Posts by Phil Latz
How’s Business? – May 2024
Welcome to How’s Business, brought to you by our sponsor Dirt Works Australia, where right now, you can get Sunringle wheelsets for HALF PRICE. As always, we spoke to a wide range of dealers across Australia and New Zealand, with a mix of city and country locations and a wide range of store types. With…
MC Cyclery Takes its Own Road
Kensington, NSW MC Cyclery is a bicycle retailer that does things differently to most other Australian bicycle shops. This is in large part a reflection of the passions and complementary professional skill sets of its two key owners, Andy Walsh and Harvey Crabtree. Neither works full time at MC. In fact, both spend most of…
Bicycle Imports Showing First Signs of Normalising
Canberra, ACT After 18 months of dramatically lower monthly bicycle imports, the latest figures are showing early signs that import numbers might be beginning to return to more normal pre-covid levels. Since we last wrote about bicycle imports here we have received import data for January and February 2024. In January a total of 51,765…
Premium Subscription Options Coming Soon to The Latz Report
Wollongong, NSW We’ll soon introduce a new subscription model for The Latz Report monthly newsletter. There are some technical details we still need to finalise, but in the meantime, I’d like to share with you an overview, so that you have time to give any comments or feedback before the new system is implemented, possibly…
Moustache Offers Unique High Quality Alternatives for Australian Dealers
~ Sponsored Content ~ With continuous heavy discounting of major bike brands, often amplified by having too many dealers in each city, savvy dealers are looking for high quality alternatives that give them a greater degree of exclusivity, both in terms of locational exclusivity and brand cachet. French high-end ebike manufacturer Moustache is a perfect…
Unique PieProof Helmet Protects Cyclists from Magpies
~ Sponsored Content ~ Leo Boesten is a Dutch-Australian engineer with a passion for cycling. He’s also been swooped by magpies too many times to count. He found that some magpies are not content just to swoop, but take a nip of your ear or a peck through your helmet vent. Following some nasty direct…
Industry Briefs – Lively E-Bike Forum Highlights Differing Viewpoints
Lively E-Bike Forum Highlights Differing Viewpoints Bicycle Industries Australia (BIA) hosted an online E-Bike Forum on Tuesday 23rd April to allow discussion amongst bike industry members across a range of sometimes contentious issues. Because this event was not pre-publicised as a public forum, this article will not name any of the attendees or quote any…
European Bike Industry Survey is Surprisingly Upbeat
Brussels, Belgium Each year since 2020 Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) has published an annual Business Impact Survey which takes a holistic look at the state of the industry, with respondents representing various segments of the cycling industry, including bikeshare services, bike and parts manufacturers, retailers, and cycling ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) providers. The respondents were…
Latest Bicycle Sales Data from Key Cycling Nations Shows Further e-Bike Growth
Germany and The Netherlands Two detailed reports from Germany and The Netherlands show that the bicycle market is solid there, and far larger on a per-capita basis than Australia’s. E-Bikes Now Outsell Analogue Bikes in Germany Germany has long been the largest national cycling market in Europe and due to the very high average unit…
World News Briefs – Stages Closes, Kona’s Future Uncertain
Stages Cycling Closes Well-known USA based power meter brand Stages Cycling has laid off its entire workforce and looks to have ceased operations. According to a report by Escape Collective, multiple sources close to the brand have also indicated that the company has stopped placing orders with suppliers and ceased shipping orders to customers. At…