BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Many pro cyclists measure their power output, a key performance indicator, using the expensive SRM crank system, a German innovation. Now, another German innovator has produced a more accessible version, the Ergomo bottom bracket. It will retail for half the price of an SRM set-up. It uses optical sensors to measure the torque on the left hand crank of the bicycle. SG Sensortechnik GmbH and Co. KG is now seeking European distributors for its system.

Winter's nearly here, issue 67 will major on bikes and bits for children, perfect for the Christmas market. Christmas market? Wossat? OK, if you've no interest in kids' bikes there's also going to be tons of info on the latest developments in cycle lighting.

Somerset newspaper The County Gazette reports that a farmer has received planning permission to build a velodrome in his "40-acre field at junction 25 of the M5."

The management has to prepare a plan of financial reorganisation within 90 days, bankruptcy manager Melita Burja told the Slovene Press Agency last week.

Pollution levels inside cars are often higher than that of city air because pollutants become trapped within vehicles. UPDATED: Cyclists sit higher than motorists and so it's generally thought they breathe in less pollutants than motorists, and expel them quicker thanks to stronger lungs. But new, unpublished lab research by the British Heart Foundation attempts to show that cyclists are doing themselves more harm than good by pedalling along congested roads. The lead researcher wants cyclists off the road, and on to cycle paths away from traffic.