No economic downturn for bicycle manufacturers

Today's AJC (print edition) has an opinion piece on the resilience of bicycle manufacturers in the face of widespread recession.
Excerpts:

Interestingly, one of the world industries seemingly not suffering in the current worldwide recession... is the bicycling business.

Top bicycle and bicycle parts makers in Taiwan and Japan are reporting steadily increasing revenues, despite the falling popularity around the world of the bicycle’s four-wheeled cousin.

And while I’m not quite sure that the data support any rush to judgment that commuters are peddling to work in greater numbers, we can at least feel confident that consumer spending on this basic commodity is steady.
...
Bicycles, then, seem to share an exalted status, along with certain foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and precious few others, as recession-proof commodities that investors can count as farsighted (read lucky) picks.