The Bike Rental Market in Europe in 2026: Size, Trends and Challenges

There is no official figure for the bike rental market in Europe: depending on what they count, research firms put it somewhere between about USD 0.7 billion and USD 2.3 billion. What the reliable data does show is a bicycle market back to normal, cycle tourism that keeps its weight, e-bikes becoming the standard and a business still shaped by the summer peak. Here is the picture in October 2026, with every figure sourced and dated.

How big is the bike rental market in Europe?

Bike rental has no line of its own in Eurostat statistics, so the only market sizes available are estimates from private research firms. They differ widely because they do not measure the same thing: some include bike sharing and e-scooters, others only rentals to tourists.

• Grand View Research (page published in June 2026) estimates the European bike and scooter rental market at USD 2,303.1 million in 2025, with expected growth of 11.4% a year from 2026 to 2033. This scope includes e-scooters.
• Astute Analytica (February 2025) values the European bike rental for tourism market at USD 724.97 million in 2024 and projects USD 2,545.53 million by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 15.96%.
• At global level, Mordor Intelligence (page updated in September 2026) puts the bike and scooter rental market at USD 5.53 billion in 2025 and USD 11.19 billion in 2030.

Read these numbers as orders of magnitude rather than facts. The honest summary is that the European market weighs somewhere between roughly USD 0.7 and 2.3 billion depending on the definition, and that every firm expects double-digit growth. The European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) made the same point in a report unveiled on 1 October 2026 at the EuroVelo and Cycling Tourism conference in Utrecht: Europe lacks consolidated, up-to-date data on cycling tourism, and the last EU-wide estimate dates from 2012.

Why the estimates disagree

• Scope: bike sharing schemes, e-scooters and tourist rentals are mixed in some reports and separated in others.
• Geography: some studies cover the EU, others add the UK, Norway or Switzerland.
• Method: each figure comes from a firm's own model, and the assumptions behind it are rarely published in full.

The backdrop: a bicycle market back to normal

Rental businesses buy their fleets from the same industry that sells to the public, so its health matters. According to the 2026 Bicycle Industry and Market Profile from European Cycling Industries (ECI), published on 29 July 2026, 15.618 million bicycles and e-bikes were sold in Europe in 2025, 2.6% fewer than in 2024, for a turnover of EUR 18.252 billion (down 0.84%).

The edition published by CONEBI in June 2024 gave the split for 2023: 11.7 million conventional bicycles and 5.1 million e-bikes, against 5.5 million e-bikes in 2022. After the post-Covid boom and the overstock that followed, the market has entered a calmer, more predictable phase.

For a rental operator, this has two consequences. Buying conditions for a fleet renewal are more favourable than during the shortage years, as the fall in e-bike prices in Germany shows (see below). And sales figures say nothing direct about rental demand: that comes from tourism and from the way people move around cities.

AT A GLANCEWhat drives the market, and what holds it back

The forces described in this article, in one view.

1. 01
   Cycle tourism

   Still a large market in Germany, Italy and France, and the main source of rental demand outside cities.

2. 02
   E-bikes

   Now the majority of sales in Germany and the choice of most cycle tourists on longer trips.

3. 03
   City cycling

   Growing fast, but much of it goes to bike sharing schemes.

4. 04
   Online habits

   Customers expect to see prices and availability and pay from their phone.

5. 05
   Seasonality

   Tourism demand is concentrated on July and August.

6. 06
   Cost and data

   Expensive e-bikes and no official market figures make planning harder.

Trend 1: cycle tourism keeps its weight

Outside big cities, tourism is the main source of demand for most rental businesses. The only EU-wide estimate, a 2012 study for the European Parliament, counted 2.3 billion cycle tourism trips a year in the EU, worth around EUR 44 billion. More recent national surveys show that the activity remains large:

• Germany: the ADFC Radreiseanalyse 2025, published in March 2026, counts 39.3 million adults who used a bike on holiday, on cycling trips or for leisure outings in 2025, spending around EUR 40 billion.
• Italy: the Isnart and Legambiente report published in March 2026 estimates almost 49 million cycle tourism overnight stays in 2025, with an economic impact of EUR 6.4 billion. The number of local units offering bike rental grew by 47% between 2019 and 2025.
• France: the French government estimates the direct economic impact of cycle tourism at EUR 5 billion a year, with 9 million cycling trips a year and 22 million French people who cycle on holiday (page updated in July 2026).

Infrastructure follows. In 2025 the 17 EuroVelo routes covered 91,812 km, according to the ECF route development report, and EuroVelo estimates that 166 million people live within five kilometres of one of its routes. Cycle tourists are also more varied than before: families, city-breakers, day trippers and e-bike riders, as EuroVelo noted in its trends for 2026. We describe these customers in detail in our guide to cycle tourism customers.

Trend 2: the e-bike becomes the standard

In Germany, Europe's largest market, e-bikes made up 52.7% of the 3.8 million bikes sold in 2025, around 2 million units, according to the industry association ZIV (March 2026). On holiday the shift is just as clear: the ADFC reports that more than half of German cycle tourists on longer trips rode an e-bike in 2025.

Shared fleets point the same way. Fluctuo's European shared mobility review for 2025, reported by Zag Daily in May 2026, found that shared e-bikes averaged 4.6 trips a day against 2.1 for conventional bikes, while only 26% of public bike-sharing fleets were electric.

For a rental business, e-bikes open the door to new customers (older riders, hilly regions, longer days out) and justify higher prices. They also raise the investment per bike and bring battery management and insurance questions. Our article on e-bike rental profitability goes through these numbers.

KEY FIGURESE-bikes in Germany, Europe’s largest market

Sales in 2025, all sales channels.

1. 52.7%
   Share of e-bikes in sales

   More than half of the 3.8 million bikes sold.

2. €2,550
   Average e-bike price

   What a rental fleet costs to renew, bike by bike.

3. -3.8%
   Change in e-bike prices

   Compared with 2024, driven by discounts.

4. €500
   Average conventional bike price

   About five times less than an e-bike.

Source: ZIV, March 2026

Trend 3: cycling in cities and the rise of bike sharing

In cities, much of the growth goes to sharing schemes. According to the same Fluctuo review, public bike-sharing systems in Europe recorded 239 million trips in 2025 (up 5%) with 238,000 bikes, while private operators reached 124 million trips (up 51%) with about 147,000 bikes.

This does not make independent rental shops obsolete. Sharing serves short trips from A to B; a rental shop sells a half day, a day or a week, a bike adjusted to the rider, child seats, panniers, advice and sometimes delivery. What changes is expectations: customers who use sharing apps take it for granted that they can see prices and availability and pay from their phone.

What holds the market back: seasonality and the cost of e-bikes

A business concentrated on a few months

Eurostat data for 2025 shows that July and August alone accounted for 31% of all nights spent in EU tourist accommodation, and that the peak month had 3.6 times more nights than January. Bike rental follows tourism, and weather adds its own risk: the ADFC suggests that very changeable weather, with a rainy July, may explain part of the fall in cycling trips in Germany in 2025.

Bikes that are expensive to buy and to keep

According to ZIV, the average e-bike sold in Germany in 2025 cost EUR 2,550, down 3.8% on 2024, against about EUR 500 for a conventional bike. At five times the purchase price, with batteries to replace and higher theft and damage risks, each e-bike needs many more rental days to pay for itself, and most of those days fall in high season.

Add the lack of reliable market data, which makes forecasting harder, and you have the main reasons why many rental businesses stay small and cautious with their investments.

What it means for a bike rental business in 2026

Taken together, the reliable data points to a market with real demand but little room for error. A few priorities follow:

• Be bookable online: tourists plan from their phone, and those used to sharing apps expect to see prices and availability instantly.
• Mix the fleet: e-bikes attract new customers, but conventional bikes still suit short and price-sensitive rentals.
• Track your own numbers: occupancy per bike, revenue per rental day and the share of e-bikes, since market studies will not give them to you.
• Prepare the low season early: long rentals, local customers, companies and schools.
• Work with the tourism ecosystem around you: accommodation, tourist offices and the cycle routes that pass nearby.

If you run a rental business in Malta or Gozo, our guide to bike rental software in Malta applies these points to a very seasonal island market.

Frequently asked questions

How big is the bike rental market in Europe?

There is no official figure. Research firms estimate it at between about USD 0.7 billion (Astute Analytica, rentals for tourism only, 2024) and USD 2.3 billion (Grand View Research, bike and scooter rental, 2025), depending on what they include.

Is the bike rental market in Europe growing?

The firms that publish estimates all expect double-digit annual growth, from 11.4% to about 16% a year depending on the study. Cycle tourism remains strong in Germany, Italy and France, while bicycle sales in Europe were stable to slightly down in 2025.

What share of bikes sold in Europe are electric?

In Germany, e-bikes made up 52.7% of sales in 2025 according to ZIV. The latest public European split is for 2023: 5.1 million e-bikes and 11.7 million conventional bikes, according to CONEBI.

What are the main bicycle rental industry trends?

Cycle tourism, the rise of e-bikes, more cycling in cities with the growth of bike sharing, and customers who expect to book and pay online.

What holds the bike rental market back?

Strong seasonality (31% of EU tourist nights fell in July and August 2025, according to Eurostat), the cost of e-bikes (EUR 2,550 on average in Germany in 2025, according to ZIV) and the lack of reliable data to plan ahead.