It is among the most basic of transport vehicles which is present in every house. Now, however there has been a shift from the basic to the advanced. Yes, it is the bicycle one is talking about. Today it is not unusual to see cyclists of varying ages peddling vigorously along the Miramar stretch early in the morning. And the cycles being used are not the simple models that cost Rs 2500 or Rs 5000 at the most. Most of the riders are on cycles that cost a minimum of Rs 20,000 to numbers that hear the five figure mark.
The business of selling bicycles in the State has evolved dramatically over the past four years. Ajay Dongre, physics professor, cyclist, retailer of cycles, cycle doctor and the first man to sell a carbon bike in Goa said the market is growing. According to him the high price range bikes are anything Rs 50,000 and the mid range comprises bikes priced between Rs 30,000-50,000.
Mr Dongre said “The starting price of a carbon bike is Rs 1,20,000 and the number of people in Goa buying these and similar bikes were just increasing. However, like all good things the curse of discounts is like a blot on the industry.”
Mr Dongre said people kept asking for discounts for themselves and for others they sent to the store. He said “If I quote 20% they want 25%, it never stops and they want the same for the people they recommend to us.”
Cyclists in Goa like to upgrade their bikes. Every year people move from low end to a grade above, thus making many cyclists in Goa owners of 2 or 3 cycles. The profile of the cyclist was also quite varied. Ajay said “I have doctors, businessmen come over and buy cycles but interestingly I have people in service coming over and buying bikes worth over a lakh. I had a driver well into his 50’s spend Rs 1,90,000 for a carbon bike which he uses every week.”
Jose Cabral of Jozico, Margao one of the oldest retailers in this space, felt the market in the State was growing very slowly due to the absence of adequate infrastructure and traffic.
Jose said “Like anywhere else in the world, they don’t care for cyclists in Goa. In addition there is the approximately 47% import duty which is a big problem.”
In Margoa every month around 5 to 10 bikes in the price range Rs 30-50,000 are sold to businessmen, doctors and other professionals. Asked what the percentage of sales were in each price range, Jozico said 60% of his sales came in the Rs 10,000-30,000 price range, 35% in the Rs 32,000-Rs 50,000, and 5% were those orders for cycles well over one lakh.
The Mumbai, Bengaluru markets he said were very well developed. The challenge in Goa he said was that they could not work on turnover and they had to fight for the prices they were quoting since they were not keen on giving discounts. In addition they had to handle online competition but they compensated by giving very god after sales service.
Ajay Mendis a regular cyclist purchased an Italian cycle in his third year. This is his third cycle after having started off on his mountain bike then a road bike and then the Italian bike. Ajay said “My friend pushed me into cycling and now I love it. Last year I did 400km and loved it.” Since these are high-end bikes, maintenance is not a regular issue and the chain would have to be replaced once a year which was a bit expensive but when it meant just once a year it did not work out to much.
Vinay Raikar of Raikar Sales which operates in the mass market said Goa consumed approximately 20,000 cycles a year he said I sell around 380 bikes a month across price points. For my customers Rs 40,000 is high end and our normal range is Rs 5000, 10,000, 15,000. In the 30-35,000 price range we have 2 or 3 customers most of whom are business people.” Asked if there was any trend, he laughed and said there was no boom.
There are around 15 cycling groups in the State. Brian Soares, President of Cycling Goa said that he owned 2 cycles. He said “Most people don’t have the self belief that they will continue cycling. I have two cycles. I started off with a Firefox and now a hybrid cycle.” There were he explained 3 types of cycles. The Hybrid most popular used on road, pathways in village, specialisation bikes like mountain bikes, pure off roading bikes and then road cycling bikes. He felt it was important to enthuse the young to take up the sport. Last weekend there were 97 riders for a 100 km ride and 75 completed. Five years ago he said no one was selling specialised bikes but that had changed now.
Perhaps the final word should go to Anil Pereira of Champs who said cycling was growing rapidly in the State. Mr Pereira said “We are selling around 50-60 high-end bikes every month with 60% in the Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000. The perception towards cycling has changed from one being an activity for kids to being essential for a healthy fun filled life”.
Perhaps once could raise a toast to that.
