BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — While supplier's dollar business in bikes for the month of August was flat with August of last year at $120 million, bikes shipped to retailers were down 40,127 units, according to the latest figures from the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association.
Suppliers shipped 211,526 bikes to shops last month, down from 251,653 in August 2017. That's nearly a 16 percent decline month on month.
Year to date, BPSA members shipped 1,508,010 bikes to retailers, that's down 117,456 compared with last year, or a 7.2 percent drop.
Despite that year-to-date drop in units, dollars are up through August. Suppliers' dollar business was $787.98 million, up from $744.16 million for the same period last year.
Mountain bikes, overall, were down in shipments for the month, from 78,040 to 59,198, August on August. Only full-suspension 29ers saw unit growth for the month. Dollars were also down from $48.6 million to $42.3 million, month on month.
Road bike shipments were also down in August, but not as much, from 27,012 to 25,751. The standout sub-category was "other," which represents gravel bikes and accounted for 8,173 of the total, and grew from 6,052 bike shipments last August.
Meanwhile, BMX shipments were down 6.7 percent, lifestyle/leisure shipments were down 13.7 percent, transit/fitness shipments were down 17.9 percent, and youth shipments were down 18.4 percent for the month of August.
The catch all "Other" category, which includes e-bikes, however, was up 106 percent for the month. E-bike shipments to dealers alone were up 135 percent for the month, or 4,270 units.
