Posts by Phil Latz
Adventure Brands Goes Global
On 1st October Jamie Walsh, founder and owner of Adventure Brands announced the sale of his business to Global Fitness and Leisure. “We have experienced a significant increase in demand for our products,especially the iconic Rocky Mountain brand,” Jamie said in his official announcement. “To best enable the business to flourish, it was agreed that…
Australian Handlebar Dispute Makes US Trade News
You may not be aware that there is an Australian low volume, high technology carbon fibre handlebar brand named Eyropro. Based in Adelaide, South Australia Eyropro makes road racing bars that weigh just 200 grams. They have a unique upswept design that is now the subject of a patent dispute with USA brand Coefficient Cycling…
Wahoo Fitness Acquires Speedplay Pedals
On 24th September Wahoo Fitness announced that it had acquired Speedplay, the niche high end pedal manufacturer known for its unique colourful ‘lollypop’ shaped Zero pedals. In a joint press release Wahoo Fitness founder Chip Hawkins said, “Wahoo and Speedplay share a common approach of leveraging technology to develop products that enhance the performance of…
Over The Edge For Sale
Bike Society to Open New Flagship Store in Adelaide
Last month we ran a short story and photo saying that leading Adelaide retailer Bike Society were closing their Blair Athol Store. Soon after came an announcement to all of their customers and on their website that a new flagship store is opening somewhere within the Adelaide CBD. Although the announcement does not give an…
Bikesportz Takes Over as Bosch Service Centre
From 1st October Bikesportz has officially become the Australian Service and Warranty Centre for Bosch Ebike Systems. “It’s going very well so far,” Shannon Cramer told The Latz Report. “We’re working very closely with Bosch who are located nearby. Customer feedback so far has been very positive.’ In another new initiative, Bikesportz has taken over…
Wiggle Responds to Retail Pricing Claim
In our How’s Business column for October, one retailer made a comment about low retail pricing of Continental Tyres through Wiggle. Gina Ricardo, WiggleCRC Site Merchandiser & Marketing Manager for Australia and New Zealand wrote to us with the following reply: “I’ve got no idea how on earth how this customer of Wayne’s from Cyclemania…
How’s Business? October 2019
Welcome back to what was regularly the most popular item in my former trade newsletter. I simply ask bike shop owners and managers ‘How’s Business?’ I also ask a follow up question. Given that it has been a break of just over two years since my previous trade newsletter, this month I asked each person,…
What’s in the Future for Australian Ebike Sales?
Now that we have our first ever reasonably accurate number of ebike sales in Australia, how does this compare with other countries where they have been collecting sales data every year? Firstly, to be fair to Australia, we need to take the combined figure of the 22 companies who participated in the survey, 27,500, and…
eNews – October 2019
Welcome to the first ever Latz Report monthly e-newsletter! I’ve created The Latz Report to serve the bicycle industry. Its vision is to help bicycle industry members become more profitable. It will be sent to all bike industry members throughout Australia and New Zealand. I’ll be sending you a newsletter on the last Friday of…