Trade
Will Lug & Carrie Help or Hinder IBD’s?
There’s a new bike business in town that operates with a significantly different business model to traditional bike shops. Lug & Carrie customers don’t buy their bikes, they subscribe. In return for a weekly subscription, they get a new fully assembled ebike delivered to their home by a trained staff member, plus some initial training…
Brompton Australia Struggling to Meet Surging Demand
Many Australian bicycle dealers dismiss the ‘funny looking little folding bikes’ from Brompton as something of a novelty. But they may be surprised to learn that Brompton now employs over 300 staff. They were already making 50,000 bikes per year pre-covid, all in London, UK and they’re aiming to reach 100,000 per annum production within…
Widely Respected Veteran Retiring After 42 Years in the Bike Industry
David Hofner is retiring from his current role at GPI Apollo after over four decades of unbroken service to the Australian bicycle industry. During this time, he worked for just three companies, only moving when each of the first two businesses closed. “I started in the bicycle industry in 1979 with Cycles Australia,” David recalled.…
Strong Bicycle Imports Continue in March
Australia’s record breaking run of bicycle imports is continuing, but the rate cooled in March compared to previous months. A total of 73,139 bicycles were imported in March 2021. This was just under double the total of 39,700 imported in March 2020. However, unlike previous months, March was not an all-time record, having been narrowly…
BikeExchange Shows Strong Growth in First Financial Report
As we reported previously here, BikeExchange recently floated on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). It’s ASX code is BEX. As a public company, it’s now legally required to publish not only detailed financial information, but any other developments that might have a material impact upon the value of its shares. In its first announcement relating…
Zoomo Raises Over $34 Million in Two Years
As we recently wrote about here in our sister website Micromobility Report, Zoomo is a Sydney based ebike company previously known as Bolt Bikes, that has been growing exponentially, fuelled by a flood of venture capital. Most recently, the Australian Financial Review reported that Zoomo has closed a major $15.4 million capital raise that was…
Radical Changes Proving Successful for TMO Sports
For many years the wholesaler now trading exclusively under the name TMO Sports was better known by the name of its sister company, Velo Vita. But things started changing early last year when the lease for their combined warehouse / office space in the inner southern suburbs of Sydney was up for renewal. This area is possibly the most tightly held and expensive industrial real estate…
Major New Developments Including Ownership Changes at MTB Direct
On 8th April 2021, MTB Direct, Australia’s leading online retailer of mountain bike parts and accessories, announced that they have partnered with SPS Commerce and its Australia-based team of experts to advance their supplier collaboration and drive new efficiencies. Since being founded in 2012 MTB direct has experienced double-digit annual growth and exceeded 350,000 e-commerce orders. “Mountain biking is an increasingly…
Australian Bicycle Imports Smash All-Time Records
We’ve now received the bicycle import data for January and February 2021 and the record-breaking run of monthly imports started in 2020 has continued. In January a total of 146,706 bicycles were imported consisting of 40,492 kids bikes and 106,214 adult bikes. That total made it the all-time record in January by over 50% compared to the previous record high of 97,440 units…
Volvo Partners with The Classics Gran Fondo Series
These days motor vehicle companies are becoming increasingly keen to associated with cycling. An example of this was Volvo’s collaboration in a major research and safety campaign with Swedish helmet company POC, and more recently when Volvo launched the world’s first cyclist and pedestrian detection and collision avoidance system. Volvo Car Australia recently formalized a two-year partnership with Bicycling Australia,…