Trade News Briefs – September 2024

Portrait of man standing with bike

Industry Veteran Ed Lancaster Picks Up Three New Roles Those of you with long industry backgrounds might remember the Lancaster brothers, Wally and Edward, from bicycle racing days in the 1980’s and 90’s. After partnering in a bicycle apparel distribution business, Wally left the industry and now runs gyms in Stanthorpe and Tenterfield through his…

World News Briefs – September 2024

Inside view of bicycle factory

Mixed Financial Results for Global Bike Companies Everyone in the Australian bicycle industry knows that times have been tough for over two years now since the end of the covid boom. But exactly how tough has it been on a global scale? We don’t often report upon the financial results of global bicycle companies, but…

How’s Business? – August 2024

Interior view of bicycle shop

Welcome to How’s Business, brought to you by our sponsor Dirt Works Australia. Australia just had its most successful Olympic games ever both overall and across the cycling events. Specifically in cycling, we won gold in the Women’s Road Time Trial, one gold, two silver and two bronze in track cycling, One gold in BMX…

Industry Leaders Discuss Our Current Bicycle Market

Sale signs in a pile

What is happening in our Australian bicycle market? As you can read in a separate article this month, bicycle imports remain way below pre-covid levels. Many dealers and wholesalers are struggling. Some dealers have closed. Sales are flat. Discounting is still prevalent. Is this the new normal, or will things improve? And if so, when?…

Ideas From Four Unique London Bike Shops

Bike shop street frontage

London, UK This article is part two of a two part series about London bike shops. You can see part one entitled “Inside London’s Bicycle Retail Scene” here. Recently I had the opportunity to spend a week in London and before arriving took the opportunity to tee up visits and interviews with the owners and…

Aussies and Kiwis Make Their Mark at Eurobike

Landscape view of Frankfurt Main River

Frankfurt, Germany Many Aussies and Kiwis make the long journey to Eurobike each year. Most are trade visitors, looking for new products and catching up with their existing suppliers. But a growing number are also exhibiting. In addition to the photos below, we also saw exhibits from Australia’s Knog, Steadyrack and New Zealand’s Aeroe. Here…

Bicycle Import Volumes Heading for Financial Year Record Low

Infographic chart

Canberra, ACT The number of bicycles being imported to Australia is remaining at very low levels, as the “covid stock overhang” continues. When we last wrote about bicycle imports here, January and February 2024 data was showing signs of a rebound after 18 months of low imports. But now that we have data for March,…

Trade News Briefs: Things are on the Move in Melbourne!

Group of people cycling on a track in bush setting

World Trail Breaks Ground on Warburton MTB Destination After a decade of planning, extensive environmental studies, community opposition and setbacks, the huge Warburton MTB Destination is finally under construction. This mountain bike park will include a massive 160 kilometres of singletrack and is located only about 30 minutes from the eastern edge of Melbourne’s suburbs…

Inside London’s Bicycle Retail Scene

Person riding bike accross London bridge

London, UK Recently I had the opportunity to spend a week in London and visited eight diverse bicycle businesses. This article, which is the first of two, gives an overview, then looks at four of them, with four more in depth visits to other stores documented in a separate article entitled “Ideas from Four Unique…

Software and Collaborations Headline Bosch Launch

Man presenting on stage

Frankfurt, Germany When in comes to who has the biggest market share of mid-mount e-bike drivetrain systems few dispute that Bosch is the leader. According to one industry expert, for the European market Bosch has a 60% market share, followed by Shimano at 22%, Bafang at 8% and all others combined for the final 10%.…