The business plan: market size

 Frame and Wheel makes an estimate on the size of the market for its frames, knowing full well that it is probably a lot smaller than what the figures suggest.

People who ride bikes	%	m
For sport	6.0%	2.3
For racing	8.0%	3.0
Total	14.0%	5.3

The National Bicycle Dealer Association 2009 report estimates that there are 38.1m people in the US over age seven who ride their bikes more than six times in 2009. The report also points out that 73% of adult cyclist ride for recreation, 53% for fitness, 10% for commuting, 8% for racing and 6% for sport (some people ride in multiple ways). Based on these numbers, Frame and Wheel estimates that the target market in the US is the 14% of adult cyclists who ride for racing or sport. This works out to 5.3m cyclists. This conclusion does not reconcile with the number of licensed racing cyclists in the US: 72,000 cyclists. However, it quantifies the fact that there are cyclists out there who race using one day licenses and cyclists  who race at unsponsored events. It also quantifies the number of cyclists who only ride at club rides or for sport.