E-MTBs becomes ever more popular

The stats are pretty irrefutable, with people who took up cycling during the pandemic showing no signs of stopping the pedals rotating; those who had ridden a metric century (100km or 62.5 miles) in one ride rose 5% in 2023. But the actual stand-out figure is those who have recorded an e-bike ride, which has shot up by 23%.

These aren’t the only significant upticks in data we can see; gravel rides have shot up by 55%, and mountain bikes have increased by 13%. At electri bike, we know that these are two areas of focus in the e-bike market, with e-MTBs becoming ever more popular and the addition of an e-bike motor making gravel riding more accessible for many.

If we look at those commuting by bike, millennials dominate the numbers, with 47% of those who commute by bike being millennial. Gen Z is on the rise when it comes to bikes, though, with 8% commuting by bike in 2019 and 17% commuting by bike in 2023.

Cycling, though, whether it’s by e-bike or otherwise, is playing second fiddle to running in 2023, with gravel and mountain biking coming in fifth place and virtual rides another two places lower.

Let’s go back to the e-bike numbers, though, and the sharp increase of Strava e-bike rides by 23% in 2023. This data shows that e-bikes are being taken seriously by the consumer and that we will soon see e-bike sales in the UK overtake regular cycle sales. This has already happened in mainland Europe, with Germany being the first country to see electric bike sales surpass pedal cycle sales.

This trend looks set to continue into 2024 and beyond, and if you ever need an excuse, we have the top ten reasons for you to buy an e-bike in 2024.

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Strava’s Year In Sport analyses activity uploads on Strava between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023. Activities set to ‘Only Me’ or those opted out of sharing with Strava Metro are excluded from aggregated insights. The report also includes survey data from 6,990 respondents, drawn from Strava’s global community of over 120 million athletes and a random sampling of active people on and off the Strava platform.