Jan-Willem van Schaik

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European bicycle industry gathered in Brussels last week for their founding meeting of the Cycling Industries European (CIE). It is being created to enable cycling businesses of all sizes and from all sectors to make their contribution to business and society.

DRESDEN, Germany - The TerraE consortium, set up with great ambitions about a year and a half ago to establish a giga factory to produce lithium-ion cells, has seemed to have failed.

VIENNA, Austria - In a recent case of bicycle theft the Austrian police was able to track and find a stolen e-bike in 24 hours and even discover a van of stolen goods. Geo-location and connectivity were the keywords to solve the case at an international level.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission recently published its proposals to reform the Value Added Tax (VAT) system. If the proposal goes ahead, Member States will be able to set reduced or zero VAT rates much more freely than currently.

DOETICHEM, the Netherlands - After ten years as the magazine's Key Account manager, Lucas van 't Hof is leaving the team of Bike Europe and the Dutch sister magazine for the IBDs Tweewieler. His last day in the office will be 19 October.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - The successful premiere edition of the Taipei Cycle Forum on 23 March in Taichung Taiwan, made show organizer TAITRA decide to introduce the concept at next Taipei Cycle Show in October. During the second edition of the Forum experts from

JOURE, the Netherlands - The 100 anniversary celebrations of the bicycle lights and accessories supplier Spanninga was the moment for owner and CEO Feike Spanninga to advocate the quality label for bicycle lights in road safety.

SANGERHAUSEN, Germany - Sachsenring Bike Manufaktur GmbH and the Swiss premium e-bike manufacturer Stromer AG announced a long-term partnership last week. Stromer's ST3 and ST5 for distribution on the European and the US market, will be assembled in Sangerhausen in the future.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - 'What is driving the innovation in the cycling industry in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT)' will be one of the main topics of this year's Taipei Cycle Show. The event will take place from 30 October - 3 November.

Lazer Sport found out that in some cases, certain Blade, Magma, Elle and Jade bicycle helmets sold since January 2015 do not pass roll-off tests under the CE or CPSC standards. As a result, in rare circumstances, the strap anchorage may detach