World
European Bike Industry Survey is Surprisingly Upbeat
Brussels, Belgium Each year since 2020 Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) has published an annual Business Impact Survey which takes a holistic look at the state of the industry, with respondents representing various segments of the cycling industry, including bikeshare services, bike and parts manufacturers, retailers, and cycling ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) providers. The respondents were…
Latest Bicycle Sales Data from Key Cycling Nations Shows Further e-Bike Growth
Germany and The Netherlands Two detailed reports from Germany and The Netherlands show that the bicycle market is solid there, and far larger on a per-capita basis than Australia’s. E-Bikes Now Outsell Analogue Bikes in Germany Germany has long been the largest national cycling market in Europe and due to the very high average unit…
World News Briefs – Stages Closes, Kona’s Future Uncertain
Stages Cycling Closes Well-known USA based power meter brand Stages Cycling has laid off its entire workforce and looks to have ceased operations. According to a report by Escape Collective, multiple sources close to the brand have also indicated that the company has stopped placing orders with suppliers and ceased shipping orders to customers. At…
Taipei Cycle’s Smiling Face Hides a Tough Market
Taipei, Taiwan Sometimes people have to put on a brave face. If you walked through the bright halls of this year’s Taipei Cycle and didn’t stop to speak to anyone, you’d probably think that the Taiwanese and global bike industries were booming. But in reality, the opposite is true. I heard multiple stories about factories…
World News Briefs – Trek to Cut Staff and Product Range
Trek To Cut Product Range by 40% and Staff by 10% In an internal memo to staff delivered in early March, Trek Bicycle President John Burke announced that he has decided to “right size” the company by 10% in response to slow sales and high inventory levels. But he says the company’s overall strategy remains…
Three Examples of Increasing Product Diversity
Taipei, Taiwan Just two decades ago the cycling market was much simpler. In Australia there were mainly just road, mountain and family/kids bike categories. There were virtually no ebikes, no gravel bikes, no bike share, no cargo bikes, no subscription schemes, not to mention, no e-scooters. The 2024 Taipei Cycle reflects all of these changes,…
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…
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…
World News Round-up
The End of WiggleCRC in Australia? A recent article in Bike Europe implied that WiggleCRC’s days in Australia could be over for ever. At their peak about from about 15 years ago to a decade ago UK based Wiggle and Northern Ireland based Chain Reaction Cycles were both widely disliked names amongst Australian bicycle retailers.…
Ongoing Pain for Shimano from Huge Malware Attack
Sakai, Japan Cycling media around the world have been reporting on a malware attack that has seen thousands of confidential Shimano documents leaked to the public. The source of these reports is this article in the tech website Escape Collective. In case you don’t want to wade through that fairly long and detailed article, here’s…