China’s e-bike riders are now required to wear helmets by law, a development that has had the knock-on effect of opening up the kind of opportunity not seen in China in perhaps 3 decades. For many, it’s the stuff that dreams are made of.
On 1 June, the national law mandating the wearing of helmets for e-bike riders went into effect. With as few as 30 percent of riders wearing helmets prior to the law’s enactment, an entirely new market has been created almost overnight, one estimated to be worth ¥10 billion.
And now everyone and their dog wants a slice of the pie.
Liu Yang (pseudonym) is just one of many chasing this dream. Last month, he set out from Nanjing to scope out the e-bike helmet market in Zhejiang Province. News outlet, The Paper, has today released a video diary of the young man as he spent 5 days in May wheeling and dealing in the helmet wholesale markets of Yueqing City.
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In the video, entitled “I’m No Helmet Hunter” (我不是头盔猎人), Liu brushes his teeth with plastic cup, while squatting by the dirt-covered street. He strikes deals in the market, after seeing makeshift, product-safety demonstrations and stacks his van with boxes of helmets ready for market back in Nanjing.
Liu has paid a wholesale price of ¥10 or ¥11 for each of the e-bike helmets squeezed into the cardboard boxes. Before awareness of the incoming law, these helmets would sell for ¥20 or ¥30. Now, ¥40 or ¥50 is the market price, while for some, the going rate is as much as ¥80.
There are 250 million registered e-bikes on the roads in China, reports the Global Times. With the possibility of another 50 million unregistered bikes out there and only 30 percent of riders wearing helmets, it’s easy to see why the hawkers are excited.
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Back with Liu, darkness has fallen as he curls up on the seat in the back of his “bread van” (面包车). In the morning, it’s instant noodles for breakfast.
Despite the possibility of a 700 percent markup, Liu claims he’s not a scalper. He says he’s planning a long-term business. One with no hotels or the comforts of life; one with the absolute minimum of overheads.
It’s all very reminiscent of a China of 20 or 30 years ago. Leading Chinese fashion company, Metersbonwe, came about after founder, Zhou Chengjian, borrowed money in the early 1990s to kickstart his casualwear empire as a lone trader, jockeying for deals in the then-burgeoning textile economy of Zhejiang Province.
If Liu Yang’s dream comes true, perhaps he will put his real name on his range of e-bike helmets.
