Diversity in Cycling Social Media


With the events of the last few weeks it's impossible not to think about issues of race and bias. Without wanting to take a position we decided to look at bike companies Instagram feeds: How inclusive are they? How much diversity do they show? We checked out the last 100 Instagram posts by these companies prior to last weekend. We looked at what percentage of the images show people of color, women, only white men and only whites. If an image shows at least one person of color or woman, it's counted in each applicable category. Here's our ranking of ten companies we've been following:

10. Schwalbe:
Total images with humans: 69
People of color: 0 (0%)
Women: 17 (25%)
Only white men: 52 (75%)
Only whites: 69 (100%)

Schwalbe's Instagram account is 100% white and 75% of the posts show only white men. Nuff said.

9. WTB:
Total images with humans: 59
People of color: 1 (1.7%)
Women: 14 (24%)
Only white men: 39 (66%)
Only whites: 58 (98.3%)

For WTB people of color don't seem to exist, but at least the company recognizes that women make up a certain portion of the population.

8. Cannondale:
Total images with humans: 62
People of color: 4 (6%)
Women: 28 (45%)
Only white men: 28 (45%)
Only whites: 58 (94%)

Cannondale doesn't show many people of color either but at least they show more women.

7. Specialized:
Total images with humans: 45
People of color: 4 (9%)
Women: 20 (44%)
Only white men: 21 (47%)
Only whites: 41 (91%)

Specialized shows relatively few people of color. Less than 50% of posts show women.

6. Swift Industries:
Total images with humans: 55
People of color: 5 (9%)
Women: 35 (64%)
Only white men: 17 (30%)
Only whites: 50 (91%)

Swift Industries shows only 5 images (9%) with non-white people. They are doing much better on gender: Women feature in 64% of their posts.

5. Rivendell: 
Total images with humans: 60
People of color: 6 (10%)
Women: 12 (20%)
Only white men: 43 (72%)
Only whites: 54 (90%)

Rivendell is often perceived as a white and male company, but they are better than some. Few women in their feed, though.

4. Panaracer:
Total images with humans: 29
People of color: 4 (14%)
Women: 6 (21%)
Only white men: 21 (72%)
Only whites: 25 (86%)

Panaracer does a little better with people of color. They sponsor several women racers, but they don't often seem to make it into their social media.

3. Trek:
Total images with humans: 68
People of color: 13 (19%)
Women: 39 (57%)
Only white men: 23 (33%)
Only whites: 55 (81%)

Trek shows more people of color than the other two bike companies and more women, too.

2. Ultradynamico:
Total images with humans: 28
People of color: 9 (32%)
Women: 9 (32%)
Only white men: 16 (57%)
Only whites: 20 (71%)

More people of color at Ultradynamico, but relatively few women. 

1. Rene Herse: 
Total images with humans: 29
People of color: 10 (34%)
Women: 15 (51%)
Only white men: 11 (38%)
Only whites: 19 (65%)

People of color feature in 34% of Rene Herse's post and women are shown in more than half. Posts with only white men are in the minority.


Conclusion: Many bike companies have almost completely white social media feeds. Despite years of talk about taking women serious as cyclists, they are still underrepresented at many brands. We were surprised that image and reality often do not agree. We expected Specialized to show more diversity since they've been so vocal about it. But Trek's feed actually shows more people of color and also more women. Most noteworthy are Trek's generic photos of riders which always seem to include a woman and an African-American rider. Sometimes this looks staged but it's better than most companies who show only white models in these carefully choreographed images. And Trek is the only company who uses people of color for images like hands holding a tool, etc.

We also did not expect Swift Industries to be so white, since they write so beautifully about solidarity with communities of color. It goes both ways, Ultradynamico's and Rene Herse's feeds are surprisingly diverse. Perhaps that is how it should be: Companies shouldn't make a big deal about including people of color, but just do it naturally.

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