BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
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Prior to joining BikeBiz I worked for a local newspaper. My then editor always told us that any good new source – print or digital – should be like a healthy diet. Balanced.
This isn’t just about presenting both sides of an argument, it’s utilising positive and negative stories to counteract each other. If you read a news source that solely focused on crime, it would be quite depressing. Too far the other way is no good either. It doesn’t reflect reality.
This got me thinking about how we are doing in the bike trade at getting our news diet right. It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole of negativity with so much noise still buzzing about how the trade is doing. Another IBD closing its doors or wicked whispers that [insert brand name here] is struggling.
But there are plenty of positive accounts as well. There are retailers up and down the country adapting to their own circumstances and finding success, many distributors are working closer than ever with partners, and lots of brands are focusing on delivering the right innovations at the right time.
In this edition of BikeBiz, we try to capture as much of that as we can.
Rebecca Morley speaks to Rockets & Rascals, one of the many retailers working diligently to create its own green shoots to grasp hold of (P18), Rebecca Bland talks to Cycling UK chief executive Sarah Mitchell about the charity’s latest efforts to get more people on bikes (P22) and we round-up the findings of Houlihan Lokey’s report on the future of the bike trade (P26).
We also catch up with Tandem Group Cycles (P37), take a closer look at Knog’s rebrand (P42), and get an insight into the design process of DMR’s all-new Deathgrip 2 (P49).
While finding the balance is hard, it is worth it.
By all means eat an airport-sized Toblerone in one sitting, but expect to feel a whole lot worse for doing so.
Daniel Blackham,
Editor
7: BikeBiz looks at the first steps being taken the new Labour government and rounds-up some reaction from industry stakeholders
11: The latest developments from across the bike trade
15: Daniel Blackham catches up with Brendan Fox of Destination Sport Experiences to discuss how consumer trends are changing in both the travel and cycling market
18: The BikeBiz Awards 2023 IBD of the Year winner, Rockets and Rascals, speaks to Rebecca Morley about its 10th anniversary and the value of recognising hard work in a tough retail environment
22: Rebecca Bland talks to Cycling UK chief executive Sarah Mitchell about the charity’s latest efforts to get more people on bikes, winning the BikeBiz Cycle Advocacy Award in 2023, and its first-ever five-year plan
26: BikeBiz takes a closer look at a recent report from Houlihan Lokey and Kearney which considers a number of factors that could define the future of the bike industry
30: This month’s movers and shakers throughout the cycle industry
32: Daniel Blackham sits down with Verge Motorcycles’ CRO George Blankenship to discuss the brand’s entry to the UK market and its unique approach to retail
37: In this month’s distributor update, BikeBiz catches up with Tandem Group Cycles’ digital marketing director, Charlie Foulkes
42: Daniel Blackham speaks to Hugo Davidson and Monty from Knog about the Australian brand’s new visual identity and the process behind it
46: Five minutes with Bikonic
49: DMR’s Deathgrip has been a stalwart in the UK MTB scene since its introduction in 2017. Now, the brand has unveiled an all-new Deathgrip 2. Head of marketing Mark Noble talks Daniel Blackham through the details.
53: BikeBiz rounds up some of the latest products in the MTB market, as well as winter clothing and accessories (P59) and new products (P65)
