News
How’s Business – August 2023
Welcome to How’s Business, brought to you by Knog – Australian designed and lighting up the world. With stock levels and discounting still a frequent topic of conversation in the bike trade, for this month’s follow up question we asked, “How does your current number of bicycles in stock compare with where you’d like it…
Vivente Brings Made In Australia Ambitions to Life
Sheffield, Tasmania The small Tasmanian dairy town of Sheffield has a new cottage industry, with bike sector stalwart Noel McFarlane launching a touring bike factory in his recently adopted hometown. The small-scale, two-person operation is the latest chapter for Noel’s long-standing touring brand, Vivente – bringing its production onto Australian shores, focusing on just two…
Australian Bicycle Imports Remain at Record Lows
Canberra, ACT Every Australian bicycle retailer and wholesaler knows from first-hand experience that since the end of Covid lockdowns, our market has been overstocked, resulting in widespread discounting which causes unwanted erosion of margins and profits. While this situation is not universal across all bicycle categories, particularly in the high end, in the volume market…
Euride Closes After Championing Italian Thoroughbreds
Adelaide, SA An Adelaide bike store that established Italian brand Bottecchia in Australia has closed its doors. The Euride store, in the eastern suburb of Cambelltown, had been on the market for the past two years and officially shut shop late last month. A spokesperson said Euride’s five partners had other businesses demanding their time…
Aussies at Eurobike 2023
Frankfurt, Germany Eurobike 2023 featured a record number of exhibiting companies, 1,900, for its second annual instalment since relocating from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt. It also lured an increased total of 66,590 visitors – 34,750 during the three trade days and 31,840 on the two ‘festival’ days open to the public – a rise of just…
E-Bike Retailer Rebrand as Leon Cycles Owner Faces Fraud Charges
Adelaide, SA Three Leon Cycles stores in Australia will soon revert to their original branding, Hi5 E-Bikes. Their owner, Jamal Raad, said he is just waiting for the signage to arrive to convert his stores in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. The switch follows the arrest of the China-based owner of Leon Cycles, Lijun Ding, who…
Our First Look at Six Years of E-Bike Import Data
Canberra ACT As I confessed in another article here, I’ve only recently become aware that e-bikes imports are recorded separately under Australian Border Force tariff code number 8711.60.00, that has the following definition: “Motorcycles (including mopeds), bicycles and other cycles fitted with electric motor for propulsion, with or without sidecars.” The problem that’s immediately apparent…
Three Versions of Sustainable Tyre Technology
Frankfurt, Germany Emerging technologies for greater tyre sustainability are approaching the dilemma from very different directions, with at least three manufacturers displaying their solutions at Eurobike 2023. reTyre, from Norway displayed what it claims are the world’s first 100% rubber-free pneumatic tyres, while Maxxis exhibited its Metropass and Metroload series, which now feature tyre carcasses…
microFleet Seeks Capital Injection to Launch Docking Station
Melbourne, Victoria Two e-cargo bike brands, California’s Loden and Belgium’s Bike43, have been introduced to the Australian market as part of a Melbourne company’s preparations to launch a complete solution for bicycle fleet operators. microFleet’s introduction of Loden and Bike43, to complement its own house brand, Cargo Craft, and round out its fleet offering as…
Keego Poised For Australian Arrival This Year
Frankfurt, Germany A Taiwanese-based company exclusively focused on supplying e-cargo bikes for commercial delivery services expects to expand into Australia by the end of the year. Keego, a young company which made its debut at Eurobike in 2022, says it is talking to three Australian distributors and is expecting to have its first order for…