News
How’s Business – July 2021
Welcome to our monthly chat with half a dozen retailers spread throughout Australia and New Zealand. With winter now well and truly set in and the traditional quiet season for bike shops underway, for this month’s follow up questions we asked our retailers if they were using this time to make any shop fit-out upgrades…
Why Now is the Right Time for an Ebike Subsidy
By Dr Elliot Fishman* In May 2021 the Victorian government, in response to heavy criticism of their electric vehicle road user charge, announced a $3,000 subsidy for the purchase of an electric vehicle priced under $68,740. This week, NSW has followed up with its own $3,000 rebate and a stamp duty exemption. The ACT government…
‘Voluptuous Pleasures of Cycling’ Explained Inside Federal Parliament
It’s hard to get a laugh at a 7:30 am breakfast function, but federal MP Andrew Leigh, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury, achieved this at the most recent Parliamentary Friends of Cycling breakfast, hosted by Stephen Hodge on behalf of We Ride Australia and held inside the federal parliament in Canberra on Tuesday 15th June.…
Wiggle, Max Studio Acquisitions Proceed
As we anticipated in a previous article here, it has now been confirmed that global UK based mail-order company Wiggle is set to be acquired by a German group Sigma Sports United. This company is a global sports e-commerce and technology platform, not to be confused with the Sigma computer brand. “We’re proud and excited…
Australia’s Bike Industry Majors Showing Strong Growth
As you might expect given the market circumstances, the major bicycle companies in Australia have all been showing strong sales growth and improved ‘bottom lines’ in their latest financial reports. Under Australian law, foreign owned Australian subsidiary companies who are categorised as Significant Global Entities (SGE’s) are required to lodge annual financial statements with the…
Bicycle Industry Gets Its First Stock Index Tracker
Set to launch on the Frankfurt stock exchange on the 21st of June, the bicycle industry will get its first stock exchange index, tracking 20 of the trade’s largest listed names. This means that an investor could invest in this single index and know that they’ve just invested in a diversified portfolio of 20 major…
Bikecorp and KRUSH Join Forces
KRUSH is an independent bike care products company, started from scratch in regional Victoria by Matt and Emma D’Arcy over the past five years. For the past three years, Melbourne based Bikecorp has been distributing KRUSH products but now Bikecorp has invested in the business. This new relationship between Bikecorp and KRUSH will see the…
Latest Data from UK Further Emphasises Bike Boom
Two recent reports from the UK further underline why Australia has been having trouble securing bicycles. The boom is global. The first was from Halfords, by far the largest bicycle retailer in the UK. Halfords sells products from the automotive and other sectors in addition to bicycles. They have about 800 outlets throughout the UK.…
Taiwanese Ebike Exports Now Exceed Non-Ebikes
Taiwan exported US$555 million (A$740 million) worth of e-bikes in the first five months of 2021, up 44% from the same period in 2020, the country’s Ministry of Finance announced. Exports of regular bikes totalled US$525 million (A$700 million), up 38% from the same period last year. Taiwan’s total bicycle exports in calendar year 2020…
Cycling Trade Media Veteran Passes Away
Although he had been retired for many years, there are still a large number of bicycle industry members who would remember David Priestley who passed away recently. David published, what is to our knowledge, the first ever Australian bicycle trade publication, Bicycle Industry News. Prior to that he was also the editor of the consumer…