BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
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‘Survive to 2025’ has become a prevalent saying in the cycle industry over the last year. Despite being a rather pithy catchphrase, it’s risky business to put all of your eggs in the basket of assumed calmer water in three months’ time, when in reality nobody knows what the next year may hold.
I’ve even seen one expert predicting a return to normality as late as 2027. Seriously?
My rebuttal to much of this is: ‘What is normal?’ And if there is a ‘new normal’ on the horizon, what does that look like?
Many brands are quietly understocking MY25 stock in a bid to balance out the current oversupply of pre-current models. On paper this may appear sensible, but the proof will be in the pudding.
For those creatively tackling the market in its current guise, there is still growth and success to be had.
In this mag, Pauls Cycles’ managing director Tom Thornley shares insights on the industry trends behind the retailer’s success (P15) and Simon Cox sits down with Kev Williams to discuss an impressive first year of trading for start-up Discounted Bikes – Shropshire (P18).
The last few weeks have seen some big product releases so I caught up with Wattbike CEO Stephen Loftus (P26) and Will Carleysmith of Brompton (P32) to discuss their respective launches and how they came to be.
We also meet the judging panel for the BikeBiz Awards 2024 in association with Push (P7) as we enter the final weeks before it returns at The Button Factory in Birmingham on Thursday, October 31 – tickets still available online!
Forecasting for the coming years is important, but it’s even more vital to address the problems which are active here and now.
Finding some kind of stability in this period will allow the industry to be much more reactive to whatever comes next.
Daniel Blackham
Editor
7: Meet the 15 judges for the BikeBiz Awards 2024 in association with Push
11: The latest developments from across the bike trade
15: Pauls Cycles managing director Tom Thornley shares insights on the industry trends behind the retailer’s success
18: Simon Cox sits down with Kev Williams to explore his background and the way this shaped the first 12 months of trading for Discounted Bikes – Shropshire.
22: Daniel Blackham catches up with Ben Sadler, managing director at World Bicycle Relief UK to discuss a busy year for the charity
26: Daniel Blackham speaks to Wattbike CEO Stephen Loftus to discuss the indoor cycling market and how the new Proton could reach a new market
30: This month’s movers and shakers throughout the cycle industry
32: Brompton has launched the G Line as its biggest innovation in its history. Daniel Blackham learns about the product’s origin and development from chief design and engineering officer Will Carleysmith
36: Five minutes with Cane Creek
40: BikeBiz hears from Matt Rudd, sales director at Tandem Group Cycles, who reflects on a busy year for the company’s brands and previews what dealers can expect from Claud Butler, Dawes, Falcon and Squish
49: Simon Cox sits down for a conversation with Ciovita’s newly-appointed UK chief of sales, Dave Marshall.
49: New products and sector guides, including chains, brakes, gears and cranks (P53) and workshop tools and cleaning (P59)
