News
Bianchi to Take Over From Scott as Bike Sponsor for GreenEdge Cycling
After nine years of continuous involvement since the team’s inception, Scott will no longer be the bike sponsor of Australia’s only UCI WorldTour team, GreenEdge Cycling. In a media announcement on Monday 19th October it was announced that Bianchi would be taking over from Scott for the 2021 season and beyond. Fabrizio Scalzotto, CEO of…
Sustainable Bikes, Saddles and Helmets
By Anna Gurnhill This month we delve further into some industry initiatives that are taking place to help cycling’s contribution to environmental outcomes. This is by no means an exhaustive research or commentary on the many great things happening across this space, but highlights a few sustainable bike, saddle and helmet brands and products. Bikes…
How’s Business? – October 2020
Welcome to our monthly chat with bike shop owners across Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, stock shortages continued to dominate the dealers’ concerns and comments. This month our follow up question was, “How do you see this new season going and have you made any changes to your usual new model year bike orders?” Steve…
Bike Supply Won’t Fully Recover Before Mid-2021 – At Best!
A lengthy article recently published in the USA trade magazine Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) is a sobering reality check for bicycle dealers around the world. Factories across China and Taiwan are not suffering from shut-downs due to Covid-19. They’re open and running at full capacity. But the problem is that even maximum factory…
Will This Brand Become the Tesla of Bicycles?
Dutch bicycle company VanMoof has just raised a further US$40 million (A$54.4 million) to bring its total capital raising so far to US$73 (A$100 million). In a world full of hundreds of bike brands, how has this relatively small and new player been able to raise, what is by bicycle industry standards, such a vast…
Tour de France 2020 Was Remarkable, Both On and Off the Bike
Against all odds and a backdrop of an exponentially growing second wave of Coronavirus in France, the 2020 Tour de France proved to be one of the most successful and dramatic in living memory. It’s hard enough to keep professional teams sports like football and basketball operating in a ‘bubble’ when they’re confined within stadiums.…
Bicycle Shop Owners Should Charge for New Bike Assembly
Erik Tonkin, the owner of Sellwood Cycle Repair in Portland Oregon recently published an opinion article in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (USA). Here is some of that article: Bike shops need to charge for their new bike assemblies, and they need the support of bike industry manufacturers to make it happen. Building a bike…
Sub 7kg Ebike Sets New Guinness World Record
Mechanical engineer Dennis Freiburg from Germany has set the Guinness World Record for the lightest ever e-bike prototype with a design that weighs just 6.8kg. The ride – named the Freicycle – reportedly took Freiburg almost a year to design and build, serving as part of a project for his doctorate. Unsurprisingly, the Freicycle is…
National Battery Stewardship Scheme Will Lead to Levy on Batteries
On 4th September 2020 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) granted to the Battery Stewardship Council (BSC) the two authorisations necessary for the implementation of an industry-led stewardship scheme that aims to significantly increase the recycling of batteries and end the wasteful and dangerous practice of landfill disposal of batteries. The BSC (www.bsc.org.au) is…
First Data of Covid Bike Boom in June and July Import Figures
Bicycle import figures are now in for June and July and the expected surge is starting to appear in the data. June was strong with 99,554 bicycles imported. That’s 46% up from 67,937 in June 2019 and the second highest June total over the past decade. July saw a record number of bicycles imported into…