PYONGYANG, North Korea (Oct 7) - North Korea began production on Friday of the country's first home-built bicycles, according to China's Xinhua news agency. With annual production of up to 300,000 "Peony Peak" bikes a year, the Chinese-invested plant will cut reliance on the second-hand imports from neighbours Japan and China which have supplied the
KISUMI, Kenya (Sep 15) - A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has lauded the bodaboda for employing over 5,000 people with each taking home about Sh250 (€ 2.75) per day in Kisumu Town. The Fourth Kenya Human Development report says the growth of the bicycle taxis, commonly referred to as bodaboda, has been phenomenal
DUBAI, Dubai (Oct 14) - The Sportex Middle East & Gulf Stadia, the premier international event for the Sports, Fitness, Health and Leisure industries, has been officially announced at the Dubai Sports City office. Set to kick-off on the 7th of November '05 at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, the exhibition will be larger in
CHATSWORTH, US (Sep 27)- Currie Technologies Inc., one of the pioneers in the field of light electric vehicles and the exclusive worldwide distributor of Schwinn, GT and Mongoose electric scooters, will introduce this week a range of new Mongoose electric bicycles. Currie will be introducing 12 new models of electric bicycles at the Interbike Trade
NEW DELHI, India (Aug 23) -- The Yamaha Motor Company is planning to set up a second wholly owned subsidiary in India. The new subsidiary would co-exist with its current Indian subsidiary, Yamaha Motor India, and would engage in trading of two wheelers and parts manufactured by Yamaha Motor India. It will also engage in
BERGUN,Switzerland - The first police precinct in Switzerland to do their local patrols with Flyer electric bikes is St.Moritz. In the Kanton of Engadin there are 25 rental outlets for Flyer bikes and 30 places where one can exchange batteries. In good Swiss environmentally-conscious fashion, these batteries are 'guaranteed charged with clean natural-generated electric current'.(OB)
LUXEMBOURG (August 4) - China became in 2004 the EU's most important bicycle supplier and was dodging the anti-dumping duties in any possible way. The People's Republic shipped a total of 2,407,455 complete bicycles to the EU; 19.3% more than in 2003. Vietnam made another major leap with a 33% increase in export volume to
MONTREAL, Canada (July 13) - Dorel Industries Inc. today stated that though it expects higher pre-tax earnings over 2004, certain issues within the Home Furnishings and Recreational/Leisure segments will impact earnings in the second half of the year. Second quarter results, to be announced in early August, will be ahead of last year, but for
SHANGHAI, China (June 7) - The Chinese Ministry of Commerce declared that export brands will have development priority for the years 2005 and 2006. Phoenix bicycles, manufactured by Phoenix Co., Ltd. located in Shanghai Jinshan district, has been ranking top among the six brands selected from Shanghai. Thus far, Phoenix bicycles have six different series,
LONDON, UK (April 21) - The largest sporting good retailer in the UK, JJB Sports, has had some heavy weather in the last year: 27 % lower than the previous year. The price-wars have hit the company seriously, but there is hope for future improvement. Total revenue fell from GBP 929.8 million / € 1.3
PARIS, France (April 19) - The French two-wheeler show is set to be a bigger event than ever. The last edition already drew 415.168 visitors and 2.200 journalists from over 44 countries - this years' edition is promising to top that. Divided into a cycle and motorcycle show, which partly overlap. The cycle part has
NUNSPEET, Netherlands (April 26) - Shimano Europe has launched a new website today with detailed information about all its products, including freestanding product pictures, exploded views and service instructions. Furthermore, the site has been enhanced with technical service information, the latest news and a database with Shimano Service Center and Distributor addresses. The site has
BEIJING, China (April 6) - China should not revamp its exchange rate regime before the conditions are ripe, a senior World Bank economist said yesterday. If Chinese policymakers want to refocus the renminbi's exchange rate system, they should strive to build a more flexible one instead of simply revaluing the currency, said Hans Timmer, a
BIRMINGHAM, UK (April 5) - Tubing specialists Reynolds Cycle Technology (RCT) have expanded their range of steel and aluminium tubing which will be available to OE factories in time for Model Year 2006. Through a partnership with Founder Land Company in Taiwan and China, RCT will produce Chrome-moly steel, and 6X and 7X series aluminium
BREDA, Netherlands (April 5) - Dutch buyers organisation Biretco has decentralised its' marketing and sales apparatus. From now on, five separate business units each will take care of their own 'formula'. "This makes the separate units more independent from each other, so they can work exclusively for their own target groups within the European market,
BIKE EUROPE TAIPEI, Taiwan (March 9) - At this year's Taipei international Cycle Show that ended last Monday, Colnago announced that it will enter the mid-end of the global road racing market in 2006. In order to be competitive in that sector, Colnago will source bikes and frames in Taiwan. For that reason Colnago also
MAARSSEN, Netherlands - It might not be the first country that springs to mind when thinking about bikes but Australians are taking to cycling in a big way. Bike use, for recreation and commuting have increased by more than 20 % in the past decade. Nationally, bicycle sales last year touched one million, 18% more
DYON, France (14 January) - Cycles Lapierre has opened a new 400 m2 office building which contains offices, showrooms, fitness room, showers and Sauna. The office will house the expanding staff - Lapierre shows progression in its production numbers (now around 55,000 units per year of high-end bicycles). The popularity of the brand in its
MAARSSEN, The Netherlands This week we are turning to Poland for our Rumour of the Week section in this Newsletter and the Bike Europe website. Also in this country problems seems to be rising at OE bike makers that focus on supplying Supermarkets and retail chains. It is said that one of the renowned bike assembly facilities in the country is about to be closed.
COLOGNE, Germany - The revived US based Huffy Corporation is in cooperation with the Bangladesh based Meghna Group, re-launching Huffy branded bikes in the EU markets. In the early eighties, the BMX heydays Huffy was selling bikes in big numbers in Europe. For the new start Huffy has signed a licensing agreement with the Bangladesh based Meghna Group to manufacture and distribute the Huffy products in the EU.
