The number of cargo bikes in our country is exploding: sales eightfold | internal

Last year, no less than 9,585 cargo bikes were sold in our country. This is evidenced by figures from Traxio, the union of the automotive sector and related sectors. This is an incredible increase of nearly 800 percent over the previous year. “On the one hand, this can be explained by the catch-up movement due to production problems during the past Corona years,” says Philip Rylant, a spokesman for Traxio. On the other hand, we note that demand continues to rise. Especially in urban areas, there are people who have sold the car and take the cargo bike as an alternative.”

This presents a number of advantages, particularly for young families. “They no longer need a car, so they no longer have parking problems,” Rylant continues. “And you can transport a lot in a cargo bike, for example the kids or most of the groceries.”

According to Filip Rylant, companies are also increasingly seeing the benefits of a cargo bike. “They are increasingly being used by companies for ‘last mile’ delivery in town. Clooblue, for example, uses it. But it can also be interesting for maintenance professionals. Fits in a lot of stuff, you can drive everywhere and park easily.”

Traxio doesn’t have regional numbers, but according to Rylant, cargo bikes are particularly popular in urban areas, such as Ghent and Antwerp. However, there is also a growing interest in the outskirts of cities. “Freight bikes are on the rise, and that will take some time.”

By the way, not only cargo bikes work well. After a slight decline in 2021 due to delivery problems, the Belgian bicycle market grew by 19 percent in 2022 to 695,871 units. The e-bike is also a big winner. Of those, 328,080 were sold, an increase of 45 percent. Mechanical bikes also increased, but only by 2.6%, to 367,791. “As a result, we are seeing an important shift in the market: after all, the share of e-bikes has grown almost in half (47.2 percent),” says Philip Rylant.

Electric bikes were mainly sold in bike shops, with the share of e-bikes now being 53 percent. These bike shops also saw their market share grow strongly to 64.3 percent. With electric bikes, more and more hub gears are being driven, at the expense of the derailleur. This fits with the trend of increasingly expensive bikes. Electrically assisted sport bikes are also growing at a fast pace, as are cargo bikes, long tails and also folding bikes.