>>1189634What type of cycling are we talking about? Road Racing? Off-road? Commuting?
If we are talking about bike commuting, there isn't that huge of a difference in the demographics of cyclists. Old white dudes on hybrids, women on hybrids, students on fixies, asian and black 75 year olds with mtbs biking on sidewalks in the suburbs.
If we are talking about racing in any form, then there is a huge dropoff in popularity. Gear gets expensive and the community can be toxically elitist. Road bicycling has an image problem as being the sport for stuffy old retirees having their midlife crisis and 30yo snobby Lance Armstrong Larpers. That's not a terribly inviting image.
MTB and bmx is more "cool" and is probably a lot more popular among the general demographic but in the case of MTB, it requires access to trails and a car capable of transporting your hard-tail. bmx fares better in that even in the cage hell of LA, you'll find so many kids with bmx bikes at the local skate park.
Walmart bikes are shit but they get the job done for 199$ and below, so money should not be a humungous roadblock. Infrastructure is the biggest decider, everyone in Netherlands bikes because the landscape and design allow for the shittiest cyclist to commute daily without hassle. That's it really.