Jo Beckendorff

GRENCHEN, Switzerland - Swiss bike manufacturer BMC Switzerland AG, with its brands BMC, Scor and Adicta Lab has communicated a CEO change at the start of next year. On 1 Jan., BMC's Chief Sales Officer (CSO) John Glett will be promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He will succeed David Zurcher, who is ending his 12-year tenure at the top.

KARLSTEIN am MAIN, Germany - A sudden disruption in its customer base and subsequent legal proceedings instantly resulted in a financial challenge for the well-known lithium-ion battery manufacturer BMZ Deutschland GmbH. The company's branch, BMZ Deutschland GmbH, was forced to file for insolvency under its own administration at the local court in Aschaffenburg on 24 October.

Online bicycle retailer Bike24 is raising its financial outlook for its current third quarter, and for the entire financial year. The Dresden-based company expects the positive trend from the first half of the year to continue.

WARSAW, Poland - With the opening of a new, state-of-the-art production facility near Warsaw, bike-sharing pioneer Nextbike GmbH says it is strengthening its position as Europe's leading bike-sharing provider. The new plant in Poland can produce up to 200 bicycles per day and will support the existing Nextbike network, which spans over 400 cities and 23 countries.

TACHERTING, Germany - The owner of parts and component brand Syntace and bicycle brand Liteville has filed for insolvency. Syntace GmbH is already working on a restructuring and states that ongoing business operations are fully guaranteed. All orders and inquiries via the online shops will be processed as usual, as well as deliveries to IBDs and the Liteville products spare parts supply chain.

RODGAU, Germany - The new owner of Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Chaos Sports Inc., is pushing forward in the European market. With the takeover of long-standing distributor BikeAction GmbH, which serves Germany, Austria, the Benelux, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia, the Canadians are reaffirming their strong commitment to Europe.

STUTTGART, Germany - German Shimano distributor Paul Lange GmbH & Co. (PLG), a "leading importer and service partner" for Germany and seven other European countries, has absorbed Shimano Europe's custom bikewear brand Milremo. With this move, Paul Lange expands its portfolio "and reaffirms its commitment to providing customers with top-tier quality and comprehensive service in the future." No details were provided on the selling price.

SHIZUOKA, Japan - The situation for the Japanese bicycle industry becomes even more challenging now that sales and production numbers for 2024 have turned out to be lower again for the consecutive year. For the first time in decades, domestic production fell below the 700,000 unit mark. Import volumes saw single-digit growth, but remained below the 5 million unit mark.

SHIZUOKA, Japan - The launch of the MyCanyon custom-made programme to the Asian-Pacific countries and the simultaneous opening of a branch in the upcoming sports market in China, might make people almost forget that the D2C brand Canyon has been operating in Japan successfully for more than a decade. How did the German company manage to establish a D2C brand in a service-minded nation like Japan? Yukikaze Ishiyama, Canyon market manager Japan, explains to Bike Europe.

WEIDEN, Germany - The e-bike market expansion in the past decade came with a wave of new brands and suppliers. One of them was German MSA, mainly known as a long-time Kymco importer in Germany and the Czech Republic. Challenges in the motorbike and e-bike market have resulted in a reorganisation of the company including the withdrawal from the e-bike and bicycle market.