Posts by Phil Latz
How’s Business – February 2023
Welcome to our monthly round up across Australia and New Zealand, where we talk to independent bicycle dealers to ask them “How’s Business?”. The entire global bike supply chain has gone from famine to feast in most, but not all, bike categories, with manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers all struggling with high inventory levels. With that…
Pon’s Global CEO is Upbeat About Industry’s Future
Adelaide, SA At the start line of Stage 3 of the 2023 Tour Down Under, all eyes of the huge crowd were on the elite professional cyclists. Few people would have noticed the casually dressed Janus Smalbraak unobtrusively visiting some of the teams. A study of his online media shows that Janus likes it that…
Still a Market for Framesets Only, Says Chapter2 Founder
Adelaide, SA Back in the olden days, that this author well remembers, it was virtually impossible to buy a complete high-end bike off the shelf. You would have the frame made by a local hand builder, buy the components through a bike shop and either build it yourself or have your preferred bike shop piece…
Tour Down Under Final Wrap – Great Ideas and Personnel Changes
Adelaide, SA Every bicycle dealer knows they spend many precious wage hours per year on building bikes. Depending upon the price point and level of assembly required, even working with maximum speed and efficiency it might cost 20 to 30 minutes of valuable labour time per bike. And it doesn’t end there. All of that…
Adelaide’s Newest Bike Shop Opens Just in Time for Tour Down Under
Adelaide, SA Just a week before the first races rolled away at the 2023 Tour Down Under, a new bike shop crossed the starting line. Contour is located on Hutt Street, at the leafy, affluent eastern side of the Adelaide CBD just around the corner from the East Parklands and the former Grand Prix motor…
Software Upgrade Will Make Your Yearbook Updating Easier!
Wollongong, NSW If you’re a wholesaler, manufacturer or any other bike industry member that has a listing in our annual Latz Report Yearbook, we have double good news for you! Firstly, it’s that time of year again when you have a window of opportunity to update your listing for the 2023 Latz Report Yearbook. If…
Fans and Bike Industry Return to the TDU
Adelaide, SA It has been three long years since the last fully international Tour Down Under was held in Adelaide. During the previous edition in January 2020, Covid was just starting to make the headlines, but few in either the professional peloton or the exhibiting bike industry could have anticipated the global disruption that was…
How’s Business – December 2022
Welcome to our monthly column in which we call a wide range of independent bike shops across Australia and NZ and start by simply asking “How’s business?”. We always ask a follow-up question. This month’s was: How do your sales figures since the Covid boom ended compare to your pre-Covid figures? Will Arnott from My…
Monthly Bike Imports Starting to Fall
Canberra, ACT It appears that after two years of stratospheric bicycle imports, numbers are starting to fall back to earth. Bicycle imports for August were slightly lower than most pre-Covid years and September imports were significantly lower. In August, 117,864 bikes were imported. That’s the third lowest August total since 2009 and the two years…
The More You Learn, The More You Earn!
Wollongong, NSW Years ago, a long-time friend and long-distance mentor of mine, Marc Sani (author of our Letter from America column), taught me a lesson I’ve always tried to implement. “Your readers don’t care what you think, they just want to know the facts! So just report the facts and keep your opinions to yourself.”…