REDDITCH, England - With a current strategy of "controlling the controllables," the UK's largest bicycle retailer Halfords continues to face challenging conditions. With poor weather conditions in spring and summer affecting sales, the retailer failed to meet pre-COVID sales levels in its cycling department in the first 26 weeks of the current financial year which started 1 April.
MADRID, Spain - Retail giant Decathlon and trade association AMBE have joined forces to promote the use of bicycles as a means of transport, leisure, tourism and sport. With this collaboration, the company and the association seek to develop common strategies that promote the use of bicycles and share market strategies.
UTRECHT, The Netherlands - Following the issues with cargo bike brand Babboe earlier this year, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is now conducting investigations into the safety of multiple cargo bike brands. Vogue Bike has confirmed that information has been requested regarding "technical specifications of products."
ROOSENDAAL, The Netherlands - Timyo, the Dutch-based company that designed, developed and jointly manufactured e-bikes under its brands Van Dijck, Keola and Muon, has been declared bankrupt this week. The company had been struggling with issues for some time, including technical defects in e-bike components. However, continuation of the Van Dijck and Muon brands is already in place.
ANTWERP, Belgium - Drivetrain brand, Classified has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Dennis Weijers as chief commercial officer (CCO). Weijers joins Classified from Shimano Europe, where he served as director of marketing.
TREVIGLIO, Italy - Bianchi has officially inaugurated its new production plant inside the renovated facility in Treviglo. The new production line boasts a manufacturing capacity of 500 bicycles per shift and was built according to innovative operating logic and productivity processes developed by Bianchi. On hand at the inauguration was new appointed CEO Marco Gentili who takes over the position from Fabrizio Scalzotto.
BATH, England - Cycling marketing agency Shift Active Media's inaugural 'What's Next?' report in 2023 which uncovered the value of marketing investment during a downturn is returning this year with a webinar to launch the new findings. Aimed at enabling cycling brands to navigate the challenging landscape in 2024, the webinar presented by CSO Doug Baker is open to the whole cycling industry.
PEKAN NENAS, Malaysia - Shimano is having to investigate one its Malaysia suppliers, Kwang Li Industry, following an investigation by a UK newspaper which uncovered labour abuse allegations at the factory. Having had very few human-rights incidents compared to other industries, has the bicycle industry been too naïve about the quality of its Asian suppliers?
SUZHOU, China - Motor manufacturer Bafang has identified waterproofing as a key focus area of its R&D. The company has set specific waterproof upgrade targets and a comprehensive plan for various components within its drive systems, including motors, gear-hubs and displays. By fine-tuning the product structure design, the team aims to elevate the overall waterproof performance of its products.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - E-bike brand Cowboy has announced that one of its co-founders, Karim Slaoui, has sadly passed away. The 36-year-old died of a rare form of cancer.
SHANGHAI, China - The 32nd edition of China Cycle will take place from 5-8 May at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre the organisers have announced. Hoping to entice back all international visitors and exhibitors to China, the event will have the theme 'New track, new power, new journey.'
KARLSTEIN AM MAIN, Germany - Lithium-ion battery specialist, BMZ Group, has acquired Nox Cycles Austria and all its sister companies in Germany and Switzerland. The deal also includes the Hawk Bikes brand, which is mainly represented in Germany, and the DACH-Benelux license of the British premium e-bike manufacturer Whyte Bikes.
EDINBURGH, Scotland - Since displaying at Eurobike in 2021, Intra Drive has focused on building a European supply chain and industrialising its e-bike motor unit with multi speed gearbox. Now to support bringing its 8-speed integrated drive unit to market, the B2B company has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign.
LONDON, England - Lavoie, the e-scooter unit of British Formula One engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied, has agreed to buy bankrupt Dutch e-bike brand VanMoof, Reuters is reporting today. The new buyer states that it plans to invest in stabilising and expanding the business. This includes a switch to using third party retailers.
LONDON, England - Zoomo, the last-mile electric fleet solution provider, is partnering with cargo bike producer Urban Arrow to enhance its hardware offerings. After a trial period, the European partnership will now see Urban Arrow's e-cargo bikes being fully integrated into Zoomo's all-in-one platform.
AGUEDA, Portugal - The Portuguese two wheel and soft mobility sector registered a 21.68% increase in export in January, compared to the same period in 2022, data released by the National Statistics Institute of Portugal (INE) shows. The value of bicycle and component exports is also continuing to break records.
REICHSHOF, Germany - The fact that a German bike store owner had to wait 23 years for a tyre recycling scheme is a tell-tale sign of how lagging the issue of sustainability has been in the bicycle industry. This appears to be on the turn now that Schwalbe as the first company to do so, introduces a recycling scheme and benefits from 20,000 tyres as a result.
KARLSTEIN AM MAIN, Germany - ZF Micro Mobility GmbH is expanding its service location in Karlstein am Main alongside expanding its service capacities. With a 50% increase in staff at the location, the service centre remains the main point of contact for Sachs dealers worldwide.
FREEHOLD, NJ, US - The US-based electric vehicle technology company, Cenntro Electric Group Limited, has acquired a minority stake of 25% in Antric GmbH, a German-based e-cargo designer. Through the seven-figure investment Cenntro will support manufacturing the company's Antric One e-cargo bike in Germany and market the product globally.
BERLIN, Germany - E-commerce giant, Signa Sports United (SSU) has opened a new state-of-the-art warehouse facility in Hockenheim, Germany. The large-scale bike parts hub, with a starting capacity of 5 million orders, will operated by Rhenus Warehousing solutions through a third-party logistics (3PL) strategic partnership.
