Read CyclingIndustry.News’ latest magazine online now

CyclingIndustry.News’ fifth print magazine of the year is now available to read online, or download, all via our Issuu channel.

Challenged to pull together a magazine that is timely in a liquid environment for all in the supply chain, we kick the issue off by addressing one of the most pressing challenges of the moment; that is the energy crisis, plus other overheads rising fast. Mat Clark of Brink UK and Afan Valley‘s Ben Threlfall discuss how they are adapting around the changing circumstances.

Continuing on from our retailer’s view on current headwinds, this month CI.N’s market research snippet takes stock of the bigger picture of trends working for and against increased sales, including what are the greatest obstacles to growing cycling numbers in 2022.

Eurobike’s Frankfurt debut gave us chance to get a feel for how a change of venue would inject fresh energy into the leading European exhibition. One answer was pulling in the investment world. Ralf Kindermann, organiser of the Investor’s Lounge, is interviewed on page 12.

Taking another of Eurobike’s opportunities, CI.N caught the now free agent, but industry icon Gary Fisher for an exclusive interview on what his focus may be now that the long-term relationship with Trek has come to an end. Head to page 54 for that.

The too often overlooked disability bikes market is analysed by Laura Laker in a brilliant piece on page 59. Learn how the pricing has become prohibitive and the grants harder to access with expert comment from Wheels for Wellbeing.

Elsewhere in the magazine we have profiles with brands including eStarli, Foundation Fit’s Wei-Ho Ng, Pembree, Ezlift plus retailers Fully Charged and GreenAer.

That an plenty more too, all found right here. UK readers, don’t forget to register for the Saddleback House show.

Editor’s note

Like those writers taking the time to document climate change records in printed books, the task since the last magazine hit desks has simply been keeping up with the pace of change in the bicycle industry. No sooner has the proverbial ink dried on a story published online documenting a significant shift in the bike industry, another whisper surfaces that will become part of the record.

Our microcosm is experiencing a time of unprecedented change, driven in large part by mega trends in transport, health and innovation, plus societal strains such as the cost-of-living crisis and congestion, to name just a few.

To briefly illustrate the point, headlines from the past month include Porsche formally starting an eBike company, Specialized buying the Rutland Cycling business and the not-so-small European Investment Bank throwing its weight behind active mobility. These headlines, while unrelated in their specifics, are connected in that each illustrates a broad trend of focused investment in the battle for market position and share at time when our market is a standout.

Some consolidation is once again happening alongside. Some of these trends now becoming daily news gave me pause for thought when launching Cycling Industry News, nearly seven years ago now. What good is a B2B if the march of D2C is unstoppable, I have often thought over the years. But businesses evolve, adapt, overcome. Bike retailers will know only too well that dwelling on external threats is not only bad for one’s mental state, but that the time lost to unproductive trains of thought is ill-afforded. As it stands some forces, such as intense pressures on overheads, are out of our general control making it all the more important to take charge of those challenges that are within our reach.

Within the latest magazine we profile retailers that have spotted the wave rising, catching trends such as commercial fleet delivery of eBikes early. Ahead of the pack, each has become an innovator, able to take more risks and open more doors. Likewise, each has done an excellent job at marketing themselves, making sure they are at the very least a reference point for those exploring transport habit change. If you are not at least visible, will you ever really be in the conversation?

That point is made by industry legend and now free agent Gary Fisher in an interview within these pages. Not shy of racking up column inches himself, Fisher told me that the bike industry has to get on with marketing itself, arguing that the time is now if you want to ride the next wave. “Somebody is paying the bills in the media,” he says, recounting how the auto industry has been successful in creating a ‘personality’ around its product where people buy as part of an identity.

“Don’t just exist,” he urged the bike industry, adding “we are in a positive space for the planet, put up your marketing budgets. The writing is on the wall for large vehicles in urban areas.”

Has the car industry’s estimated 1.44 billion strong customer book just become our blue ocean? Accounting for that sectors’ presence at bike shows lately, I’ll let you decide whether now is the time to double down on bike products and services, or to worry yourself about another threat to business.