From the Fort Myers, Florida News-Press comes this story on the state of the bicycle industry. Interestingly, the story there focuses more on bicycles being used for cheap recreation and not transport, although it just may be the location.

I’ve heard that commuter sales are still going well in Austin too and that lots of people are still flowing into our local shops looking for a way to ditch or reduce their car use. Haven’t seen any hard numbers from the local bike industry yet, however.

From the story:

Holm said the bulk of sales are coming in the middle-of-the road street and mountain bikes instead of high-end competitive bikes.

Nationally, about 18.5 million bicycles were sold in 2008, according to the National Bicycle Dealers Association. That’s up from about 18.2 million in both 2007 and 2006.

The association said the U.S. bicycle industry was a $6 billion industry in 2008, including the retail value of bicycles, related parts, and accessories.

Read the rest here.