The bike-sharing industry has snowballed across China in recent months. Millions of shared bicycles have suddenly appeared in the country’s first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Shenzhen has a considerable history of playing host to bicycle manufacturers. At its peak, the city had 20 large-scale enterprises. However, only seven or eight are left, after market demand began to dwindle. 

But now, the booming sharing-economy is bringing bicycles back on the city's streets. And thanks to surging demand, manufacturers of bicycle-related accessories have never had it so good. 

“Never in our wildest dreams could we imagine that we would see such a large amount of orders. Our production lines are stretched to the limit. Recently, Foxconn was thinking about giving us 200,000 orders a month, on top of 300,000 a month from Mobike, and 500,000 a month from Ofo,” said Du Kaishan, manager of Shenzhen Yibotong Bicycle P‍arts.

Earlier this year, China's top bike-sharing startups Ofo and Mobike announced the closing of D-round financing, making them among the world's best-funded companies in the industry – with a brand value that can exceed billions of dollars a year. 

In fact, authorities are ‍concerned over the rapid success of the industry. Caixin reported on Friday that Shenzhen police have expanded controls on sharing bikes to reduce congestion and avoid security risks. A system is to be established between police and the industry to warn users of over-congestion – curbs or even a ban might be placed in some areas during peak travel periods.

Experts hope that the booming industry will not only breathe life into China’s traditional bicycle manufacturing enterprises, but also encourage them to transform their old business model, by embracing the competition of the sharing economy and creating their own market value.