BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The March edition of BikeBiz is live now. Read the digital edition online here.
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Trade show season is officially here and the BikeBiz team has been hard at work previewing all the highlights for the first events of 2022. Having previously experienced all the excessive coffee consumption and harsh lighting that comes with cycle shows, both as a punter and as a writer, I’ve been impatiently waiting for my first shows as editor of this magazine.
It felt like the real work didn’t start until the doors opened on the industry events, but we’re now being treated to back-to-back weeks of bike business bliss, first with the all-virtual DigiBike event hosted by Madison, and then COREbike, the first UK show to be held in person this year.
Both events offer plenty for us to dig our teeth into, from new products, Q&As with the industry big dogs, and the chance to put names to faces for the first time in a long while.
Once again BikeBiz has joined forces with COREbike as official media partner, and we’ll be occupying our own stand just inside the main entrance. We hope you’ll all stop by, say hello, pick up a copy of the mag (which includes a handy COREbike floor plan on p8), and set the cycling world to rights – I’ll be the guy with a fairly dodgy haircut wearing a t-shirt with a massive BikeBiz logo. Check out our full preview for the 2022 COREbike on p7-11.
Away from the joys of the trade exhibitions, this month’s mag features plenty of BikeBiz goodness for you to digest, including industry reactions to major news that Specialized is now selling bikes direct to consumers on p26-28.
Our senior staff writer Rebecca has also quizzed two winners of the 2021 BikeBiz Awards, Windwave and Orbea, to hear their updates for the year (p17 and 23), while I was also fortunate enough to meet a very friendly four-legged employee at a north London bike shop for this month’s IBD Focus (p19).
This edition also marks the first of our newly re-energised product pages, now with more focus on new and exciting products from across the trade – see p48 for a full update on the new sector guides.
So dive in and enjoy our latest edition, and hopefully we’ll bump into each other in-person soon.
Alex Ballinger, editor
In this month’s edition of the BikeBiz magazine…
COREbike returns to Whittlebury Hall
COREbike is back for 2022 at Whittlebury Hall, taking place in March instead of its usual January dates. And it will be a welcome return to events for many across the UK cycling industry – BikeBiz rounds up some of the best products and brands on show
BikeBiz Awards 2021: Bike Distributor of the Year
Windwave MD Peter Nisbet talks COREbike 2022, winning Bike Distributor of the Year and what’s in store for the year ahead
Born of necessity
BikeBiz editor Alex Ballinger crosses the Thames to meet the team at Butternut Bikes, North London
BikeBiz Awards 2021: Bike Brand of the Year
Rebecca Morley catches up with Damian Hackett, Orbea country manager, to find out how it adapted to 2021’s challenges and what it means to be crowned Bike Brand of the Year at last year’s BikeBiz Awards
What consumers want?
Last month Specialized, one of the biggest bike brands in the world, announced it would start selling its bikes direct to consumers online. The announcement has caused waves in the cycle trade, but how are retailers reacting to the news? BikeBiz digs into the response
Innovate and adapt
After a major boom for business, Devonshire cycling kit manufacturer NoPinz anticipates a rough period for the trade – Alex Ballinger gets the full story behind the brand
Maximise your favourite brands
By Anne Brillet, director, Unearth Marketing
Five minutes with… Tyre Glider
An introduction to Tyre Glider, a welcome innovation for mechanics fed up with removing tyres the old fashioned way, from company founder Kevin Baker
You can do IT
By Jake Voelcker, owner, Bicycleworks
New products and sector guides
All the latest developments in the market, plus a spotlight on cycle computers and triathlon
