in Shanghai said that he plans to return to his hometown in Fuyang, Anhui Province to open a bicycle shop to sell mountain bikes and road bikes to local students and young civil servants, with prices ranging from 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan.
Lu Feng summed up the charm of cycling as: "light fitness, social attributes, reaping views, not limited by location, and challenging." A few days ago, he and several colleagues who "entered the pit" together went to the scenic Qiandao Lake in Hangzhou, with a total mileage of 137.6 kilometers.
The view of Qiandao Lake posted by Lu Feng
The sports that middle-aged men are passionate about seem to have a kind of Zen beauty. Just as fishing is not about catching a catch, cycling isn't just about exercising, it's more like socializing, a trial, a spiritual journey back to oneself.
Netizen "cute MC does not explain" lamented on social platforms that when you first start riding, you will inevitably desire speed, step by step to challenge longer distances and higher climbing distances. Later, the mentality of fitness exercise became to constantly break through and surpass yourself, "Now it is more about the yearning for the scenery on the road, the affirmation of myself sweating during cycling, and the excitement of traveling with everyone who has the same hobbies." ”
Some riders echoed him: "Cycling in North China and the Chengdu Plain is too comfortable. On the sports software, his cycling trajectory started from Mentougou and zigzagged 167 kilometers through the mountains on the outskirts of Beijing, eventually passing through the entire main city of Beijing to Tongzhou.