I love road cycling and everything about it - especially the mix of sports and technology.
I enjoy riding my Canyon Ultimate (2018) with its electronic gear shifters along with my Karoo bike computer,
which shows me all my riding data in real-time.
A few months ago, I was shopping online for new bike parts and clothing - something most cyclists do at least once a year.
As I browsed different cycling websites, I started noticing things about how they worked. Since I build and maintain e-commerce stores for a living, I naturally paid attention to the technical aspects. I found myself checking how fast the websites loaded, how well they were built and which technologies are being used. When a site was slow, I looked into why.
What began as simple curiosity while shopping turned into something much bigger. I started collecting data about cycling websites to better understand the whole industry. Soon, I had gathered lots of information about how these online shops work.
In this report, I've selected metrics for the most important findings from all the data I collected. I'm writing this both as someone who loves cycling and as someone who knows how to build good online shops. I think this gives me a special view of both sides - the cycling world and the technology world.
I hope you'll find these insights as interesting as I do, whether you're a fellow cycling enthusiast, an industry professional, or simply curious about the intersection of cycling and technology.
Matthias WalterIn the highly competitive world of e-commerce, website performance and technology adoption play a critical role in user experience, customer retention, and overall business success.
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of 250 e-commerce websites within the cycling industry, focusing on key performance indicators and technology usage.
It includes a subset of 41 metrics from all the metrics gathered, we gathered a total of 141 metrics across technology and web performance.
Utilizing metrics from Google’s Pagespeed Insights, we analyze core web vitals such as loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, offering insights into how well these websites are optimized for performance.
Additionally, we delve into the underlying technologies powering these platforms, examining the use of e-commerce systems, web frameworks, content delivery networks (CDNs), and tag management systems.
This report highlights a subset of 41 key metrics, carefully selected from a total of 141 metrics collected across technology and web performance dimensions.
By doing so, this report not only sheds light on the current state of the sector but also identifies best practices and areas for improvement that can give businesses a competitive edge.
Our objective is to provide an in-depth overview of the digital strategies employed by key players in the cycling e-commerce space, allowing businesses, developers, and digital marketers to benchmark their performance and technological choices against industry standards.
In this section, you’ll find an analysis of the technology stack used across leading biking e-commerce websites.
This section includes a breakdown of the most important technologies by selecting 11 key metrics from 82 technology metrics.
From e-commerce platforms and content delivery networks (CDNs) to analytics tools and programming languages, we break down the most popular and effective technologies being used in the cycling sector.
This data indicates a clear preference for straightforward SaaS platforms like Shopify, while other solutions serve more specialized business requirements.
Custom-built solutions also offer significant opportunities for shop owners and manufacturers to set themselves apart from competitors.
Shopify holds the largest share, with 50% of the 150 cycling e-commerce sites using it, followed by WooCommerce (15%), Magento (10%), Shopware (5%), and Salesforce (4%). The remaining 16% is distributed across various other platforms with lower adoption rates in this sector.
This distribution highlights WordPress’s dominance as the go-to CMS for many businesses, likely due to its user-friendly interface and extensive plugin ecosystem.
However, the presence of more specialist platforms like content repositories (e.g. AEM, Contentful, and Prismic) indicates that certain sectors prioritize more flexible, headless, or enterprise-grade solutions to meet specific content management and scalability needs.
WordPress leads the CMS market with 44% usage among the analyzed sites, followed by Craft CMS (7.6%), Drupal (6.3%), TYPO3 CMS (5.1%), and Storyblok (5.1%). These results reflect a diverse landscape, with WordPress dominating, while more specialized platforms also hold significant shares.
The high adoption of Cloudflare, alongside the use of multiple CDNs, underscores the importance of performance, security, and global reach in the e-commerce sector.
The results show that Cloudflare leads the CDN market with 44% usage, followed by cdnjs (10%), Google-hosted libraries (9.4%), jsDelivr (8.4%), and jQuery CDN (6.4%). Many websites use more than one CDN to optimize the delivery of different types of content, leveraging specific services for scripts, libraries, or security features.
The dominance of Google Analytics, coupled with the widespread use of multiple analytics tools, highlights the sector’s focus on comprehensive data collection to drive informed decision-making.
The adoption of tools like Facebook Pixel and Google Ads Conversion Tracking signals a strong emphasis on marketing performance, while the use of Hotjar for user behavior tracking suggests businesses are also prioritizing user experience optimization.
Google Analytics leads with 38.9% usage, followed by Facebook Pixel (19.6%), Google Ads Conversion Tracking (6.6%), and Hotjar (5.6%). Many sites use multiple analytics tools, with at least 50 pages utilizing more than one tool to track various aspects of user interaction, marketing campaigns, and conversion rates.
The prominence of Klaviyo and Mailchimp highlights a strong focus on email marketing within the sector, reflecting businesses’ reliance on these tools for personalized customer outreach.
The presence of more specialized solutions like HubSpot and PushOwl points to a growing trend towards integrating diverse marketing automation tools, combining CRM capabilities and multi-channel engagement to create a more dynamic, customer-centric marketing strategy.
Klaviyo leads the market with 38.9% usage, followed by Mailchimp (27.9%), HubSpot (9.3%), and PushOwl (6.2%). The rest of the services account for smaller shares. This distribution suggests that while Klaviyo and Mailchimp are preferred for email marketing, tools like HubSpot are valued for more comprehensive CRM and marketing automation, and PushOwl is used for more specialized purposes like push notifications.
Your shop is no longer a hobby athlete, but can't keep up with the top athletes?
It's time to take your online shop to the next level and become more professional.
The overwhelming preference for Google Tag Manager indicates that it is the go-to solution for most businesses, likely due to its ease of use, integration with other Google services, and broad functionality.
The small presence of alternatives like Tealium suggests that while most businesses prefer the simplicity and ecosystem of Google, certain organizations may seek specialized solutions to meet unique business or privacy requirements.
Google Tag Manager dominates with 95.6% usage, while Tealium, Yottaa, and Matomo Tag Manager each have minimal adoption.
The significant use of Google and Microsoft Ads underscores their importance in search engine marketing, while the inclusion of platforms like Twitter Ads and Adroll points to a growing trend toward multi-channel strategies.
Google Ads leads with 37% usage, followed by Microsoft Ads (22.2%), Twitter Ads (7.4%), Adroll (7.4%), and Rakuten Advertising (5.6%).
Only 102 out of 254 tested sites implement such tools, indicating that many businesses may not be fully leveraging real-time user experience data to optimize performance.
There is still significant room for growth in the sector as businesses recognize the importance of real-time data in improving user experience and performance optimization.
Boomerang leads with 72.5% of the RUM tool usage, followed by Cloudflare Browser Insights (9.8%), New Relic (6.9%), and Web Vitals (3.9%).
PHP’s big usage share reflects its historical significance and continued use in e-commerce and content management systems, while the presence of Node.js and TypeScript are growing.
PHP has the biggest usage with 73.1%, followed by Node.js (12.7%), Java (8.2%), and TypeScript (3.0%), the rest being shared across python and ruby
The wide range of frameworks, from modern solutions like React and Vue.js to more specialized tools like GSAP (for animations), suggests that websites are adopting diverse frameworks based on specific development needs, from performance optimization to visual effects.
React leads with 18.7% usage, followed by Vue.js (13.5%), GSAP (11.1%), and RequireJS (9.4%) and many more javascript frameworks.
Suprisingly jQuery is still being widely used, even though it is not being actively developed for years and only being provided with bugfixes.
The sustained use of jQuery alongside modern libraries like CoreJS reflects the sector’s balance between maintaining legacy compatibility and adopting newer, more modular solutions.
jQuery remains the most widely used library with 17.2% usage, closely followed by CoreJS at 16.1%. Among ~50 different libraries were identified across 254 websites, with a total of 998 instances of usage.
This section focuses on the Core Web Vitals metrics, such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Interaction to Next Paint (INP).
We assess how well biking websites are performing on these crucial benchmarks for user experience, highlighting areas where the sector excels and where improvements are needed.
The significant portion of slow-loading sites (26.4%) highlights a need for targeted optimization efforts.
With 38.2% in the average category, there’s also potential for incremental improvements to deliver better user experiences and potentially boosting engagement and conversions.
Further information:
web.dev
In the Core Web Vitals Loading Experience, 31.9% of websites are classified as fast, 38.2% as average, and 26.4% as slow, with 3.5% lacking sufficient data for categorization.
The majority of websites perform well in terms of Largest Contentful Paint, though a notable portion of 34.4% still face performance issues and should look into improvements of the user experience.
Further information:
web.dev
or
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 65.6% of websites have a strong performance for Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) with load times under 2.5 seconds. While 25.3% fall into a moderate range between 2.5 and 4.0 seconds.
However, 9.1% of sites have slow LCP times above 4.0 seconds, indicating a poor performance and user expierience.
The results suggest that almost all websites perform exceptionally well, with only a small percentage requiring improvements.
For those that fall short, this could indicate occasional performance bottlenecks where the user does not get a intime response to his interactions.
Further information:
web.dev
The data shows that 86.0% of websites have an excellent Interaction to Next Paint (INP) score with values under 200ms, indicating very responsive interactions.
11.9% of sites need improvement with INP between 200-500ms, and 2.1% of sites have poor responsiveness, with values over 500ms.
These results can be interpreted as positive overall, but with a significant portion of websites experiencing layout instability.
High CLS scores often indicate poor user experience due to unexpected content shifts, which can frustrate users and lead to higher bounce rates.
Further information:
web.dev
The data shows that 68.9% of websites have an excellent Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) score below 0.1, while 13.5% need improvement with scores between 0.1-0.25, and 17.6% of sites have poor stability, with scores above 0.25.
These results indicate that while the majority of websites perform well in delivering visible content quickly, a significant portion still experiences slower initial load times.
Websites with FCP scores above 1.8 seconds may struggle with user retention and engagement, particularly on slower connections or mobile devices.
Further information:
web.dev
The data shows that 71.3% of websites achieve a great First Contentful Paint (FCP) score with load times under 1.8 seconds, while 20.5% need improvement, with FCP between 1.8 and 3.0 seconds, and 8.2% have poor performance with load times over 3.0 seconds.
These results suggest that while a majority of websites are performing well in terms of server response times, over a third still face delays that can negatively impact the user experience.
Websites with TTFB values exceeding 800ms likely suffer from slow server performance or inefficient backend processes, which can delay the delivery of content.
Further information:
web.dev
The data shows that 62.5% of websites have a great Time to First Byte (TTFB) score with values under 800ms, while 25.4% need improvement with TTFB between 800ms and 1.8 seconds, and 12.1% have poor performance with TTFB above 1.8 seconds.
Is your shop on the winner's podium or is it in the midfield?
During an audit, we carry out an in-depth check to see which screws still need to be tightened in order to reach the podium.
In the performance section, we evaluate the overall speed and responsiveness of biking e-commerce sites.
We’ll look at factors like page load times, total blocking time, and server response times, providing a clear picture of how quickly and smoothly users can access content.
These results indicate that while the majority of websites handle tasks efficiently without long delays, a significant portion of websites still experience blocking times that may disrupt user interactions.
Sites with a TBT over 200ms may have issues with heavy JavaScript execution or long tasks that prevent the browser from responding to user input promptly.
Further information:
web.dev
or
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 60.4% of websites have a great Total Blocking Time (TBT) score under 200ms, while 25.1% need improvement with TBT between 200ms and 600ms, and 14.5% have poor performance with values above 600ms.
While the majority of websites have optimized their JavaScript execution time, a significant portion still experiences inefficiencies, which could negatively impact page load speed and user experience.
Reducing JavaScript execution, particularly for the 42.7%% which can save more than 1.0s, could substantially improve rendering times
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 66.5% of websites perform well in reducing JavaScript execution time, while 33.5% have poor performance.
30.2% could save between 1.0 and 2.5 seconds, and 12.5% could save more than 2.5 seconds.
The results indicate that over half of the websites suffer from excessive main thread work, which delays the time before a website becomes interactive.
Optimizing these tasks, especially for sites that could save significant rendering time, is crucial for improving overall performance.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 48.2% of websites have a great Mainthread Work Breakdown score, while 51.8% perform poorly.
33.7% could save between 2.0 and 4.0 seconds, and 18.1% could save more than 4.0 seconds by optimizing main thread tasks.
This section focuses on potential enhancements that can drive better user experience and faster load times.
We explore opportunities such as reducing unused JavaScript, improving image formats, and optimizing server configurations, offering actionable insights for boosting site performance.
The fact that 74.1% of websites need improvement in managing network payloads suggests a widespread issue of delivering excessive amounts of data. This could result in slower load times and higher data usage for users.
Addressing this could significantly reduce file sizes across many websites, leading to faster page loads and reduced bandwidth consumption.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
25.9% of websites avoid excessive network payloads, while 74.1% need improvement. None of the websites fall into the poor performance category.
The majority of websites achieve excellent initial server response times.
But the 14.5% with poor performance, show response times that negatively affect the user experience.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 85.5% of websites have a great server response time below 600ms, while 14.5% of sites perform poorly.
Specifically, 7.1% have response times between 600ms and 1.0s, and 7.5% exceed 1.0 second.
With the majority of websites struggling to eliminate render-blocking resources, it’s essential to focus on optimizing how critical JavaScript and CSS files are handled.
Key improvements could include deferring non-essential scripts, using asynchronous loading for JavaScript, and inlining critical CSS to reduce delays in rendering page content.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that only 27.2% of websites have effectively eliminated render-blocking resources, while 68.9% perform poorly, and 3.9% need improvement.
This indicates that the majority of websites have scripts or stylesheets that delay the rendering of page content.
Is your store a winner and will it reach its destination with high performance?
During an audit, we carry out an in-depth check to see which screws still need to be tightened in order to reach the podium.
The 14.5% of websites with poor scores are likely experiencing slower LCP times because their largest images are being loaded upfront instead of lazily.
This can significantly impact performance and the user experience.
Further information:
web.dev
The data shows that 85.5% of websites are effectively lazy-loading their Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) images, while 14.5% have poor performance due to not lazy-loading these key images.
The 20.5% of websites with poor scores are wasting resources by loading images that are offscreen, leading to slower performance.
They should look into reducing load times, optimizing bandwidth usage, and enhancing the overall user experience, particularly for mobile and slower network connections
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 41.3% of websites successfully defer offscreen images, 38.2% need improvement, and 20.5% perform poorly, meaning these sites load images that are not immediately visible to users, which can slow down page load times.
Although 97.6% of websites need improvement in this area, the strict criteria of the PageSpeed audit may not fully reflect the real-world cache efficiency.
Many websites likely serve static assets with reasonable cache lifetimes, ranging from multiple hours to several days. Given that some static assets only change during deployments and are versioned, they could potentially be cached indefinitely, making the current PageSpeed assessment overly conservative for sites using well-structured cache policies.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
Based on the PageSpeed Score, 2.4% of websites serve static assets with an efficient cache policy, while 97.6% need improvement, and none perform poorly.
While the PageSpeed scores indicate a poor result, with 77.2% of websites performing poorly, it is possible that many sites intentionally load most of their JavaScript upfront.
This can increase initial load time but may lead to smoother navigation and better performance on subsequent page loads.
In these cases, the trade-off might be worth it, as it improves the user experience after the first page, despite the slower initial load time.
This approach could be intentional for sites prioritizing consistent performance across multiple page views.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
Based on the PageSpeed Score, 3.1% of websites have minimized unused JavaScript effectively, while 19.7% need improvement, and 77.2% perform poorly in this area.
Although 66.9% of websites perform poorly in reducing unused CSS, it is possible that many sites load the bulk of their CSS initially to ensure faster navigation on subsequent page views.
This approach could lead to slower initial load times but improved performance during further interactions.
In this context, the trade-off may be considered acceptable for sites aiming to deliver a smoother experience after the first page load, despite the heavier initial CSS payload.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
Based on the PageSpeed Score, 11.0% of websites have effectively minimized unused CSS, while 22.0% need improvement, and 66.9% perform poorly in reducing unused CSS.
The high percentage (60.6%) of sites that are already well-optimized indicates widespread adoption of best practices for JavaScript minification.
However, the 39.4% with considerable potential for savings — particularly those able to reduce over 100 kBytes — suggests that some sites could see significant performance improvements.
This seems a potential quick win for website owners to improve loading times and especially performance on mobile
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
60.6% of websites are well-optimized, with less than 1 kByte of JavaScript that could be minimized, while 39.4% have significant optimization potential, with some able to reduce more than 100 kBytes, up to a maximum of 426 kBytes.
The fact that 76.4% of sites have already minimized their CSS shows that most sites have already applied best practices.
However, the 23.6% of sites that could save more than 10 kBytes — especially those with significant optimization potential up to 152 kBytes — represent clear opportunities for performance gains on those sites, with minimal effort and noticable impact
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
76.4% of websites are well-optimized, with less than 1 kByte of CSS that could be minimized, while 23.6% have the potential to save over 10 kBytes, with the largest optimization opportunity being 152 kBytes
The high percentage of websites that have successfully removed duplicate javascript modules is positive.
The potential savings of up to 43 kBytes probably do not justify the effort needed to improve in this area.
80.7% of websites are well-optimized with no duplicate JavaScript modules,
while 17.7% need improvement, and 1.6% perform poorly.
19.3% of websites could optimize and save up to 43 kBytes by removing duplicate modules.
While most websites have optimized their images, the 21.7% with poor performance are missing a significant opportunity to reduce load times and improve user experience.
Image optimization is one of the most impactful ways to reduce page weight, with 32 sites that could save several MB (up to 10 MB)
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 61.4% of websites use fully optimized images, while 16.9% need improvement, and 21.7% perform poorly
The significant number of sites that could reduce image size by adopting next-gen formats like WebP or AVIF suggests a missed opportunity for many websites to improve performance.
We found 42.1% of websites could save up to 1 MByte in image data, with 11 sites potentially saving more than 10 MBytes, indicates a significant opportunity for optimization.
Sites that perform poorly are likely experiencing slower loading times, which directly impacts user experience and overall performance, particularly on image-heavy pages
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
27.6% of websites use next-gen image formats, while 28.3% need improvement, and 30.3% perform poorly in serving images in modern formats.
With 47.6% of websites performing poorly, there is a substantial opportunity to optimize image sizes for better performance.
A large number of sites are likely delivering oversized images, which can lead to excessive bandwidth usage and slower load times.
Optimizing these images could result in significant file size savings, improving both user experience and page speed across a large portion of the affected sites.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
Only 13.4% of websites properly size images, while 39.0% need improvement and 47.6% perform poorly in this area.
Your shop is no longer a hobby athlete, but can't keep up with the top athletes?
It's time to take your online shop to the next level and become more professional.
A large percentage of websites (68.6%) need improvement, as they lack properly sized image elements, which can negatively impact layout stability and performance.
While no sites are performing poorly, this is still a widespread issue.
Addressing this could lead to improvements in page load times, as the lack of size attributes can cause layout shifts, potentially leading to higher data usage due to improper image rendering across many sites.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
31.4% of websites have image elements with properly defined width and height attributes, while 68.6% need improvement, and none are performing poorly in this area
A significant portion of websites (26.5%) could benefit from preloading their LCP image to improve performance, as 6 sites could save between 0.5 and 4.0 seconds in load time.
While the majority of sites are optimized, these savings suggest there is still room for improvement in delivering the main content faster across certain websites, potentially reducing delays in user experience.
Further information:
web.dev
73.4% of websites preload their Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) image effectively, while 19.3% need improvement, and 7.2% perform poorly in this area.
The majority of sites has enabled text compression.
Among the websites that need improvement or perform poorly, 14 sites could benefit significantly from enabling text compression,
with potential savings ranging from 0.5 MBytes to 1.7 MBytes for the site with the highest potential.
This suggests that some websites are delivering larger-than-necessary text files, impacting page load speeds and performance
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
75.6% of websites have successfully enabled text compression, while 13.8% need improvement, and 10.6% perform poorly in this area
With 62.7% of websites needing improvement, a significant number are experiencing issues where text may be invisible or delayed during font loading.
This can negatively impact the user experience by causing layout shifts or text flashing.
Although there are no poor-performing sites, addressing this issue across the affected sites can improve perceived load times and user engagement by ensuring text remains visible.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
The data shows that 37.3% of websites ensure that all text remains visible during webfont loading, while 62.7% need improvement.
None of the websites perform poorly in this area.
Most websites do not do automatic unnecessary redirects, there is still some outliers that perform poorly.
Among those, 6 sites could significantly reduce load times, with potential savings ranging from 1.5 to 5.0 seconds, and 3 sites could save over 5.0 seconds, up to 18.0s.
This indicates that a considerable number of websites are burdened by unnecessary redirects, which can lead to slower page load times and impact user experience.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
63.1% of websites avoid multiple redirects, performing well in this area, while 36.9% perform poorly.
None of the websites fall into the “needs improvement” category
The fact that 52.2% of websites need improvement suggests that over half of the sites are not fully optimizing their scrolling performance through passive event listeners.
Although no sites perform poorly, addressing this issue could lead to smoother scrolling and better performance, particularly on mobile devices.
Further information:
developer.chrome.com
48.2% of websites perform well by using passive event listeners to improve scrolling performance, while 52.2% need improvement.
None of the websites perform poorly in this area.
The majority of sites (72.3%) are performing exceptionally well with minimal layout shifts, indicating effective handling of content stability.
However, 23 websites exhibit between 5 and 10 layout shifts, while 17 sites show between 10 and 15 layout shifts, suggesting significant room for improvement.
Further information:
web.dev
72.3% of the websites show great results in minimizing large layout shifts, while 27.7% perform poorly, and none require moderate improvement.
In this report, we have thoroughly analyzed the state of the cycling sector’s web performance, focusing on metrics from PageSpeed Insights, Core Web Vitals, and various performance audits. This analysis spans a broad array of technology choices, performance measures, and optimization opportunities.
The dominance of Shopify as the preferred e-commerce platform (45%) illustrates a strong trend towards SaaS-based solutions.
Other platforms like WooCommerce and Magento show varied adoption rates, highlighting different preferences across businesses.
Usage of Real User Monitoring (RUM) tools like Boomerang and Cloudflare Browser Insights indicates a growing focus on user-centric performance monitoring.
A majority of sites achieve positive scores in metrics like Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
However, there remain opportunities for improvement in Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and
Time to First Byte (TTFB), where some sites struggle to meet optimal thresholds.
Ensuring great user experiences through responsive and stable layouts is essential, given that 17.6% of sites show poor CLS scores.
Key performance aspects such as server response times and JavaScript execution times are generally optimized across many sites, with room for improvement in areas like reducing blocking time and optimizing main thread work.
The need for optimizing rendering paths is evident in metrics like 'Eliminate render-blocking resources' where 68.9% of sites still face challenges.
JavaScript and CSS optimizations, including reducing unused resources and minimizing execution time, stand out as critical areas for further improvement. Nearly 77.2% of sites have opportunities to reduce unused JavaScript.
Image optimization remains another focus area, with a significant number of sites capable of achieving savings by serving next-gen image formats and properly sizing images.
This concludes the cycling e-commerce report. We hope you enjoyed it and found the insights valuable in understanding the digital landscape of the industry.
If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to let us know.
Your input is highly appreciated, as it helps us continue delivering comprehensive and relevant reports.
