News
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…
Sneak Peak! Inside Bikecorp’s Brand New HQ
For decades Bikecorp has been one of Australia’s leading wholesalers, mainly focusing upon P&A. But throughout this time it would be fair to say that the succession of larger premises they’ve occupied have been ‘no frills’, to put it politely. This is about to change dramatically as Bikecorp are just about to be handed the…
Trek Australia Buys WA’s Top Retailer, Expands in NSW
Trek Australia have purchased Western Australia’s largest specialist bicycle retailer, The Bicycle Entrepreneur (TBE). TBE started as a single shop in the Perth suburb of Belmont in 1983 and steadily grew to six locations, all in Perth, including an online store and a central warehouse / mechanical servicing department. TBE is already a Trek dealer,…
More Than Just Handmade Bikes at HBSA 2021
As the name suggests, the stars of the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia (HBSA) are the frame builders who craft works of art that people can ride every day. But a growing contingent of other exhibitors also take the opportunity to show their wares to a keen public audience, sprinkled with quite a few bicycle shop…
Will Lug & Carrie Help or Hinder IBD’s?
There’s a new bike business in town that operates with a significantly different business model to traditional bike shops. Lug & Carrie customers don’t buy their bikes, they subscribe. In return for a weekly subscription, they get a new fully assembled ebike delivered to their home by a trained staff member, plus some initial training…
How’s Business? June 2021
Welcome to our monthly chat with a widely varied selection of bicycle shop owners and managers spread throughout Australia and New Zealand. Both from these conversations and many other conversations and visits we’ve been making since our previous monthly newsletter, it appears that, for now at least, the bicycle stock shortage has been easing. But…
Adelaide City Bike Shop Closes
Claude Altin has run bike shops under the name of Megabike in a succession of Adelaide locations for many years. Recently he decided to retire and close Megabike which in its final location has been in Rundle Street, the main shopping street in the city centre of Adelaide. Their last day’s trading was Saturday 15th…
Is Wiggle About to be Sold?
There is more money than ever looking to purchase bicycle industry companies and, following the recent sale of Canyon, it appears that Wiggle, the global mail order company that does significant business in Australia, might be next. Financial media giant Bloomberg has reported that Wiggle could be in the sights of acquisition specialists as part…