News
World News Briefs – Stages Closes, Kona’s Future Uncertain
Stages Cycling Closes Well-known USA based power meter brand Stages Cycling has laid off its entire workforce and looks to have ceased operations. According to a report by Escape Collective, multiple sources close to the brand have also indicated that the company has stopped placing orders with suppliers and ceased shipping orders to customers. At…
How’s Business? – April 2024
Welcome to How’s Business brought to you by our new sponsor, Dirt Works, where right now if you buy an eeSILK stem you can get a free eeSILK seatpost (conditions apply). In summary, this month’s respondents painted an overall picture of a tough market for bike sales, but repairs still going fairly well, as many…
Taipei Cycle’s Smiling Face Hides a Tough Market
Taipei, Taiwan Sometimes people have to put on a brave face. If you walked through the bright halls of this year’s Taipei Cycle and didn’t stop to speak to anyone, you’d probably think that the Taiwanese and global bike industries were booming. But in reality, the opposite is true. I heard multiple stories about factories…
Spotto! Aussies at Taipei Cycle
Taipei, Taiwan I will admit to living six decades before learning of the game, ‘Spotto!’ But my four year old grandson is helping me make up for lost time by taking huge pleasure in spotting yellow cars and motorbikes before I do and enthusiastically telling me how much he’s winning by. I decided to take…
Pedal Group Receives B-Corp Certification
Brisbane, Queensland Australian-founded Pedal Group Pty Ltd announced on Monday 11th March that it had achieved B Corp certification for its 99 Bikes retail stores and Advance Traders wholesalers in Australia and New Zealand. B-Corp certification is a voluntary code that companies can choose to apply for, that requires them to be audited in relation…
Australian News Briefs: Factor Bikes Eyes Australian Expansion
Factor Bikes Eyes Australian Expansion Factor Bikes is a very high end carbon bike manufacturer owned by American Rob Gitelis and based in Taiwan. Well known for sponsoring world tour teams including currently Israel-Premier Tech, Factor launched in Australia some years ago, but is now looking to expand their profile and distribution here. With this…
World News Briefs – Trek to Cut Staff and Product Range
Trek To Cut Product Range by 40% and Staff by 10% In an internal memo to staff delivered in early March, Trek Bicycle President John Burke announced that he has decided to “right size” the company by 10% in response to slow sales and high inventory levels. But he says the company’s overall strategy remains…
Oh No! Is Chinglish an Endangered Species?
Taipei, Taiwan Wikipedia’s definition of chinglish is, “Slang for spoken or written English language that is either influenced by a Chinese language or is poorly translated.” It’s easy to be critical. The languages are so different. Imagine the “funny” mistakes that a westerner like me would make if I tried to write something in Chinese.…
Three Examples of Increasing Product Diversity
Taipei, Taiwan Just two decades ago the cycling market was much simpler. In Australia there were mainly just road, mountain and family/kids bike categories. There were virtually no ebikes, no gravel bikes, no bike share, no cargo bikes, no subscription schemes, not to mention, no e-scooters. The 2024 Taipei Cycle reflects all of these changes,…
Study Finds that K-Mart Bikes Cost More Than IBD Bikes
Sydney, NSW Year after year, independent bicycle dealers (IBD’s) miss out on sales of entry level bikes because the customer thinks it’s cheaper to buy a bike from K-Mart or another mass merchant. All of us in the bike industry know that most mass merchant bikes are rubbish! But it’s hard to get a sale…