Register now  |  Forgotten password?

Cycling participation gets bounce effect from Olympics

ShareThis

With all the cycling success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer you’d expect some bounce effect on participation numbers? Well research conducted by the London School of Economics (LSE) before and after the Games for Sky has found that 52% of all people (from a 1,000 sample) indicated that they were motivated to cycle as a result of the achievements of Team GB’s cyclists.

Three times as many people questioned said they were more likely to take up cycling as a result of Team GB achievements following the Olympics than before the Olympics with 87% of those who said they were inspired to cycle by the Games were also encouraging their children to cycle.

British Cycling has reported that its membership figures have risen by 8,000 plus since the Olympics began in late July.

Legacy effect

Indeed those questioned in the Sky LSE poll believe that Team GB success will have a lasting positive legacy effect for cycling post London 2012.

From the 1,000 surveyed, almost 50% had taken part in mass cycle rides as a result of the Olympic effect, with 56% of Regular Cyclists inspired to do so.

One in four of all respondents said that they were more likely to take a UK cycling holiday as a result of the London 2012 Games, with this rising to 45% for frequent cyclists.

Around 40% of the sample indicated that London 2012 had inspired them to visit a velodrome and organised cycle events as a spectator.

With regard to para-cycling, 42% said they were inspired to watch or visit other para-cycling events after watching Paralympic action at the Games.

Increased sales

With increasing participation levels comes an upsurge in people buying bikes and bicycle accessories. The LSE research found that 28% of all respondents felt inspired to buy bikes and cycle accessories in the lead-up to the Games, while some of the mainstream high-street cycling retailing brands also reported a jump in sales during the Olympic period. Here at Going Going Bike, we’ve also noticed increased traffic and sales as a result of the Games.

from Going Going Bike - Auctions, Bike News, Cycle Stuff

Grab the GGB Weekly Newsletter

and we will send you our second hand bike buying guide.