Today Bike Club, a 6-yo UK scale-up, shows that the future of bikes is circular.
Bike Club is Europe's largest subscription provider of children's bikes in the UK and Germany. It enables parents to rent (not buy) premium lightweight bikes for their children, which comes with substantial environmental benefits.
Since the start of 2023, customer demand for their refurbished bikes has outstripped demand for new bikes every month.
The company is now renting out more refurbished bikes than new bikes on a monthly basis.The company has ramped up their refurbishment programme, with 6,000 bikes refurbished in the first half of 2023 alone.
Over 55,000 children are currently riding Bike Club bicycles across the UK and Germany.
Challenging the mass production of children's bikes
The average child needs a larger bike every 15 months between the ages of 2 and 16 to keep up with their growth, but few parents have the time, space or appetite to source, buy, maintain, store and sell multiple bikes, often for multiple children simultaneously.
Furthermore, the production of every new kid's bike creates 100 kg of CO2, and an estimated 13.5 million unused kids' bikes are languishing in garages and sheds in the UK alone.
Launched in London in 2017, Bike Club enables parents to rent premium lightweight bikes for their children and then allows them to exchange the bike for a larger size as the child grows.
All Bike Club bikes can be refurbished and rented out again up to six times, reducing the requirement to manufacture new bikes significantly. Bikes that reach the end of their rental life are broken down for recycling.
James Symes, Founder & CEO of Bike Club, comments:
"Watching take-up of our refurbished bikes by members of our subscriber community has been hugely exciting. This is precisely what we hoped we would see happen, albeit at a faster rate than any of us anticipated.
"Our research shows that there are 13.5 million unused kids' bikes languishing in sheds and garages around the UK after their users have outgrown them.
At Bike Club, we're committed to bringing bikes back to life over and over again, maximising their use, while reducing waste, hassle and cost. Clearly, our customers love this idea too, with over 55% of members taking out a new subscription in Q1 2023 choosing a refurbished bike."
Last year, the company, which has to date raised more than £50 million in funding, invested in 50,000 sq ft of additional manufacturing space, enabling faster bike refurbishment.
Circularity Capital, Codex Capital and TriplePoint Capital back the company. Bike Club is chaired by Fitness First founder Mike Balfour.
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