The most exciting insights from the GRAN FONDO readers’ survey 2018

Carrying out our Readers’ Survey isn’t just to keep us busy or mindlessly mine data – it’s about finding out exactly who you, our readers, really are, what keeps you up at night, what gets your heart racing and what sort of equipment you’re out riding. With 4,611 roadies from 73 different nations responding to our call and answering around 70 questions, we’ve been left with a wealth of thought-provoking results.

So, why have we got a Readers’ Survey exactly?

Road riding is more diverse than almost any other discipline. But we already knew that — that’s why we’ve always actively sought out your feedback in order to tackle the right topics in our magazine and on our website. The annual Readers’ Survey helps us to understand your relationship to cycling, which brands and which strands of the sport particularly interest you, and if there are any areas where we can help. The results feed back into our decisions on upcoming tests, reviews and articles. Your feedback means that we can continually improve – and that goes beyond simply improving our website and app, but the road riding community as a whole.

Meet Michael, the average reader

If you’re reading this, your name is Michael and you’re 42 years old then you’re our average reader! The 42-year-old Michael has a household income of €82,081, rides a Canyon (15%), Specialized (9%), Cannondale (7%), or Trek (7%), on which he spent 3,395 €. In fact, for his next bike he’s planning on spending €4,055. In 2019, there’s a high likelihood that he’ll spend €1,554 on a bike holiday too. After all, his interests are wide-ranging: travel (52%), good coffee (50%), wine (27%) as well as computers and electronics (35%).

But lumping everyone in the same drawer as ‘Michael’ does a disservice to the diversity of our readers. So let’s forget about Michael for the time being (but not the 112 real Michaels who took part – don’t worry, you’re still important), and let’s take a look at how and why you all really ride your bikes.

Compared to the 2017 edition, race bikes have lost some market dominance (–5%) as your preferred type of road bike, but at 54% they’re still the most common rig. Endurance bikes still enjoy a decent 41% of the pie, while gravel bikes have grown by 5% to 31%. It’s probably not surprising that the average GRAN FONDO reader owns 2.27 bikes!

So what motivates the GRAN FONDO reader to get out on their bike? Alongside the training element (85%), you just love to ride (76%), have a hunger for adventure (39%), and like the social aspect of riding (28%). We hear you! Participating in races is only popular for one fifth of the readership, which says a lot about how much we all value the social group element.

Custom over commonplace

More and more readers are opting for custom-built road bikes over off-the-shelf models. The appeal lies in a bike that’s optimised just for you and your physiology, perfectly aligned with your riding preferences. Only 54% of you will be buying a series bike next, with 38% preferring a custom build on a standard frame, and 8% taking it even further with custom geometry too. We’ve got an article on this topic in the pipeline so stay tuned!

The need for individuality is also reflected in the diversity of bike brands too. While the top 10 are obviously dominated by the big hitters, the remaining 54% is divided amongst many smaller brands.

These are the Top 10 brands you’re riding

These are the brands you want to buy next

No other trend is as diverse as gravel riding

Gravel bikes constitute the current most exciting trend right now: around 31 % of you own at least one gravel bike, and every fourth bike bought in the next 12 months will be a gravel bike. But what is a gravel bike? We asked exactly what you were expecting from such a bike, and here are the ingredients:

Other than a comfortable, upright riding position with durable components, the answers are wonderfully contradictory! Gravel, it appears, is doing its best to evade definition. That’s what makes it such an exciting category.

We tried to get to grips with the answers, filtering them by region and this threw up some clues. In Europe – and German-speaking regions particularly – gravel riding is still really closely tied to conventional road riding: minimal rolling resistance takes priority over maximum grip, playful handling reigns over smoothness, and there’s a constant awareness of the bike’s total weight. For the rest of the world – the USA is a bit of forerunner here – there’s another world view of gravel, where you’re willing to compromise on efficiency in order to make the bike more capable when off-road. Grip over rolling resistance, smoothness over agility, robust components over a low weight. 30% of US riders even want a suspension fork on their gravel bike compared to only 14% in German-speaking areas.

These far-ranging attributes are present in the gravel group test in this issue, with certain bikes that could be classified as off-road capable road bikes while others demonstrate undeniable mountain bike genes. It’s a broad field!

E-road bikes are as divisive as ever

We also wanted to know how you perceive the introduction of e-road bikes. 30% of you have absolutely no interest in pedal-assist bikes, even going as far as to agree with the statement: ‘Burn them with fire!’ However, another 30% considers the topic of e-road as an exciting venture, seeing a lot of potential for mixed-ability rides. The remainder of the respondents claim not to have an opinion yet.

Reasons for riding e-road bikes are, once again, very diverse:

Less than 1 % of our readers currently own an e-road bike, but 2% of bike purchases planned for the next 12 months will have a motor.

You love our app

We’re really pleased that it isn’t just bikes that make you happy but also our digital magazine in its app format. More than ever in fact! With 44% of you regularly using the app, it might be worth checking out its functionality for those who usually read the content on our website. It’s a free app and, quite frankly, GRAN FONDO is really never better than in its app format on your tablet! Our @granfondocycling Instagram account is also gaining more popularity, so go check it out.

Results of the Best Brand

Just like every year we asked which brand currently makes the best bikes in your opinion. Taken individually, all these answers are subjective, and we doubt that many people have been able to test and compare every single bike brand, but at large the answers still shed some light on the topic. The brands who came out on top can certainly be confident that the mix of their brand image, current collection, marketing, and performance of their products appeals to our readers

More information here: GRAN FONDO Readers’ Choice: The Best Brands 2018

Happy winners

The Readers’ Survey isn’t just our chance to get to know you better, but also to share the love and make some of you very, very happy. We teamed up with Cervélo, DT Swiss, Rapha and POC to provide prizes with a total value of more than 5,000€. Here are the happy winners:

Cervélo C3 Ultegra 2018: Bjorn S. (19) from Belgium
DT Swiss PR 1400 DICUT OXiC: Peter B. (28) from Germany
Rapha Cargo Bib Shorts und Technical Shirt: Marco H. (36) from Germany
POC Ventral: Yves L.M. (49) from France
POC AVIP Bib und Jersey: Elio B. (52) from Italy

Words: Aaron Steinke Illustration: Julian Lemme

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