Growth of mountain biking in Indonesia

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    • #103303

      I found an interesting article on the BBC this morning about mountain biking in Indonesia. The basic premise of the article is that the growth of mountain biking in the country is directly correlated to the rapid increase in the size of the middle class–in the number of people with disposable income.

      Just over a decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for an average Indonesian to spend a few thousand dollars on a bike.

      Today though Indonesia’s middle classes are far more confident about the future.

      Indonesia has one of the fastest growing middle classes in the region – up from 80 million five years ago to 130 million now.

      That’s more than half of this country’s 240 million strong population.

      However, there is a great disparity present: many people in the same city that this article was written about (Jakarta) are still very impoverished, and ride bicycles that are over 20 years old. The difference in just one city is amazing… although some might argue that there’s just as much disparity in some cities in the US.

      Last interesting item of note: the photo from a local bike shop featured several Ellsworth bikes on display.

      Image

      With Ellsworth being one of the few companies that produces their bicycles solely in the United States, I found it incredibly ironic that they are importing Ellsworths with Taiwan so much closer…

    • #103304

      i work with a person from indonesia and her brothers and sisters all just went out and bought mountian bikes last month. high end bikes too, 3000.00 and up. mtbing is really taking off overthere. and is true about diversity in living classes. her mom & dad live in a bueatiful huge home and right next door is a tin shack that neighbors live in. i saw pics. of thier house and didnt understand what the rusted tin shack was about so i asked if it was an old metal storage shed and she said that was the neighbors house. i guess mtb’ing is growing there like golf did here in the 90’s by leaps and bounds.

    • #103305
      "oneeyeredeye" wrote

      and is true about diversity in living classes. her mom & dad live in a bueatiful huge home and right next door is a tin shack that neighbors live in. i saw pics. of thier house and didnt understand what the rusted tin shack was about so i asked if it was an old metal storage shed and she said that was the neighbors house.

      Sounds no different from areas here in Western NC. As well, some mining towns I drove through in WV would be envious of a tin shed.

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