Luxury Cycles Help Bikes Shed Their Working-Class Roots

Yu Yiqun sees the bicycle as the ideal form of transformation — and not because he can’t afford a car.

In fact, the 40-year-old, who works as a creative director at Geogrum Advertising, owns 21 bikes, including high-end brands like Moulton, Cervélo and Colnago. “You need different kinds of bicycles to ride in different kinds of environments,” he says.

Mr. Yu has spent as much as 110,000 yuan (more than $17,000) on a bike and considers their versatility an advantage over cars. “People inBeijingshould update their ideas,” he says.

Forget the idea, popularized by a Chinese reality-show contestant, that it’s better to cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle. Two-wheeled transportation, which fell out of favor asChina’s middle class began buying cars with a vengeance, has been given new life with the introduction of a luxury class of bikes.

BMW itself has gotten in on the rush, stocking its “lifestyle” stores inBeijingwith cycles that range in price from 17,000 to 55,000 yuan. The BMW logo appears as a tiny circle on the frame (which is usually black), and according to spokeswoman Hedy Luo, the top seller inChinais the 13,000-yuan BMW Cruise, a 24-speed aluminum model.