From the Nineties mountain bikes to the new e-city bikes that are increasingly green. Customs and trends change, but not the passion for two wheels, which in Italy have an increasingly demanding and refined market. The production and sale of Made in Italy bicycles has nothing to envy to other manufacturing sectors: from 2018 to today – as reported in the latest Market Watch by Banca Ifis – Italian production has increased by 20%, thanks to the phenomenon of electric bicycles driven by new sustainable mobility policies and the ecological sprint of people, citizens and tourists.
In 2020, more than 2 million bicycles were sold in our country, including domestic and imported products (+17% compared to 2019 and +26% compared to 2018), of which 1.73 million traditional bikes (+14%) and 280 thousand e-Bikes (+44%). About 50% on average of Italian production and sales is reserved for cycling where there are 10.7 million fans (about 21% of the entire population), of which 4 million are dedicated to cycling sport and tourism, concentrated in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. The latter are 71% men, residing in the North (57%) and 50% have a high average income.
On the e-Bike side, sales of electric bicycles in Italy have increased fivefold in the last five years, from just over 50,000 pieces per year to 280,000 in 2020, 14% of the total sold. 90% of manufacturers are sure that the e-Bike will be a lasting revolution in mobility due to the growing attention to sustainability, purchase incentives and innovation that brings ever lighter and better performing models.
All is well and good if it wasn’t for the fact that, with more bicycles on the road, thefts are increasing too. In Italy, a bicycle is stolen every two minutes. Fiab, the Italian Federation for the Environment and Cycling, counted 320,000 thefts in the last year alone, most of which were directed towards sophisticated and expensive e-bikes.
So what are the ways to protect our faithful road friends? The main deterrent is still locks and high-quality chains. But the ideal solution for protecting your bike at absolutely affordable prices is satellite technology, especially for the more expensive models. One of these is the ViasatLock, a small, compact, lightweight device connected to an app that lets you know where your bike is at all times and helps you find it if it gets stolen.