News
How’s Business? – March 2024
Welcome to our monthly chat with bike shop owners across Australia and New Zealand. Firstly we’d like to thank Bikecorp, Australian distributor of Knog, for sponsoring our How’s Business column for the previous six months! This booking has run its course, so if you’re a wholesaler reading this that would like to sponsor our most…
Inside Rapha – Sydney and Beyond
Sydney, NSW I recently visited Rapha’s Sydney ‘Clubhouse’ and was kindly given permission to take the photos that you see accompanying this article. A Global Brand We’ll look more closely at the Sydney premises in a moment, but first a global overview. Rapha was founded in London, UK in 2004 by Simon Mottram. It quickly…
It’s Update Time! YearBook Portal Now Open
It feels like a long time ago since we first launched what was then called the Bicycling Trade YearBook in 1996! Technology has certainly progressed since then, which is why we launched the online ‘flipbook’ version of the YearBook four years ago. It has been consistently and heavily used, becoming our second busiest page, after…
Record Low Bicycle Imports for 2023
Canberra, ACT Bicycle import data for December 2023 has now been made available so we can compare the total imports for calendar year 2023 with previous years. The decline has been dramatic. In total 666,393 conventional (‘analogue’) bicycles were imported in 2023. That’s a drop of almost half a million units, 490,697 to be exact,…
Everything Electric Show Includes E-Bikes
Sydney Showgrounds, NSW Everything Electric returned for their second annual Australian expo, held from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th February 2024 at the Sydney Showgrounds. Last year, the event was branded the Fully Charged Show, matching the name of the YouTube channel founded by British actor Robert Llewellyn in 2010 that now has over one…
World News Briefs: Giant to Sell via ‘Big Box’ Retailer in the USA
Giant Opens ‘Big Box’ Retail Accounts in the USA Giant Group announced in early February that it will be selling via “approximately” 25 selected stores within the huge Dicks Sporting Goods (DSG) chain in the USA. Those stores are branded House of Sport, Public Lands and MooseJaw. According to Wikipedia, Dick’s is the largest sporting…
Australian News Briefs: Easy Cycles Extends Warranty
Easy Cycles Announce Three Year Warranty Easy Cycles is a Western Australian based brand founded over 17 years ago by John and Marie Schelfhout. They’ve been passionate e-bike riders and advocates throughout this time, and their range is devoted to e-bikes and e-trikes for recreational, commuting and utility use. On 19th January they announced that…
Will Taipei Cycle Fully Recover in 2024?
Taipei, Taiwan For decades, Taipei Cycle has been one of the top three global cycle expos, along with Eurobike and China Cycle. The island nation of Taipei was particularly isolated right through covid, with the expo forced to run ‘virtual expos’ online. Even last year when the full expo resumed in person, exhibit and international…
How’s Business? – February 2024
Welcome to our monthly conversation with bicycle dealers. As always, we phoned dealers from across Australia and one from New Zealand and simply asked, “How’s business?” For this month’s follow up question we asked, “How were your Christmas sales compared to previous years, particularly for kids’ bikes?” Phil Lockwood from Cycle2 in Launceston, Tasmania said:…
Bike Industry Feels the Rush at TDU
Adelaide, SA The Tour Down Under is heading for its 25th anniversary with some renewed momentum after a successful event this January. This article will barely mention the race itself – leaving that for consumer media, but instead will focus upon trade events and related activities that surround the race. From an industry perspective, the…