Bosch Pays A$1.345 million for a Domain Name

What’s in a name? Clearly a lot if that name is ebike.com! Robert Bosch GmbH, the huge multinational owner of Bosch eBike Systems, just paid US$1,008,900 (A$1,345,000) for the domain name ebike.com. According to dnjournal.com, the domain was previously owned by names company Legendary Names Inc, which bought it at an auction of expired domain…

Popular Australian Founded Website Sold – Again…

CyclingTips was founded in Melbourne by Wade Wallace. It was a classic ‘bootstraps home business start up’ which became one of the most popular cycling websites not just in Australia but globally. It was later bought by another Melbourne based business, BikeExchange. In 2019 BikeExchange sold it to Canadian based global mountain bike site Pinkbike.…

Bianchi Invests to Quadruple Italian Production Capacity

As most Australian bicycle trade members, but perhaps not so many consumers realise, most of the famous European brands shifted the bulk of their production to Asia years ago. But faced with ballooning delays and freight costs, plus tight ‘anti dumping’ tariffs, more recently there has been a growing trend to move at least some…

Shimano’s Malaysia Factory Closed Due to Covid Wave

Shimano Factory

The Shimano component factory in Malaysia has not yet restarted its production following a forced closure. The factory had to shut down completely last week after the Malaysian government issued a total lockdown from June 1 to June 14 considering the situation of COVID-19 in the country. Further delays in the supply chain are now…

Wiggle, Max Studio Acquisitions Proceed

Movistar Team riders

As we anticipated in a previous article here, it has now been confirmed that global UK based mail-order company Wiggle is set to be acquired by a German group Sigma Sports United. This company is a global sports e-commerce and technology platform, not to be confused with the Sigma computer brand. “We’re proud and excited…

Bicycle Industry Gets Its First Stock Index Tracker

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Set to launch on the Frankfurt stock exchange on the 21st of June, the bicycle industry will get its first stock exchange index, tracking 20 of the trade’s largest listed names. This means that an investor could invest in this single index and know that they’ve just invested in a diversified portfolio of 20 major…

Latest Data from UK Further Emphasises Bike Boom

Halfords Store Front

Two recent reports from the UK further underline why Australia has been having trouble securing bicycles. The boom is global. The first was from Halfords, by far the largest bicycle retailer in the UK. Halfords sells products from the automotive and other sectors in addition to bicycles. They have about 800 outlets throughout the UK.…