News
First Look Outside Melbourne’s Newest Bike Shop
On Monday 24th May, Melbourne’s newest bike shop opened its doors for the first time. Glow Worm Electric Bikes Melbourne is a sister shop to the long established Glow Worm Electric Bikes in Sydney which was founded in Marrickville in 2009. The new Melbourne store is also in an inner-city location at 1/73-77 Wellington Street,…
Letter to the Editor
I Don’t Think These Baby Seats Are Safe. 15 years ago Amazon would not support products that didn’t meet the safety standards. Wind forward 10 years and Amazon will stock any product and remove themselves from any responsibility saying it is not their role to police the plethora of clearly unsafe seats appearing on their…
Brompton Australia Struggling to Meet Surging Demand
Many Australian bicycle dealers dismiss the ‘funny looking little folding bikes’ from Brompton as something of a novelty. But they may be surprised to learn that Brompton now employs over 300 staff. They were already making 50,000 bikes per year pre-covid, all in London, UK and they’re aiming to reach 100,000 per annum production within…
Widely Respected Veteran Retiring After 42 Years in the Bike Industry
David Hofner is retiring from his current role at GPI Apollo after over four decades of unbroken service to the Australian bicycle industry. During this time, he worked for just three companies, only moving when each of the first two businesses closed. “I started in the bicycle industry in 1979 with Cycles Australia,” David recalled.…
The 2021 YearBook is Here!
Thanks for your positive feedback to the 2021 Latz Report YearBook that has just arrived in stores. Due to the emergence of Covid-19, the 2020 edition of this much-loved trade directory was only produced as an online virtual flipbook. Feedback after its release showed that there was still great demand in retail stores and workshops…
Shimano Sales and Profits Soar
Given the extent of the bike boom and consequent component shortages, it would surprise few in the bicycle industry to learn that Shimano’s sales and profits are up. But the recently released official figures show staggering increases for a company in a mature industry that’s celebrating it’s 100th anniversary this year. Shimano sales in its…
Strong Bicycle Imports Continue in March
Australia’s record breaking run of bicycle imports is continuing, but the rate cooled in March compared to previous months. A total of 73,139 bicycles were imported in March 2021. This was just under double the total of 39,700 imported in March 2020. However, unlike previous months, March was not an all-time record, having been narrowly…
BikeExchange Shows Strong Growth in First Financial Report
As we reported previously here, BikeExchange recently floated on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). It’s ASX code is BEX. As a public company, it’s now legally required to publish not only detailed financial information, but any other developments that might have a material impact upon the value of its shares. In its first announcement relating…
Zoomo Raises Over $34 Million in Two Years
As we recently wrote about here in our sister website Micromobility Report, Zoomo is a Sydney based ebike company previously known as Bolt Bikes, that has been growing exponentially, fuelled by a flood of venture capital. Most recently, the Australian Financial Review reported that Zoomo has closed a major $15.4 million capital raise that was…
Bike Industry Links at Disability Expo
We recently attended the ATSA Expo in Melbourne where we met several exhibitors with direct bicycle industry links and others with strong overlaps. ATSA stands for Assistive Technologies Suppliers Australia – it’s the trade association for an industry whose mobility equipment stores segment alone is estimated to have a turnover in excess of $669 million…