Unusually warm and dry weather conditions have been credited with boosting bicycle sales last year – with a greater proportion of cyclists opting to ease muscle strain with the assistance of e-bikes in Switzerland’s mountainous terrain.
Some 110,000 e-bikes were sold in Switzerland last year – the first time sales have exceeded 100,000 units.
Financial figures for bicycle vendors were even more impressive as Swiss cyclists tended to opt for more expensive electronic models. E-bike sales were therefore 40% higher as total bike revenues reached CHF1.77 billion ($1.76 billion).
The average cost of an e-bike (CHF3,500 or $3,472) weighs in three times higher than conventional bicycles. This makes the e-bike craze a welcome lucrative development for bicycle vendors.
The biggest growth of all was witnessed in the mountain e-bike category, with sales increasing by more than 50% last year. This confirms the trend of riders seeking a little help from electric motors.
The figures may also partly explain why there were more e-bike accidents last year. Some 309 e-bike riders were seriously injured, an increase of 38%, while 12 fatalities were recorded – up from 5 in 2017.
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E-bike sales power to new heights in Switzerland
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Nearly 90,000 e-bikes were snapped up by riders looking for battery-powered assistance, according to the Swiss Bicycle Suppliers’ AssociationExternal link on Thursday. The biggest spike was in the mountain e-bike category with around 29,000 put to use on trails (an increase of 38.3%). Other bicycle segments did not fare as well. All-terrain and cyclo-cross bike…
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The third-warmest autumn since records began has followed hard on the heels of the third-warmest summer and the fourth-mildest spring. Only the record autumn of 2006 and that of 2014 saw warmer average temperatures than this year. That means that four of the five warmest autumn seasons in Switzerland have been recorded within the past…
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