News
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…
Further Data Confirms Scale of Bike Sales Surge
As every bicycle industry member knows, demand for bicycles has surged since March. But with the vast majority of bike businesses being privately owned, they are not required to reveal any sales data, so it’s hard to get an accurate read on what is happening. Halfords Group PLC is a large, publicly listed retailer of…
How Sustainable are Bicycle Tyres and Tubes?
Anna’s most recent blog provided some initial discussion around the sustainability and ethics of cycling products, primarily focusing on cycling kit and apparel. We continue the theme this month, to help position you to respond to customer queries and curiosity in this space. This month, we look at tyres and tubes – arguably the most…
BIA to Lobby for Faster Ebikes in Australia
In April this year, Bicycle Industries Australia (BIA) requested feedback from importers on the preferred maximum speed for power-assisted pedal bicycles in Australia. With 75% of the 52 responses indicating 32kph as the preferred speed, the BIA has commenced lobbying the Federal Government to modify the Australian Design Rules to increase the limit from the…