OSAKA, Japan - Increased production capacities in factories in Japan in combination with a booming cycling market, made 2021 a best-ever year for Shimano in both turn-over and profit. Shimano also notes that the economic outlook for 2022 and the electronic components shortages might impact the industry.
AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - E-bike component manufacturer, enviolo has been taken over by private equity firm Inflexion. According to Dutch financial newspaper, Financieele Dagblad, an estimated $250 million (€219 million) is being invested into the company to support further growth in key markets.
MAGDEBURG, Germany - German bike manufacturer Urwahn Engineering GmbH, which relies on steel in the 3D printing process, has won over "a select group of top-class business angels" to push their business forward. Together they have invested an unspecified seven-digit sum in the young company founded by Sebastian Meinecke and Ramon Thomas.
瑞典，斯德哥爾摩（STOCKHOLM）－微型燃料電池公司myFC已與某家來自日本的自行車／電動自行車全球知名企業簽約，目的是發展並結合電動自行車技術。myFC受訪時不願透露該企業的名稱。
荷蘭，阿納姆（ARNHEM）－Specialized已開始在網路直接販售自行車／電動自行車給消費者。雖然這是早就猜到的，但為何該美國品牌現在決定推出這項服務？本社訪問了Specialized Europe發言人Koos de Boer。
荷蘭，阿姆斯多芬（AMSTELVEEN）－德國、荷蘭和比利時電動自行車市場去年平均零售價上漲4%到12.5%。GfK市調公司2021年度報告顯示，越來越多消費者有興趣購入更多高階自行車。
比利時，布魯塞爾（BRUSSELS）－目前歐盟正在討論電池相關規範，產業協會CONEBI便提醒對於電動自行車維修部分的憂慮。該協會立場聲明：「CONEBI非常支持限制電動自行車使用OEM出廠的認證電池，也非常反對終端使用者使用任何相關維修服務。」
KOPRIVNICE, Czech Republic - Shimano components for the production of 10,000 bicycles have been stolen during transport from Germany to Czech-based manufacturer Bike Fun International. The truck driver was sent to sleep by gas in a parking lot whilst the important Shimano parts were stolen.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Micro fuel cell company myFC has signed an agreement for the development and integration of their technology in e-bikes with a global leader in bicycle and e-bike systems from Japan. myFC is not willing to disclose the name of their partner.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - With the EU legislation concerning batteries currently being discussed in Brussels, the industry organization CONEBI has voiced its concerns on e-bike battery repairs. "CONEBI is a strong supporter of only using original OEM certified batteries on e-bikes, we highly discourage end-users to make use of any repair services," the industry association says in a position paper.
DARMSTADT, Germany - IoT Venture GmbH, a software developer for e-bike GSP trackers, saw its revenue rise to €4.5 million in 2021. This equates to a tripling of the sales volume compared to the previous year which reflects the booming business of these tracking devices.
OLDENBURG, Germany - Cycle Union's sales, marketing and product managing director Frank Aeschbacher has taken up a new position at mother company Prophete Group. Aeschbacher succeeds Dirk Vroomen and is now responsible for all sales, marketing and product management of Prophete Group.
Subscribers onlyMOSCOW, Russia - By no means was 2021 an easy year in Russia. Late and scarce deliveries, lack of components for OEMs, high inflation and overall uncertainty, made it a year of surprises. On the other hand, Russian authorities didn't introduce strict lockdowns, and people didn't travel abroad much, so they spent money locally. But not everybody got hold of a new bicycle.
ARNHEM, the Netherlands - The announcement last week that Specialized starts to offer online bicycle and e-bike sales and distribute directly to the consumer was to be expected. The question was: when will the American brand decide to launch this new service and why then? Koos de Boer, of Specialized Europe explains.
MUNICH, Germany - The year 2021 had it all: rising inflation, low and even negative interest rates, supply chains constraints, political crises, trade wars, more lock-downs, virus mutations, and so on. Despite all these uncertainties the global stock market trudged upwards, not to talk about the most ambitious 2021 bicycle stocks. How does that match?
BERN, Switzerland - Swiss Post has divested its PubliBike bike rental subsidiary. The company wants to concentrate on its core business, thus not make the necessary investments. It had been looking for a buyer for some time and found three investors. One of them is industry veteran and ex-BMC CEO Thomas Binggeli.
San Francisco, USA - Four years after the opening of its first store in California, the Decathlon group has announced the closure of its two remaining US shops located in San Francisco. Due to the pandemic, Decathlon had already closed the Market Street store in San Francisco in 2020.
AMSTELVEEN, the Netherlands - The average retail price for e-bikes increased between 4% and 12.5% last year in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The annual GfK E-bike Monitor 2021 shows that a growing number of consumers are interested in buying more premium bikes.
