BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
While the inaugural BikeRadar Live got off to a sunny start at Donington Park in May, headline-friendly London Mayor Boris Johnson revealed a ‘cycling revolution’ for the nation’s capital.
Johnson announced that 66,000 cycle parking spaces were planned to take advantage of the 545,000 trips made by cycle in London daily and announced that the city would see a number of initiatives in the summer to drive people to bikes.
May also saw the cycle trade consider whether it was doing enough to attract females, while Giant revealed that it would be opening its first UK brand store. The news from across the Atlantic was not so positive, however, with the US bike market reported to have dropped a huge 30 per cent in the start of 2009 – seeing the lowest unit sales in the country in 11 years.
June might have brought the news that the economy had shrunk 2.4 per cent, but the story for the cycle trade couldn’t have been more positive. Surveys at home and abroad found that cycling was on the rise; Exeter saw cycle trips top one million, while Amsterdam measured more journeys made by bike than car in the city. UK Government figures reported cyclist numbers were at their highest in 17 years.
And the month served up yet more statistics when Sustrans revealed that over a million cyclists used the National Cycle Network daily – the highest number of users in its 14-year history. Over 10k cyclists visited York Cycle Show during Bike Week, Raleigh outsourced Diamondback to KHE, and Press Camp launched. June also saw Asda unveil its ‘not-for-profit’ bikes – something that proved a hot topic for the trade.
June’s cycle celebrity of choice was no less than Gazza.
