A Plan to Fix the US Bike Shortage

You see it in the bike industry.” This nationwide shortage has yet again revealed America’s dependence on one or two countries and one or two suppliers for bicycles and bike products. Globalization—spurred in part by a liberalized global trading regime with reduced trade barriers and China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001—was also a key factor in China’s success.Paramount among these reasons is the support of China’s and Taiwan’s governments to build up their manufacturing industries, mass-produce selected products, and increase exports. The number of Chinese manufacturers of bicycles or bike products increased from 38 in 1978 to 1,081 by 1995. You have to import low-cost rims and bike tires, and in the US it’s so much harder to get carbon fiber needed for bikes than in China.”In the early 1970s, bicycle sales boomed in the United States, and annual bike production averaged about 15 million per year. Domestic manufacturers are dependent on foreign corporations, which increases supply chain fragility in the bicycle industry, contributing to bike shortages and anemic domestic production. “Republicans have been more at the forefront of adopting industrial policy, although some Democrats are too,” says Schwinn.An industrial strategy could reduce the possibility of supply chain disruptions in a multitude of economic sectors, such as bicycle production.