Olympics will result in a cycling boom, reports The Observer

Today’s Observer newspaper said 2012 will be the "year of the bike". 

Barclays Capital’s retail analyst Christodoulos Chaviaras said:

"We expect the cycle market to grow by 5 percent in 2012, with the [Olympic] Games the main driver of growth. We expect the 2012 Olympics to act as a substantial catalyst for Halfords cycle sales. We expect Boardman bikes especially to pick up given the association of the name with the British cycling team’s success.

Wiggle boss Humphrey Cobbold told the newspaper: "Cycling has come back into the mainstream in the last five years."

He said specialist shops were now considered recession-proof, not least as soaring petrol prices meant commuting to work by bike made financial sense.

"It feels like there are enough things going positively for us," said Cobbold. "So there’s a reasonable case that this year’s going to be the year of the bike."