International
Fashionable Bike Brand Veloretti Purchased by Pon.Bike
Cloppenberg, Germany Dutch bike conglomerate Pon.Bike announced this month it is acquiring fashionable bike brand Veloretti, also based in Amsterdam. Veloretti is one of Europe’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer bicycle brands, founded 10 years ago and now active in 27 countries. A statement from Pon said Veloretti will “continue to function independently under the leadership of…
Riese & Müller CEO Steps Down for Innovation Focus
Darmstadt, Germany The CEO of one of Europe’s most enduring and important players in micromobility, Riese & Müller, has stepped down from executive duties to focus more on innovation and product development. Markus Riese, who co-founded the e-bike specialist company in Germany almost 30 years ago, last month announced he was relinquishing the top executive…
Letter From America: Infrastructure Over Subsidies for Cycling Boost
Santa Fe, US There’s been much wailing and gnashing of teeth of late among e-bike advocates who’ve long hoped the federal government would loosen its purse strings and subsidise the purchase of new e-bikes. And it almost came to be. But a bold plan to offer a 30% tax credit toward the purchase of an…
Hopper Stays Close to Driving Experience
Frankfurt, Germany Luring drivers out of cars and into more sustainable transport options could require alternatives as close as possible to the automobile experience, according to the developer of a new light electric vehicle (LEV) prototype. German company Hopper Mobility, launched only last year, attracted plenty of attention when it exhibited its three-wheeler prototype at…
Cargo Explosion Delivers a Wealth of Innovations
Frankfurt, Germany The exploding cargo bike market was an unmistakeable feature of Eurobike 2022, with a growing array of global players occupying much of one exhibition hall. A vast spectrum of designs whizzed around the test tracks and many industry folk and members of the public took the opportunity to try the multitude of cargo…
TQ Creates a Much Smaller, Lighter, Quieter E-Bike Drive System
Frankfurt, Germany It’s a sign of how attractive the bicycle industry has become to outside players when a world leading company which already has 1,700 specialists working in robotics, aerospace and rocket science decides to invest heavily into developing new bicycle components. Not only that, it then works secretly for four long years with one…
Ready to Tread Into Australian Market
Frankfurt, Germany A unique zip-on adaptable tyre tread solution is set to become more prominent in Australia, with Norwegian company reTyre signing up a distributor to explore market opportunities in this country. reTyre was attracting plenty of attention when it displayed its latest generation of modular zip-on treads at Eurobike 2022 last month. The modular…
How’s Business – A Berlin Special
Berlin, Germany Germany continues to be the biggest market for bicycles in the European Union and e-bikes are steadily growing towards claiming 50% of its total unit sales. However, it doesn’t take much searching in the nation’s capital, Berlin, to find examples that buck the trend completely. While major city commuting and e-bikes appear to…
Bosch Takes the Brakes Off
Frankfurt, Germany Despite there being plenty of available function rooms at Messe Frankfurt, Bosch chose to hire a more character-filled hall on the other side of the city for its 2023 season launch. Ironically, the bus sent to collect members of the media from Messe Frankfurt (as the showgrounds that now host Eurobike are called)…
Could This be a Breakthrough in Chain Durability?
Frankfurt, Germany In a relatively small booth at Eurobike 2022 was a company claiming to have invented a new bicycle chain design that will triple the wear life compared to conventional chains. That’s certainly a big statement for a product that’s only experienced incremental improvements over the past century. So what is the basis of…