BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Blasted by Bic-fondlers on bulletin boards and blogs, turned into a how-not-to-do-it case study by a PR prof, and now vilified by Business 2.0 as the top dunce of last year, the Kryptonite Corp's 2004 was an annus horriblus and then some.

Dahon's operation in China told the US parent company that it would be able to sell tens of thousands of bikes within three years. This prediction was spot on. Dahon's rapid growth makes it the second largest foreign-owned bicycle distributor in China, behind Giant. Dahon is sold from 2000 Chinese dealerships and 70 Dahon-branded shops. Growth in China was 100 percent in 2004, including the highest sales of Dahon's $2000 machines. Globally, Dahon sold 230 000 folding bikes, 44 percent more than in 2003.

French MTB maker Sunn is in the preliminary stage of insolvency. The company lodged a 'bilan' on Monday. This is an assessment of debts and liabilities issued to a tribunal, a precursor to full insolvency. A 'bilan' is similar to the US Chapter 11 process: debts and interest charges are frozen in order for a rescue package to be assembled.

The Windows-format e-catalogue will be promoted to Evans Cycles' email list of 100 000 customers on Thursday. 10 percent or more of Evans' customers will be Mac users. And, like seeds sown on rocky ground, those emails are wasted, Macs can't open .exe files... And how many .exe files will get through work firewalls? .exe is a format often blocked by corporate and home firewalls because .exe files are often virus-carriers...

"Bikeforall rocks," emailed Chris Star, a Melbourne bike blogger. "I absolutely love this site! Wish we had something the equivalent here in Australia." It may rock for Star but maybe you think some key links are missing?