With all due respect, "China having a delayed bike boom" shows that the authors haven't been to China. China has always been a bicycle nation, every city has bicycle infrastructure, the world's biggest public bike sharing network is in Hangzhou, the three worlds biggest free-floating bike sharing providers are in China (Hellobike from Alibaba, DiDi bike, Meituan bike). Furthermore many private bikes. It's due to Anglo- and Eurocentrism to believe that China produces 90% of our vehicles but doesn't get the idea to use those by themselves.
What is described in the article is that there's a change in China's bicycle market, from economic commuting products to premium and recreation models, but not a delayed bike boom. In the Netherlands, two-seated fat tire bikes like Doppio are becoming very popular, but the bicycles have been standard here for many decades. Would you in that case also write that "the Netherlands is having a delayed bike boom"?
Hi Markus - Thanks for your comment. "Bike boom" is a pandemic-era term that refers to an increase in bike sales caused by the end of COVID lockdowns. Many markets saw this increase in cycling happen in 2020-2021 when travel restrictions ended. China, according to the article, is seeing a delayed bike boom because its lockdowns ended more recently.
With all due respect, "China having a delayed bike boom" shows that the authors haven't been to China. China has always been a bicycle nation, every city has bicycle infrastructure, the world's biggest public bike sharing network is in Hangzhou, the three worlds biggest free-floating bike sharing providers are in China (Hellobike from Alibaba, DiDi bike, Meituan bike). Furthermore many private bikes. It's due to Anglo- and Eurocentrism to believe that China produces 90% of our vehicles but doesn't get the idea to use those by themselves.
What is described in the article is that there's a change in China's bicycle market, from economic commuting products to premium and recreation models, but not a delayed bike boom. In the Netherlands, two-seated fat tire bikes like Doppio are becoming very popular, but the bicycles have been standard here for many decades. Would you in that case also write that "the Netherlands is having a delayed bike boom"?
Hi Markus - Thanks for your comment. "Bike boom" is a pandemic-era term that refers to an increase in bike sales caused by the end of COVID lockdowns. Many markets saw this increase in cycling happen in 2020-2021 when travel restrictions ended. China, according to the article, is seeing a delayed bike boom because its lockdowns ended more recently.