AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands - Contrary to the expectations of many experts bicycle sales fell only slightly in Holland last year. With only 2.5% according to a survey conducted by GfK Retail and Technology BV and Holland's Central Bureau of Statistics commissioned by Rai (industry) and BOVAG (dealer) associations.
BERLIN, Germany - A long winter and a rainy summer caused bike shipments in Germany to dealers to drop 5.5% to a total of 3.75 million units in 2013. E-bikes however, continued to perform strong with sales rising 7.9% to a total of 410,000 units.
MINNEAPOLIS, USA - Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond is returning in the road race scene with the renewed Team GarminSharp sponsorship by his company LeMond Revolution.
MALMÖ, Sweden - Two well-known brands in the bicycle industry have joined forces. Chariot Carriers, for more than 20 years one of the world's largest producer of children's carts, will continue under the name Thule.
NIJKERK, the Netherlands - Europe's biggest in electric bicycles wasn't at Eurobike, but yesterday the company presented its view on speed pedelecs to dealers. Accell Group daughter Sparta calls it the E-Speed; capable of speeds up to 40 km/h.
HEERENVEEN, the Netherlands - Despite expectations for a higher turnover and an on par operating profit, Accell Group's outlook on the full year 2013 is the net profit to drop below the level of last year. In particular as restructuring costs for reorganizations in The Netherlands and North America come into play.
For the first time in six years, the complete Italian bicycle industry gathered again in Padova for the ExpoBici from September 21 - 23. To give you an impression of this event we present a photo report straight from the show. The October issue of Bike Europe will include an extensive coverage of ExpoBici.
TOKYO, Japan - Generally Bike Europe's market report on Japan do not include export figures because they rely almost 100% on so-called "throwaway bicycles". These are collected by the police, declared to be donations, and shipped to developing countries. In 2013 this number is expected to amount more than 3 million units.
SCHWEINFURT, Germany - "I think the e-bike will be an important subsection for the future market", says SRAM CEO and founder Stan Day in an animation about the SRAM Urban Days 2013.
PARIS, France - The number of bicycles sold dropped below the 3 million threshold: 2.9 million bicycles were sold on French soil in 2012; a 9% drop over 2011. All segments were down except e-bikes.
COLOGNE, Germany - The largest dealer cooperative in Europe, the Zweirad Experten Gruppe (Two-Wheel Experts Group) reports that its 2012 increase in revenue tops the forecasted 7%.
WEITESTADT, Germany - It started twenty years ago as a folding bike project of two engineers Markus Riese and Heiko Müller; their company Riese und Müller opened a brand new factory yesterday.
ZELLIK, Belgium - Brewer Jan Toye is the new majority shareholder of Eddy Merckx Cycles (EMC). He multiplied his minority shareholder by buying all the shares of former majority shareholder Joris Brantegem. Jan Toye now owns 85% of the bicycle company. Founder Eddy Merckx still retains 6% of the shares. CEO Kurt Moons holds a 9% stake.
MONTREAL, Canada - Dismal weather meant a dismal start to the 2013 bicycle business for Dorel Industries. The company's overall first quarter results, released on May 9, 2013, showed a 4.3% drop over last year to 489 million euro (US$594.2 million).
MUNICH, Germany - Earlier this week HeroEco - a wholly owned subsidiary of Hero Group which, among other companies, also owns the leading bike maker in India - celebrated the world's relaunch of the A2B e-bike brand in Munich. Here it was announced that production will remain in Europe as: "A2B is on the way to become a global e-bike premium brand."
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands - Plans existed for a while already, but this year the rental bike available at train stations should get a solid foothold in the United kingdom. The aim is to get the British version of this bike running at some 50 train stations. In the Netherlands the number of subscribers increased by 40% last year.
UTRECHT, the Netherlands - It was THE behind the scenes story of the BikeMotion Benelux show that closed its doors after yesterday's trade & press day. The buzz was on Pon Holdings which is said to be on the verge of a new take-over in the bike sector.
ALMERE, the Netherland - Pon Holdings, owner of Derby Cycle, Gazelle and Cervelo, announced today its next and 4th take-over in the bike sector. The company acquired the bicycle brand Union from the Dutch Bicycle Group (DBG).
JARGEAU, France - Zéfal, French pump & accessories producer and Unior, Slovenian hand tools producer have joined forces on the French market. With newly established sales strategy by Zéfal to supply the French dealers directly, Unior's bike tools will also be distributed to the IBDs without the intervention of a wholesaler.
AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - Giant will not start as the main sponsor of the Rabobank cycling team. After Rabobank announced to stop its 15 million euro costing sponsoring by the end of this year, Giant showed an interest in taking this over. However, the world's biggest in bikes announced not to go through with this.
