Ever wonder how all those bike lanes, paths, and trails get built? Not sure where you can turn when legislation and regulations affect your business? Want your company to learn more about the current market and global bike business? 

PeopleForBikes exists to tackle these issues and more, supporting bike riders and bike businesses nationwide. We’re also not your typical industry trade organization: Our mission is to make the United States the best bicycling nation in the world.

More than 320 bicycle brands are members of the PeopleForBikes Coalition — including the industry’s most influential suppliers — and many have been members for more than two decades. 

Why?

When our member companies cut their annual membership check, they’re investing in representation that leads to tangible results. 

Since almost all bicycling in the United States takes place on publicly owned paths, roads, and trails, access should never be taken for granted. PeopleForBikes, formerly Bikes Belong, was founded in 1999 by bicycle industry executives to help businesses like yours succeed and improve conditions for all bike riders across the U.S. In 2019, we joined forces with the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association to form a single entity devoted to moving the industry and bicycling forward.

Fast-forward 24 years and PeopleForBikes is more effective in achieving our mission than ever. Our staff works with more than 200 industry executives that serve on our board and committees, all helping steer the industry’s future. We’ve also achieved big wins for the industry when it comes to getting more bike lanes on the ground, increasing the number of people on bikes, and moving important, pro-bike and pro-bike-business policies forward. 

As an organization, we have the connections and tools to help clear a path for your business and staff to do what they do best: build and market the world’s best bicycle products.

Like all other industries, ours operates in a regulatory environment affected by government policy at the municipal, state, and federal levels. Each year, PeopleForBikes monitors more than 400 bills and proposals that could affect your business and lobbies for bicycling’s best interests. As the industry’s trade association, no other organization works on behalf of bike businesses at this scale.

Here are some of the major wins we achieved in 2022:

• We secured the extension of Section 301 tariff exclusions, resulting in more than $350 million in savings across the industry.
• We helped lock in more than $50 billion in federal funding to be spent over the next five years for active transportation, a 70% increase in federal bike infrastructure funding with bikes eligible for almost $3 billion a year.
• Through one of our most successful campaigns to date, our model three-class legislation for electric bicycles has been passed in 39 states. This sets the national narrative as to how e-bikes should be categorized and establishes that they have similar rights and duties as traditional bicycles.
• Seven states now have electric bicycle purchase incentive programs and dozens more exist at the local level due to our advocacy efforts. 
• We spearheaded the first industry wide electric bicycle battery recycling program, representing 53 brands, and already collected 20,464 pounds (3,170 batteries) for recycling.
• Alongside our Sustainability Working Group, we produced the industry’s first comprehensive Sustainable Packaging Guide and Chemicals Management Memo to help bike industry members improve their packaging and understanding of chemical regulations as they relate to their products.
• We concluded work on our Final Mile program, an accelerated build-out of more than 400 miles of bike networks in five U.S. cities. We also hired two new senior staff members devoted to helping build better bike networks nationwide. 

Currently, our team is focused on pivotal issues like tariffs, electric bicycle access and regulations, purchase incentives, and a constant effort to help cities build more bike infrastructure quickly. We also offer the industry’s most robust package of tangible services for bike businesses, free to all staff of our member companies. These include monthly webinars and Bicycle Leadership Conference discounts. These are all available in our private Member Center, which includes some new tools for 2023:

S&P Global Risk and Opportunity Forecast

• Quantitative and qualitative analyses of headwinds and tailwinds that will affect your company's performance
• Bicycle unit sales forecasts, estimating unit sales of bikes, e-bikes, and kids’ bikes through 2028

Improved Participation Metrics

• Single-sport participation trends for various bicycling categories
• State-level participation data for eight states (CA, TX, NY, GA, AZ, CO, MN, AR)

New Data Tools — Coming Soon

• Estimates of bicycles sold through the direct-to-consumer market channel 
• Used bike market sales reports
• Measures of access to recreational bicycle facilities across the U.S.

We are also updating our Bicycle Owner’s Manual this year to include electric bicycle content. An owner’s manual is required under federal law and ours is available through a very affordable annual license fee, which can save your company tens of thousands of dollars in production and legal costs.

We deeply appreciate all of our current members that support us and contribute to our work. Thank you! If you’re not currently a PeopleForBikes member and would like to learn more, please email Kerri Salazar, PeopleForBikes’ senior membership manager — it’s a smart investment for every bike business.