America is losing 50 IBDs a month

"We need to take action now to shift and redirect available industry funds and resources into programs to advertise and promote specialty bicycle dealers as the preferred retailers of quality bicycle products, servce and added value."

Other highlights in Townley’s report for April includes the fact that "current model year bikes dominate year-to-date sales and this could be the cleanest retail inventory in a decade."

And Townley also worries about average retail price point erosion at US IBDs.

The report – including many useful bike category sales figures – can be downloaded in PDF format here:

http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/…/RDC-Analysisv02-April-03.pdf