Bicycles

The bicycle market is complicated and fragmented. Consumers who spend thousands on a carbon fiber frame from companies like Cannondale or Trek ride the same roads as those who pedal a Magna or a Next from a mass merchandiser. The mountain bike and hybrid bike market has been adding a new degree of complexity as the latter tries to turn adults into casual riders and the former continues to experiment with wheel size, frame materials and other technologies.

And finally, folding bicycle companies such as Brompton and Dahon are busily marketing their products to professionals who want a bike to take on mass transit and the young adult who is short of storage space.

Bicycles themselves are not just fragmented by the type of rider or category of bike, but also by the way they are sold. Small bicycle shops offer only a partial selection of some of the most expensive cycles (marketed to the coveted, affluent consumer) while department stores like Target and Wal-Mart keep pouring sub-$100 bikes o everyone else. Local shops also increasingly peddle service options for bikes including tune-ups, tire changes and other maintenance while bikes bought elsewhere are often discarded at the first stretched brake cable, unreliable derailleur or bent rim.

Given the low barriers for a consumer to get a bicycle and the new ways the environment and fitness are making individuals rethink how they should get from one place to another, the space has never looked more promising. But the need for quality data about the bicycle market has never been greater.