Specialized Buys its First Store in Australia

Studio de Velo Brisbane

Brisbane, Queensland Specialized has purchased its first store in Australia, with Specialized Bicycle Components Australia this month confirming it has bought Studio de Velo in Brisbane. In an email to its retailers, Specialized announced it had purchased the Sumner store and recruited its owner, Simon Sirotti, as Specialized Australia’s retail operations manager. While key rival…

Specialized Introduces Consumer-Direct Sales in Australia

Specialized Delivery will offer hand delivery, personalised set-up and the chance to ask questions at the point of delivery, for customers who purchase the bike on Specialized.com. Image: Specialized

Port Melbourne, VIC Specialized Bicycle Components Australia is introducing ‘Ship to Home’ and ‘Specialized Delivery’ options for bikes purchased online. Its announcement of the new services last week came shortly after Specialized confirmed it was beginning consumer-direct sales in the US and UK for non-electric bikes. A spokesperson for Specialized Bicycle Components Australia said Specialized…

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 to the Editor: Retailers Should Have Freedom to Choose

Letter to The Editor

To the Editor, I own Tower Systems, a local Aussie software company serving several hundred bike retailers with locally made and supported software. I was disappointed to discover that Specialized has advised retailers that the new version of their electronic invoice platform will only link with the Lightspeed and Vend software products. Lightspeed recently bought…

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…

Specialized E-Bike Battery Recall Includes Some Australian Bikes

Specialized Battery Recall

Specialized is recalling about 2,500 first-generation Turbo Levo and Kenevo electric mountain bike battery packs. Water can penetrate the seal around the LED control pad on the bicycle’s lithium-ion battery pack and cause the battery to short circuit, posing fire and burn hazards. No injuries have been reported from the fault. The recall involves Specialized…

Industry Guru Gives His Assessment of Future Product Supply and Demand

This screenshot shows the various lead times for orders placed upon factories in early 2021 for each component.

Many members in the bicycle industry have either met or know of the American bike industry veteran Bob Margevicius. As well as being long time Executive Vice President of Specialized, he’s also renowned as an enthusiastic cyclist and supporter of the bike industry, former New Zealand resident and the Vice Chair of the BPSA (Bicycle Product Suppliers Association) in the USA. …