Consumer Communities In The U.S. Bicycle Market

ByJay Townley The National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) Sports Participation Study captures the over-arching consumer community in the U.S. bicycle market –participants in bicycle riding.   In 2008 a total of 44.7 million Americans 7-years of age or older rode a bicycle 6 days or more during the year.   Of the 2008 total number of bicycle riding participants 18 million, or 40.4% were 17-years of age or younger and 26.7 million, or 59.6% were adults, 18-years of age and older. The NSGA Bicycle Riding Study breaks down into three clusters of participants:·       Infrequent bicyclists – Ride 6 to 24 days in a year are 51.8% of adult bicyclists·       Occasional bicyclists – Ride 25 to 109 days a year are 37% of adult bicyclists·       Frequent bicyclists        – Ride 110 days or more a year are 10.7% of adult bicyclists The total U.S. adult population in 2008 was 227.2 million living in 113.7 million households.  Adult bicycle riding participants in 2008 were 12% of the total U.S. population of adults.   Table 01 attached shows the three clusters of adult bicycle riding participants in 2008 by gender.   Of the 26.7 million adults who rode a bicycle 6 or more days in 2008, 15.3 million or 57.4% were male and 11.4 million, or 42.6% were female.  Women are 51.7% of the U.S. adult population, and accordingly women bicycle-riding participants are under represented and males are over represented as compared to the total U.S. population. Table 01 goes on to show the percentage of male and female bicycle riding participants by each of the three clusters.  Note that the proportion of male and female adult Infrequent-bicyclists is the closest to the national population percentage share for men and women, but males are still over-represented by 3 to 4 percentage points, and women under-represented by the same percentages. The proportions begin to skew more for Occasional bicyclists, with 62% male and 38% female, and even more dramatically for Frequent-adult bicyclists with 72% male and 28% female. Table 02 shows two additional defining characteristics of U.S. adult bicyclists, college education and household income at $100,000 and above.  For reference 27.4% of U.S. adults have attended college for 1 to 3 years, and another 24.4% have attended college for 4 or more years.   For the Infrequent adult cluster, 63.3% of males and 76.4% of females have graduated from college.   For the Occasional cluster of bicycling adults 59.4% of males and 71.3% of females have graduated from college.   Lastly, 50% of male and 62.7% of female frequent cyclists graduated from college. In 2008 17.5% of the adult population in the U.S. lived in households with $100,000 or more in total household income.   The far right-hand column of Table 02 shows that 34.2% of Infrequent, 27.9% of Occasional and 22.3% of Frequent-adult bicyclists lived in households with total income of $100,000 or more in 2008.  As women are grossly under-represented among U.S. adult participants in bicycle riding, so are the two largest non-white ethnic groups, African Americans and Hispanic Americans, as shown in Table 03. African Americans were 12.1% of the total adult population in the U.S. in 2008 and they were just 6.3% of all adult bicycle-riding participants.  Hispanic Americans were 14.9% of the total adult population and were 6.0% of all adult bicycle-riding participants. By cluster both African Americans and Hispanic Americans are better represented among frequent bicyclists, with 10.3% share for each ethnic group among U.S. adult bicyclists who ride 110 days or more per year.   This representation of both ethnic groups declines for Occasional bicyclists, with 6.5% African Americans and 5.9% Hispanic Americans, and further declines for the Infrequent cluster with 5% African Americans and 5% Hispanic Americans.      

Summary: 2008 NSGA Sports Participation: Adult Bicycle Riding Data

 The total of 26.7 million U.S. adults who rode a bicycle 6 or more days in 2008: (1)            Represented 12% of the total U.S. adult population.

(2)            There are three defined clusters of U.S. adult bicyclista.    Infrequent bicyclists who ride 6 to 24 days a year and represent 51.8% of all adult bicyclists.  Therefore, over half of all adult bicyclists in the U.S. rode 24 days or less in 2008.b.    Occasional bicyclists who ride 25 to 109 days a year represent 37.5% of all adult bicyclists.c.     Frequent bicyclists who ride 110 days or more a year represent 10.7% of all adult bicyclists.  This 11%, or one in nine of all U.S. adult bicyclists were the core enthusiasts that drove the upper end portion of the market in 2008.   

(3)            Adult women are under-represented with 42.6% of all U.S. adult bicyclists in 2008, and males are over-represented with 57.4%.

a.    Among the three clusters, Infrequent adult bicyclists came within 3-percentage points of representing the U.S. population in 2008 with 51.1% male and 48.9% female participation, just the opposite of the actual U.S. adult population by gender.

b.    The Occasional cluster is skewed 62% male and 38% female bicycling participants.

c.     The Frequent cluster of adult bicyclists is more dramatically skewed with 72% male and only 28% female bicycling participants.

(4)            A higher percentage of adult bicyclists are college graduates compared to the total U.S. population of adults. 

a.    The proportion of college graduates is greater among women bicyclists across all three clusters, but is highest for both men and women in the infrequent cluster that represents over half of all U.S. adult bicyclists.

b.    The percentage of college graduates is lowest in the frequent cluster, increases for the Occasional cluster and is the highest among adults in the infrequent cluster. 

(5)            30% of all adult bicyclists in the U.S. live in households with incomes of $100,000 or more – compared to 17.5% of all U.S. adults living in households with incomes of $100,000 or more.  This is 71% higher than the national household income for this income bracket. 

a.    34.2% of infrequent adult bicyclists lived in a household with an income of $100,000 or more in 2008.

b.    27.9% of Occasional adult bicyclist lived in a household with an income of $100,000 or more in 2008.

c.     And 22.3% of frequent adult bicyclists lived in households with an income of $100,000 or more in 2008. 

d.    More adult bicyclists in the U.S. appear to be living in households with higher annual incomes than the overall population.

(6)            As women are under-represented among adult bicyclists in the U.S., so are the two largest non-white ethnic groups, African Americans and Hispanic Americans.

a.    Overall 6.3% of all adult bicyclists in the U.S. in 2008 were African Americans compared to 12.1% of all adults in the U.S.

b.    Hispanic Americans were 6% of all adult bicyclists in the U.S. in 2008 compared to 14.5% of all adults in the U.S.

c.     The more miles ridden the higher the representation of African Americans and Hispanic Americans. 

                                                    i.     African Americans and Hispanic Americans represented 10.3% each, or a total of 20.6% of Frequent bicycle riding participants in 2008, compared to:

                                                   ii.     6.5% and 5.9% respectively of Occasional bicyclists;

                                                 iii.     5.0% each among infrequent adult bicyclists.

(7)            According to the NSGA 2008 data the U.S. community of adult bicyclists is made up of predominantly white males, who have graduated from college and live in a household with an above average income.

 
 Table 01NSGA U.S.  Adult Bicycle Riding Participation Clusters 2008By Gender(Millions)

Source: NSGA 2008 Sports Participation Study  
Table 02NSGA U.S.  Adult Bicycle Riding Participation Clusters 2008By College Grad and $100K+ Household Income(Millions)

Source: NSGA 2008 Sports Participation Study

 
Table 03NSGA U.S. Adult Bicycle Riding Participation Clusters 2008By Ethnicity/Race(Millions)

Source: NSGA 2008 Sports Participation Study
The SRDS 2008 Lifestyle Market Analyst published in conjunction with Equifax describes Adult Bicyclists as being “…more likely to be married with two incomes, but amongst singles they are more likely to be males then females.   Bikers have a median household income of $59,000, significantly higher then the U.S. average of $48,946.  These households enjoy other Sports, Fitness & Health activities such as physical fitness/exercise, watching sports on TV and walking for health.  They are twice as likely as the average U.S. household to participate in running/jogging, snow skiing and tennis.  These households also enjoy travel in the USA and are avid book readers.”  The SRDS 2008 Lifestyle Market Analyst also reports the Median Adult Bicyclists Age as 47.9 years. 

Infrequent  Bicyclist Community

 Infrequent adult bicyclists are essentially their own unorganized community representing 52% of all adult bicyclists in the U.S. in 2008.  This cluster, or community rode the fewest number of days during the year – 6 to 24 and they had the highest proportion of female riders, 48.9% and the lowest percentage of male riders, 51.1% of the three clusters of U.S. adult bicyclists. Infrequent adult bicyclists also had the highest percentage of college graduates among both men and women, and the highest percentage of households with incomes of $100,000 or more.   The infrequent community also had the lowest representation of African Americans (5%) and Hispanic Americans (5%) of the three clusters.   There is a high probability that this infrequent community shops for bicycles and related products at all of the available channels including mass merchant, full-line sporting goods, specialty bicycle retail, specialty outdoor and online retailers. This community also appears less committed to bicycling and not substantially connected to local bicycling clubs and advocacy organizations or national bicycling groups. Lastly, this loose, unorganized community of 13.8 million adult bicyclists in the U.S. appears less likely to participate in any type of competitive or extreme fitness bicycling activity, and the focus is using bicycles for recreation, fitness and short distance transportation.  

Occasional Bicyclist Community

 Occasional adult bicyclists are, for the most part, much like infrequent bicyclists.  However, they represent a transitional community when they participate at the high end of 25 to 109 days a year.  At these higher participation levels they can migrate to the lower end of frequent participation, and begin to visit specialty bicycle and specialty outdoor retailers for more of their bicycling needs, and they become more likely to have an interest in and join local bicycling clubs and advocacy organizations and national bicycling groups.   Some may also develop an interest in some form of competitive or extreme fitness bicycling activity. In summary the majority of the 9.9 million occasional U.S. adult bicyclists are not involved in any formal or organized bicycling focused community, but they are the pool from which a small percentage, perhaps 5% to 7% annually, migrate to the frequent cluster that has numerous communities to get involved in. 

Frequent Bicyclist Community

 The smallest cluster, with 2.8 million adult bicyclists, has the greatest number and variety of organized communities.   The League of American Bicyclists (LAB):   The LAB mission is to promote bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America. LAB reports current membership of 300,000 affiliated bicyclists, including 25,000 individuals and 700 affiliated organizations, mostly local clubs.  LAB was founded in 1880 as the League of American Wheelmen and advocated for better roads in America. Today LAB has numerous programs for members including bicycle safety education, a magazine, electronic newsletter and web site.  LAB also leads in national, state and local advocacy. A 2008 LAB members survey reported the following: Table 04How often LAB Members Rode A Bicycle in 2008

Source: LAB 2008 Membership Survey As you can see the majority, or 64.8% of LAB members ride a bicycle 208 or more days per year, and 91.3% ride 104 days or more per year.  This puts most LAB members in the frequent cluster of U.S. bicyclists. Table 05LAB Member Gender, Median and Average Age in 2008

Source: LAB 2008 Membership Survey LAB members are predominantly male, as shown in Table 05.  The median age is 53.6 year and the average age is 52.8 years.  If anything the LAB membership community is skewed even more toward male bicyclists than the overall frequent cluster, and the median age skews older by about 6-years compared to the SRDS 2008 Lifestyle Market Analyst median age as 47.9 years for all adult bicyclists. Table 06LAB Member Household Income above $100,000 and the Median and Average in 2008

Source: LAB 2008 Membership Survey 38.5% of LAB members had a household income of $100,000 or more in 2008, 8.5-percentage points higher than all adult bicycle-riding participants that same year, and 16-percentage points higher than the frequent bicyclist cluster. The 2008 median income of an LAB member is also 43% higher than the median household income of $59,000 reported by SRDS for all adult bicyclists that year.  For reference the U.S. average household income in 2008 was $48,946. The top five reasons LAB members ride bicycles are: Fitness, Commuting, Transportation, Health and Fun, and there top four retailer channels of choice, in ranked order are: Bike Shops, Internet, Outdoor Specialty (REI) and Mail Order. Visit www.bikeleague.org to learn more about LAB.  Adventure Cycling Association (ACA): ACA’s mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle for fitness, fun, and self-discovery.  Founded in 1974 as Bikecentennial, ACA is the premier bicycle travel organization in North America and has 44,500 members nationwide. ACA researches and produces cycling maps for the Adventure Cycling Route Network that now consists of over 38,158 miles throughout the U.S. ACA publishes a magazine for members, leads bike tours, works on bicycle advocacy projects related to route development, has numerous forums on its web site for members and provides bicycle trip planning resources.  ACA has collected the following member demographics: Table 07American Cycling Association Membership Demographics

Source: Adventure Cyclist Magazine ACA is primarily a long-distance bicycle touring community, with its members having above average household income, being predominantly males, with an above average rates for college graduation. Visit www.adventurecycling.org to learn more about the Adventure Cycling Association. International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA): IMBA is a membership-association that creates, enhances and preserves trail opportunities for mountain bikers worldwide.  Founded in 1988, IMBA has 32,000 members and more than 600 affiliated clubs and patrols.  IMBA has expanded to Canada, Europe and Australia.   IMBA publishes a magazine, electronic newsletter and maintains a website with forum for its members. IMBA is evidently guarded about membership data and demographics, and we could find no such information in the public domain.   Visit www.imba.com to learn more about the International Mountain Bike Association. USA Cycling (USAC): USAC is the national governing body for amateur and professional bicycle racing in the U.S.  It covers the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, BMX and collegiate racing. Associations of the USAC include the United States Cycling Federation, the National Off-Road Bicycle Association, the National Collegiate Cycling Association, the United States Professional Racing Organization, and the Bicycle Motocross Association. In order to compete in any of the 2,544 USAC sanctioned races, across the six-types of races listed above in 2008 amateur bicycle racers in the U.S. were required to obtain a USAC license, as follows: Table 08USAC Competitive Bicycling Licensees in 2008  

Source: USAC In addition to licensed bicycle racers, USAC sanctioned 2,120 affiliated clubs across the U.S. in 2008.  These clubs are, for the most part associated or sponsored in whole or part by local specialty bicycle retailers (bike shops).  Several vertical enthusiast bicyclist magazines and numerous blogs, websites and electronic newsletters tie this extended community together.  USAC makes limited licensee demographics available, and significantly 2008 licensees were 87% male and 13% female.   It should also be noted that this “racing” community, with all of its variations and niches is far bigger than just the USAC licensees indicate.  The 2,120 affiliated clubs hold local events, rides and races every year that local amateur racers participate in.   Unfortunately there is no way to know what the total size of this community is in terms of adult participants, but we think it could be at least another 100,000 active, but unlicensed amateur racers, plus 100,000 club members who ride and train with these racers on a regular basis.   Visit www.usacycling.com to learn more about USA Cycling. USA Triathlon (USAT): USA Triathlon is the sanctioning authority for more than 2,000 diverse events ranging from grassroots to high profile triathlons throughout the U.S.   The Mission Bay Triathlon, September 25, 1974 is widely accepted as the day the modern triathlon began.  The sport made its debut on the Olympic program at the Sydney Games in 2000. According to USAT triathlon participation in the U.S. is at an all-time high.  USAT memberships reached 115,000 in 2008.   Another 280,000 triathletes purchased one-day memberships to compete in one of the 2,804 USAT sanctioned events in 2008. USAT published the following demographics covering its members: Table 09USA Triathlon membership demographics 2008

 Source: USA Triathlon: The Mind of the Triathlete Study Triathletes are the youngest in average age of all the adult communities within the frequent bicycling cluster.  It also has the highest representation of women at almost 40%, although women are still under-represented.   The average income is also the highest among the communities, and whites are over represented, while Hispanic Americans and African Americans are under represented.    The triathlon community is very well connected and in addition to vertical magazines, the websites and blogs serving this community are exceptionally active and influential.   Visit www.usatriathlon.org to learn more.  ######################################