Delivering the annual State of the Industry address in Bentonville, Arkansas, last week, Jenn Dice, CEO of PeopleForBikes, the national trade and advocacy group for the U.S. bicycle industry, told a packed audience that the industry stands at a pivotal crossroads, both energised by record ridership yet constrained by tariffs, inflation and shifting consumer trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy three different measures, more Americans are riding bikes than ever before,\u201d Dice said, opening her address with four “reasons for hope”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cOne hundred twelve million Americans rode a bike last year, and even better, youth cycling is up 11% after a steady decline since 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The Good<\/p>\n In addition to a surge in ridership, Dice said a second bright spot can be found in American cities.<\/p>\n \u201cOur annual City Ratings program is showing real improvement,\u201d Dice said. PeopleForBikes now evaluates roughly 2,500 U.S. cities on bike-friendliness. In 2019, only 33 cities earned what the organisation calls a \u201ctipping point\u201d score, the level that signals a robust and sustainable cycling culture. Today, 234 cities have crossed that threshold.<\/p>\n \u201cBrooklyn, Davis and Seattle are on the heels of some of the best-in-class European cities,\u201d Dice said.<\/p>\n Infrastructure, too, continues to expand at an encouraging pace.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to our National Bike Project Tracker, 1,300 bike projects were built in just the last three years across the country,\u201d Dice said. \u201cEverywhere we look, cities are building for bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n The third sign of progress, Dice said, comes from the market itself. After several difficult years marked by the COVID pandemic whiplash, supply chain challenges, and inventory overstock, sales are showing signs of recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw positive year-over-year growth in April and July,\u201d she said. \u201cWe believe we have hit the bottom…and we are slowly inching our way up. Overall, we’re 5% down on the year. If you take away January and February, we’re actually only 2% down. So we believe we’re on our way working back up.”<\/p>\n Finally, inventory levels are stabilising. Stock-to-sales ratios are \u201cfinally back to normal,\u201d Dice said, predicting 2026 will be the most balanced year for inventory since before the pandemic. That normalisation, she added, should help end the deep discounting that\u2019s weighed down profits for years.<\/p>\n Beyond these metrics, Dice took time to celebrate what she called \u201cthe wins\u201d of the past year, including PeopleForBikes\u2019 success in advancing 17,686 miles of e-MTB trail access to bipartisan support for the U.S. Bicycle Production and Assembly Act, which aims to boost domestic manufacturing. She praised the industry for helping coin the now widely adopted term \u201ce-moto\u201d and for launching an e-bike rider education programme in partnership with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.<\/p>\n \u201c2025 is our biggest year for bike legislation in the history of our organisation,\u201d Dice said, noting that PeopleForBikes helped kill 350 anti-industry bills nationwide. \u201cOur legislative policy team is best in class.\u201d<\/p>\n The Challenges Ahead<\/p>\n Dice didn\u2019t shy away from what she called \u201cthe brutal truths.\u201d Chief among them: tariffs<\/a>. Proposed new Section 232 tariffs<\/a> on steel and aluminium could add a 50% duty to imported bicycles, frames and e-bikes<\/a>, on top of existing base duties and Section 301 tariffs <\/a>on Chinese goods. Combined, these measures could sharply raise costs and squeeze an industry still recovering from post-pandemic turbulence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department of Commerce has proposed including all bicycles, frames and e-bikes from any country under the 50% tariff,\u201d Dice said. \u201cIf granted, that would be absolutely detrimental to our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Already, some imported e-bikes <\/a>are affected under certain HTS codes, and the removal of the \u201cde minimis\u201d exemption<\/a> for imports under $800 could further disrupt direct-to-consumer sales.<\/p>\n In response, PeopleForBikes<\/a> has mobilised on several fronts, including information-sharing, advocacy and legislative work. The organisation created a Tariff Resource Hub<\/a> to explain the evolving trade situation and to publish updates and analyses.<\/p>\n