Pon’s Global CEO is Upbeat About Industry’s Future

Two men standing at bicycle event. Pon Bike CEO

Adelaide, SA At the start line of Stage 3 of the 2023 Tour Down Under, all eyes of the huge crowd were on the elite professional cyclists. Few people would have noticed the casually dressed Janus Smalbraak unobtrusively visiting some of the teams. A study of his online media shows that Janus likes it that…

Fashionable Bike Brand Veloretti Purchased by Pon.Bike

Veloretti’s Ace e-bike

Cloppenberg, Germany Dutch bike conglomerate Pon.Bike announced this month it is acquiring fashionable bike brand Veloretti, also based in Amsterdam. Veloretti is one of Europe’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer bicycle brands, founded 10 years ago and now active in 27 countries. A statement from Pon said Veloretti will “continue to function independently under the leadership of…

Europe Leaders Turning to Bike Industry for Solutions

Frankfurt, Germany The European bike industry is enjoying unprecedented prominence and relevance among the continent’s top decision makers as, for the first time, the bike sector is being viewed as a central solution to environmental, energy supply and social crisis ,according to Cycling Industries Europe CEO Kevin Mayne. Speaking at a Eurobike 2022 industry leaders…

Letter From America: Rationale Behind the Great White Feeding Frenzy

Wheat Ridge Cyclery shop front

Santa Fe, New Mexico It’s as if someone tossed a ton of chum into the turbulent waters surrounding independent bicycle dealers, attracting a scrum of swift-moving sharks snapping up prime retail locations in the prosperous suburbs of major metropolitan areas. Look at a map and it’s easy to see where the Great Whites — Trek,…

Five Predictions for Industry Direction in 2022

Bike stock levels may lead to an increase in prices

Little Rock, USA US bike industry commentator Rick Vosper has published his predictions for a number of possible developments in the American bike industry for 2022. At least some of his projections in ‘Five things that might happen in 2022. Or Not’, published online this week in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, could just as…

Letter from America: Who Is This New Bike Market Dominator?

Pon Gazelle

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA It’s fair to say Pon Holdings BV’s decision to snap up Dorel’s bike biz sent a risible ripple through the executive ranks at major brands – Trek, Specialized, Giant, Accell and a few others. What could this audacious US$810 million (A$1.089 billion) move by a Dutch conglomerate mean for future…

How Many More IBDs will Bike Brands Acquire?

Mikes Bikes website

San Francisco, California, USA Are we beginning to see a wider pattern of major bicycle companies looking to ‘vertically integrate’ by buying out some of their dealers or starting new stores from scratch? Already for several years, Trek has been progressively buying dealers and in some cases starting new stores. This is USA head office…

European Bicycle Factories Starting to Reopen

In late March Pon Bike announced that they were halting production at their Derby Cycle factory in Cloppenburg Germany until at least 17th April. However they would still be delivering bicycles that they had in stock. As at 20th April, there had still been no announcement as to when production would resume. Other European factories…

Meet Cycling’s Newest ‘Major’

~ Sponsored Content ~ Pon Holdings only started in the bicycle industry eight years ago, but is already one of the global bike industry’s major players. Pon.Bike Australia has had an equally meteoric rise having just moved into its fourth consecutively larger premises in eight years. We recently caught up with Pon.Bike Australia’s founding CEO,…