News
These Five Shops Are Looking Well Stocked – For Now At Least
In this age of random Covid hot spots and unexpected lockdowns, I’ve chosen not to risk too many road trips. Not because of health concerns, but just to avoid the potential disruption of having to quarantine and get tested through being in the wrong place at the wrong time. On Friday 26th March I finally poked my head out of the burrow, and headed to Sydney where I…
Industry Guru Gives His Assessment of Future Product Supply and Demand
Many members in the bicycle industry have either met or know of the American bike industry veteran Bob Margevicius. As well as being long time Executive Vice President of Specialized, he’s also renowned as an enthusiastic cyclist and supporter of the bike industry, former New Zealand resident and the Vice Chair of the BPSA (Bicycle Product Suppliers Association) in the USA. …
Radical Changes Proving Successful for TMO Sports
For many years the wholesaler now trading exclusively under the name TMO Sports was better known by the name of its sister company, Velo Vita. But things started changing early last year when the lease for their combined warehouse / office space in the inner southern suburbs of Sydney was up for renewal. This area is possibly the most tightly held and expensive industrial real estate…
How’s Business? May 2021
Welcome to our monthly chat with bicycle shop owners and managers across Australia and New Zealand. As always, we start by simply asking, ‘How’s business?’ This months follow up question was, ‘How do you think the coming winter season is going to compare to last year’s?’ Troy Reilly of Sprung in the centre of Launceston, Tasmania said: Mate, business…
Major New Developments Including Ownership Changes at MTB Direct
On 8th April 2021, MTB Direct, Australia’s leading online retailer of mountain bike parts and accessories, announced that they have partnered with SPS Commerce and its Australia-based team of experts to advance their supplier collaboration and drive new efficiencies. Since being founded in 2012 MTB direct has experienced double-digit annual growth and exceeded 350,000 e-commerce orders. “Mountain biking is an increasingly…
Bike Counter Data Shows Clear Covid Spike
We’ve all seen increased cycling activity during Covid lockdowns and heard about the surge in demand for bicycles and related equipment. But it’s interesting to see some hard data that precisely measures cycling activity, even if it’s only a snapshot from six locations around Australia. The two charts accompanying this story relate to the same six bike…
Giant Profit!
The global Covid-induced bike boom has seen Giant Group’s net profit grow by almost half in 2020. Net profit for 2020 was up 46.7% over 2019. It reached NT$4.95 billion (A$228 million). This was based upon total sales for 2020 of NT$70 billion (A$3.22 billion) meaning that the net profit percentage rate was still a quite modest 7.1%. Giant said all its…
Australian Bicycle Imports Smash All-Time Records
We’ve now received the bicycle import data for January and February 2021 and the record-breaking run of monthly imports started in 2020 has continued. In January a total of 146,706 bicycles were imported consisting of 40,492 kids bikes and 106,214 adult bikes. That total made it the all-time record in January by over 50% compared to the previous record high of 97,440 units…
How Bicycle Frames Could Become Batteries
One of the downsides of electric bicycles is that they’re heavier than conventional bikes. But imagine if the bicycle frame itself could also be the battery. We’re not just talking about existing technology where batteries are now hidden inside the frame, sometimes with an exposed surface that blends in with the frame tube’s profile, but new technology where the…
Volvo Partners with The Classics Gran Fondo Series
These days motor vehicle companies are becoming increasingly keen to associated with cycling. An example of this was Volvo’s collaboration in a major research and safety campaign with Swedish helmet company POC, and more recently when Volvo launched the world’s first cyclist and pedestrian detection and collision avoidance system. Volvo Car Australia recently formalized a two-year partnership with Bicycling Australia,…