Jo Beckendorff

DULUTH, USA - It's not only the inclusion of recently acquired Marucci Sports' revenue boosting up suspension expert Fox Factory Holding Corp.'s Sports Specialty Sports Group (SSG) third quarter sales. SSG's bicycle product sales under the Easton Cycling, Fox, Marzocchi, Race Face, Ride Concepts brand names are also impressively bouncing back.

UPPLANDS VÄSBY, Sweden - With the complete takeover of Swedish suspension specialist Öhlins Racing AB, Italian brake expert Brembo is making the largest acquisition in the company's history, according to its own statements. Öhlins had been part of US automotive supplier Tenneco Inc. since the end of 2018. Subject to the usual regulatory approvals, the takeover, which was announced on 11 October, is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2025.

BERLIN, Germany - The latest insolvency in the bicycle industry comes as a surprise, at least to outsiders. With their innovative LEV vehicles - a hybrid between an e-two-wheeler and a car - the Berlin-based Onomotion is seen as a state of the art 'last mile' vehicle with a golden future, particularly in the urban logistics sector.

BARCELONA, Spain - The strategy to concentrate on 'Powered Two-Wheelers' by Pierer Mobility AG led to the announcement to part ways with its pure bicycle and e-bikes brands Felt Bicycles and R Raymon. The company wanted to focus on motorcycles and e-bikes including the brands Husqvarna and GasGas E-Bicycles. After the publication of this new strategy, it turned out that Felt Bicycles was still somehow part of Pierer Mobility. To shed some light on the situation, Bike Europe sat down with Felt Bicycles managing director Florian Burguet.

BAD URACH, Germany - As German Gustav Magenwirth GmbH & Co. KG announced back in spring 2024, it intends to significantly strengthen its innovative power as part of the future-oriented strategic restructuring of Magura parent company Magenwirth Technologies GmbH (MWT). In this context innovation- and development-oriented Ingo Beutner was hired as additional managing director to the Magura management board.

HARD, Austria - Business has not always gone smoothly at Austria's second largest bicycle manufacturer, Simplon Fahrrad GmbH. How big these problems were, became public when the shareholders replaced the management at the end of 2023. This year's industry-wide double-digit sales drop left a real skid mark on Simplon's revenue, forcing them to apply for a Chapter 11 status this week to support the ongoing restructuring process.

CHANGHUA, Taiwan - Merida Industry Co. Ltd. Has enlarged its majority ownership in its German distributor Merida & Centurion Germany GmbH (MCG), which is managed and owned by German industry veteran Wolfgang Renner.

WELS, Austria - According to Pierer Mobility AG volatile and difficult economic conditions led to a negative first half 2024 result. The company also harmed itself with some short-term strategy changes after entering the bicycle and e-bike business. Now they have to pay the bill. In other words: drastic measures are being taken.

MÜHLHAUSEN, Germany - At this year's Eurobike, Karlheinz 'Kalle' Nicolai celebrated a premiere with his first own e-drivetrain brand. With the Helius-Drive Systems brand under the umbrella of his company Universal Transmissions GmbH (UT), the two-wheeler visionary is once again thinking outside the box.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan - Despite a double-digit revenue drop Taiwan's third-largest bicycle manufacturer Ideal Bike Corporation is continuing to work on getting a grip on the losses incurred in the past. A look at the 2024 second quarter and first half-year figures indicate a successful restructuring of the financial setbacks.