Asia has never really been a cycling crazy region. Not only are very few good riders and teams operating out of Asia, it’s safe to say that none of them are even General Classification contenders in any of the grand tours. While cycling is a common mode of transportation in the region, its presence as a competitive sport is limited except in Japan and Korea, where there are a lot of incentives for riders from teams sponsored by major cycling equipment manufacturers.
A couple of friends and I recently traveled to Tagaytay City in the Philippines where the second leg of the Tour of Camsur was set to roll off from, and it was here that my view of the direction of cycling in Asia started to change. We traveled to Tagaytay City by bike, of course, and despite it being mostly uphill and having a few Category 1 and 2 climbs along the way we still met quite a few riders riding up to the city that day. To top it all off, we had decided to try our hand at being tifosi and encouraging the riders on further down along their route, and were expecting that no one else would be cheering them on as crazily as we had – with our shirts off, bearing strange signs and biking gear, shouting “Allez! Allez!” at the top of our lungs. Our goal was to get our pictures posted on their website with our antics, but lo and behold, even if we were positive that the photographers had taken our pictures, we never got on the website. We only found out later that other spectators had lined up on the other sections of the road to cheer the cyclists on – we were but one group of fish in a pond full of other fish!
So yes! Asia has been bitten by the cycling bug, and times are beginning to change for the cycling community in the region. In fact, many online wholesalers from China have seen this trend and are beginning to make steps to try and cash in on the phenomenon – and from experience, when Chinese manufacturers and wholesalers start to move in a certain direction, there’s a big chance that something’s actually happening there.
But the biggest surprise so far is the quality of the cycling items that they offer. Chinese manufacturers have been casting and milling bike repair parts and tools for the better part of 3 decades to cater to the vast population of daily bicycle commuters they have there. It’s not a surprise then how well their equipment is made. It’s easy to find extremely cheap tire patches, wrench sets, and chain breakers that both well made and durable.
They also now provide such items as bicycle lights that can be used for night rides. And speaking of night rides, it isn’t hard to find manufacturers from China who produce bicycle helmets that have LEDs built into them so that they are more visible at night. These can be found amongst a host of other cycling helmets.
And finally there are also a wide assortment of cycling gloves and jerseys to chose from.
Asia might still be on its way to really becoming truly cycling crazy, but its always a great thing that more and more people are taking interest in this extremely healthy and exciting sport. And of course, many Chinese online wholesalers will be there to capitalize on the growing trend!
