What the experts had to say at iceBike* 2025

Like iceBike North, iceBike* South, held at the Lee Valley Velodrome in the iconic Olympic village played host to a range of seminars across the event – most notably was the ‘State of the Industry’ address. Here a panel of six experts gave industry insight and answered questions from the crowd about the future of cycling.

Dominic Langan, Madison CEO; Marc van Rooij, Shimano Europe President; Mariam Draaijer, JoyRiders Britain CEO; Emily Cherry Bikeability Trust CEO; Peter Eland, Bicycle Association Technical & Policy Director; and Peter Lago, Elite, were all on hand to lend their perspective of how the industry is going and the direction it is taking.

The panel kicked off talking about the future of the workforce inside cycling, and how this may look in the future. Lago suggested cycling needs to play on its green impact as a recruitment strategy, citing many people will want to ‘be on the side of the angels’ especially as the impacts of climate change continue. He goes on to add how cycling technology is exciting and ever-growing and to stress this to potential employees.

Cherry believes the last three years of culture wars over cycling have led to a sour taste around cycling, and engaging the public in positivity around cycling will help recruit into the industry. Draaijer spoke about working conditions and pay being a big factor in bringing people into the industry, noting how freelance work can put people in vicarious financial positions.

Accessibility was discussed by the panel, with an emphasis on how to make cycling accessible to a wider range of people. Lago said: “I think a glance around the room tells you there is still tonnes to do.” In referring to the predominately male and white room he was speaking to. He went on to add how support initiatives are important and the role in being ‘Allies’ to groups who are coming into the world of cycling.

Cherry noted how Bikeability has changed its training programmes to become more inclusive and accessible, but notes how funding needs to increase for children with special educational needs or disabilities to be able to reach them. Cherry says reaching women and girls is a key factor, with a massive drop off in participation between primary school and secondary school from girls.

Langan said diversity will come with showing people there is a great career to be had in cycling, and as the industry starts being able to attract talent it will become more diverse. The allure of opportunity will help bring in new interest and faces to the area. He adds having schools install proper bike storage will help increase uptake across the board.

Van Rooij spoke about the importance of infrastructure, not just cycling networks and routes but also parking and storage. Without enabling people to be able to cycle, it is unlikely we will see a high level of uptake throughout their lives. We must supply this access if we want inclusion to be possible in this field.

With sustainability an important aspect of the future of cycling, speakers talked about the renewable processes they employed at their companies. Ethical sustainability is on the list for engineers, using recycled materials and reducing waste throughout the process.

However, a flaw in sustainability was pointed out, that if there is not a direct benefit to consumers, it is difficult to include sustainable practises. Companies can be undercut cost-wise by others who are not taking these extra steps, and if there is no cost benefit to companies it can lead to increased prices.

The issue of eBikes and safety came up, with an increased emphasis on ensuring the UK government prevents any illegal eBikes coming into the country due to safety concerns. This is a massive limiting factor in the reputation of eBikes and is potentially preventing further uptake.

Langan offered advice to independent bike workshops, suggesting to refuse servicing illegal eBikes, as the legal liability rests on the last person to have serviced a bike, therefore putting themselves at risk of repercussions, regardless of whether they touched the battery or not.

The ‘State of the Industry’ seminars at iceBike* 2025 were hosted and compered by the BikeBiz team.

iceBike* 2025 saw a record attendance over the two locations.