Urban cycling as legitimate product branch

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis might hopefully be over, but some of its effects are still to be seen in the present and the near future. And evolutions have to be also expected in the World of sports. 

At Vitesse, we have been working in cycling for roughly 30 years as Press Office, PR, Media Relations, event organizers, and digital strategists. Our substantial background enabled us to give a wide-angle look at the two-wheels World and spot ten remarkable trends that might establish themselves in the coming months or years. 

Our predictions will come in different blogs. Some of those might sound bold, but we believe they all have chances to become a reality, sooner rather than later. 

Here is the fifth episode, now that: 

Urban cycling as legitimate product branch 

COVID-19 will finally spark and give concreteness to urban cycling, even as a product category. We are not talking so much about bicycles, for which the “urban” category was quite clearly shaped, but rather clothing and accessories. The new mobility scenario will take bike commuters under the spotlight and will introduce to it a category of newbies who had never ridden regularly, and now start doing it also as a consequence of the popularity of e-bikes. It should also be noticed that brands like Nike have recently made their way back to the cycling world, although – at the moment - only with an indoor cycling shoe. This move could therefore advise exciting developments for this market.

Indeed, new cyclists don't know yet that after riding 15 km from home to work, your backside will soon start hurting. They will learn it on the second day, but, at the same time, they won't be ready to dress stretch fabrics and discover the diaper-like emotion of wearing a cycling pad. Reality is that new cyclists will be confronted with a range of products designed for cycling enthusiasts and specialists, rather than commuters.

This new market niche is an excellent opportunity for brands to make the first move and offer commuters what they need: not-so-technical garments, easy to identify on the shelf, expressly directed to address their specific challenges and with a touch of urban look.  The real question is, who will get there first? Great cycling specialist brands or outdoor and sporting goods companies – starting from Nike itself?

Furthermore, we ask ourselves: will the growth of urban cycling convince legislators to seize the moment and rule the usage of a helmet mandatory?

In the previous blog we talked about: 

Customer (care) is king

(Click on the image to read more)

Would you like to receive all the news by Vitesse straight on your phone? 

The upcoming blog posts will be immediately shared on our Telegram channel "Newsroom by Vitesse"