Indoor Cycling Statistics & Data to Know in 2026

Indoor cycling has moved well past the boutique studio. Smart trainers, connected fitness platforms, and the rise of electric bikes have turned what used to be a niche workout into one of the largest categories in home and gym fitness. The indoor cycling statistics behind that growth are scattered across health journals, market research, manufacturer reports, and federal agencies, which makes it hard to get a complete picture in one place.

This page pulls together the most useful numbers on indoor cycling in 2026. You'll find industry growth figures, electric bike adoption data, peer-reviewed health benefits, participation rates from the country's biggest cycling organizations, and real performance metrics from Garmin, Peloton, Zwift, and TrainerRoad users. Electric bikes get their own section right up top because that category now overlaps heavily with indoor training.

Every stat below is cited with a numbered inline reference. Full source details in MLA format appear at the bottom of the page.

E-Bike and Electric Bike Cycling Stats

E-bikes are the fastest-growing category in cycling, and the conversation around them now spills directly into indoor training. Plenty of newer e-bikes pair with smart trainers and connected fitness apps. The cardiovascular data on e-cycling has also kept surprising critics who wrote off pedal assist as a softer workout.

E-bikes now account for around 30% of the overall bicycle market in the United States, with $1.63 billion in e-bike sales out of a $5.1 billion total U.S. bicycle market in 2024 [1]. That same year, Americans bought roughly 920,000 e-bike units alongside 12.1 million traditional bikes, according to PeopleForBikes data [1]. Direct-to-consumer channels accounted for about 450,000 of those e-bike units, generating $850 million in revenue [1]. These electric bike statistics span every category, including adult electric bikes from major U.S. brands.

Growth tells the same story. E-bikes drove 63% of the increase in dollar sales across all bicycles between 2019 and 2023 [2]. Adoption among American cyclists more than doubled in two years, climbing from 7.8% in 2021 to 19.4% in 2023 [2]. Pricing for electric bikes splits hard by channel. The average e-bike sells for $3,055 through specialty retailers and $669 through mass-market stores [2].

Beyond traditional bike sales, the U.S. e-cargo segment crossed nearly $100 million in 2024 on roughly 38,500 units sold [1]. Direct-to-consumer e-bike revenue alone hit $1.2 billion that year, accounting for about 70% of all DTC bicycle revenue [1].

Globally, the numbers get bigger. McKinsey projects the worldwide micromobility market, driven mostly by e-bikes, will grow from $160 billion today to $340 billion by 2030 and reach $520 billion by 2035 [3]. E-bikes already account for nearly 40% of the European micromobility market, a roughly $22 billion segment expected to grow 13% annually and reach $110 billion by 2035 [4]. According to McKinsey's 2024 Mobility Consumer Survey, 52% of global e-bike owners use their bike for everyday transportation, and 34% use it for exercise [3].

Peer-reviewed research has also put real numbers behind the health side of e-cycling. A systematic review of pedal-assist e-bikes found that e-cycling delivers physical activity in the 4.9 to 8.3 MET range, which lands it squarely in moderate-to-vigorous intensity territory [5]. Riders reach 67.1% to 79.1% of their maximum heart rate during e-cycling sessions [5], and a four-week intervention with previously inactive participants produced a 10% increase in peak oxygen uptake [5].

E-bikes also pull people out of cars. Portland State University research on commuter e-bikes tracked real ride logs and found that the most recent three trips by survey respondents replaced 1,778 motor vehicle miles, averaging 9.3 miles displaced per trip [6].

Indoor Cycling Participation and Subscriber Data

Indoor cycling participation rates and overall U.S. cycling participation are at record levels. Connected fitness platforms have pulled millions of those riders into structured indoor programs.

112 million Americans, or 35% of those ages 3 and older, rode a bike at least once in 2024, the highest participation rate since PeopleForBikes began tracking in 2014 [7]. Youth participation jumped from 49% to 56%, with ridership among kids ages 10 to 17 climbing 15% in a single year [7]. The gender gap is still wide. Only 28% of U.S. females rode a bike in 2024 compared to 41% of males [1].

Safety is still a barrier to wider adoption. In the same 2024 PeopleForBikes survey, 53% of U.S. riders said they were worried about being hit by a car while cycling, a major reason many shift training time indoors [7].

On the connected fitness side, Peloton ended fiscal Q4 2024 with 2.98 million paid Connected Fitness Subscriptions and 615,000 ending Paid App Subscriptions [8]. The company's members logged more than 250 million workout hours and cycled over 1.6 billion miles in 2022 alone, specifically 250,958,345 hours and 1,611,636,736 miles [9].

Health Benefits and Calorie Burn Stats

The indoor cycling health benefits have some of the strongest clinical backing of any home workout. A 2019 systematic review published in Medicina analyzed 13 studies covering 372 participants and pulled out specific cardiovascular and body composition results [10].

Riding an indoor bike two to three days per week improved VO2 max by 8% to 10.5% across the studies reviewed [10]. Home-based indoor cycling alone produced a 5.7 mmHg drop in systolic blood pressure and a 2.6 mmHg drop in diastolic [10]. When indoor cycling was paired with diet over a six-month period, those drops grew to 17 mmHg systolic and 6.5 mmHg diastolic [10]. Weight loss followed a similar pattern. Cycling alone averaged 3.9 kg lost over 12 weeks. Cycling paired with diet pushed that to 7.3 kg [10]. The intervention studies in that review ran indoor cycling sessions of 30 to 100 minutes, performed 2 to 6 times per week, over 8 to 24 weeks [10].

Calorie burn varies with body weight and intensity. Per Harvard Health data, moderate-intensity stationary cycling burns about 210 calories in 30 minutes for a 125-pound person, 252 calories for a 155-pound person, and 294 calories for a 185-pound person [11]. At vigorous intensity, those numbers climb to 315 calories for a 125-pound rider and 441 calories for a 185-pound rider in the same 30 minutes [11].

The broader public health numbers tell a similar story. The World Health Organization reports that 30 minutes of walking or 20 minutes of cycling on most days reduces all-cause mortality risk by at least 10%, with cancer-related mortality 30% lower among regular bike commuters [12]. Active commuting, including indoor cycling-adjacent training that builds the fitness for it, is associated with a 10% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and 30% lower risk of type 2 diabetes [12].

Indoor Cycling Performance Metrics

Power output, heart rate, cadence, FTP. Smart trainers and bike computers have made all of them more measurable, and real-world data from millions of riders helps put individual numbers in context.

Garmin users who log at least 70 miles per week average a normalized power output above 180 watts. Those riding 90 miles per week average a VO2 max in the mid-50s [13]. By country, Danish cyclists record the most powerful rides globally, averaging a normalized power output of 196 watts. UAE riders log the fastest sessions at an average speed of 16 mph [13]. Italian cyclists log the longest rides worldwide, with each session averaging over two hours and covering 29 miles [13].

The Coggan power zone model is the backbone of most structured indoor training. You'll see it baked into TrainerRoad and nearly every other connected platform. Zones are defined as a percentage of Functional Threshold Power: Active Recovery under 55%, Endurance 55% to 75%, Tempo 76% to 87%, Sweet Spot 88% to 94%, Threshold 95% to 105%, VO2 Max 106% to 120%, and Anaerobic Capacity above 120% [14].

Smart Trainer and Connected Fitness Stats

Connected fitness statistics show how smart trainers and connected platforms have rewritten the way indoor cycling gets done. Adoption keeps climbing across nearly every demographic the big platforms track.

Indoor cycling activities logged on Garmin Edge devices increased 12% year over year. Total cycling activities (indoor and outdoor combined) rose 7% [13]. Women are the fastest-growing cycling demographic across the Garmin Connect community, mirroring the rise of women's electric bikes more broadly, with a 9% year-over-year increase in logged cycling activities [13]. Belgian cyclists collectively logged 362,165,857 miles on Garmin in 2024, which works out to roughly 30.24 miles per citizen across the country [13].

Across all activity types, Garmin Connect users averaged 8,317 daily steps globally in 2024 [15], a useful benchmark for indoor cyclists tracking overall daily movement.

Zwift's 2025 user data points to a more advanced rider base than the platform's early days. 38.4% of active subscribers fall between levels 31 and 60. Only 13% remain in the entry-level 1 to 10 range [16].

Sources

1. Sadavoy, Benjamin. "US Cycling Participation Up & eBikes at 30% of Market Share Say People for Bikes Reports." eBikes International, 2025, https://ebikes-international.com/us-cycling-participation-up-ebikes-around-30-of-market-share-say-people-for-bikes-reports/.

2. The Nerd Collective. "Electric Bicycle Market Insights From Industry Experts." PeopleForBikes, 8 Jul. 2024, https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/electric-bicycle-market-insights-2024.

3. Brady, Patrick. "McKinsey Predicts Booming $520 Billion Micro EV Market By 2035." Electric Bike Report, 2 Jul. 2024, https://electricbikereport.com/mckinsey-predicts-520-billion-dollar-micromobility-market-by-2035/.

4. Musa, Sela. "EXCLUSIVE: Global micromobility market to be worth $520 billion by 2035, finds McKinsey." Zag Daily, 4 Jun. 2024, https://zagdaily.com/trends/exclusive-global-micromobility-market-to-be-worth-520-billion-by-2035-finds-mckinsey/.

5. Bourne, Jessica E., et al. "Health benefits of electrically-assisted cycling: a systematic review." International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 21 Nov. 2018, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6249962/.

6. MacArthur, John. "Electric Bikes Statistics." PeopleForBikes, 2017, https://www.peopleforbikes.org/statistics/electric-bikes.

7. Birkicht, Ryan. "More Americans Rode a Bike Than Ever Before in 2024." PeopleForBikes, 11 Apr. 2025, https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/bicycling-participation-report-2024.

8. Rehfeldt, Courtney. "Peloton's Q4 Earnings and Strength Push Send Shares Soaring Over 30%." Athletech News, 22 Aug. 2024, https://athletechnews.com/pelotons-q4-earnings/.

9. Weicher, Katie. "Peloton members spent more than 250 million hours working out in 2022, cycled over 1.6 billion miles, and ran more than 75 million miles." Peloton Buddy, 26 Jan. 2023, https://www.pelobuddy.com/2022-hours-cycled/.

10. Chavarrias, Manuel, et al. "Health Benefits of Indoor Cycling: A Systematic Review." Medicina, 8 Aug. 2019, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6722762/.

11. Harvard Health Publishing. "Calories burned in 30 minutes for people of three different weights." Harvard Health, 8 Mar. 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-for-people-of-three-different-weights.

12. WHO Europe. "Cycling and walking can help reduce physical inactivity and air pollution, save lives and mitigate climate change." World Health Organization, 7 Jun. 2022, https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/07-06-2022-cycling-and-walking-can-help-reduce-physical-inactivity-and-air-pollution--save-lives-and-mitigate-climate-change.

13. Garmin. "The Beat on Bikes: New Data Shows Garmin Users Cycling More This Year." Garmin Blog, 10 Jul. 2024, https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/fitness/the-beat-on-bikes-new-data-shows-garmin-users-cycling-more-this-year/.

14. Hurley, Sean. "Cycling Power Zones: Training Zones Explained." TrainerRoad Blog, 2021, https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/cycling-power-zones-training-zones-explained/.

15. Garmin. "2024 Garmin Connect data report." Garmin Blog, 12 Dec. 2024, https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/2024-garmin-connect-data-report/.

16. Schlange, Eric. "Updated Stats for 2025: How many Zwifters are at each level?" Zwift Insider, 5 Aug. 2025, https://zwiftinsider.com/level-stats-2025/.