BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Most of the world's bicycles are now made in the Far East. Yet following the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico, many bike building companies - including Huffy, now looking for a buyer - moved production from the US to Mexico. When labour was found to be even cheaper in China, production moved East. A new report asks whether US manufacturers were right to move from Mexico and could they be enticed back?

Patriotically printed with eco-conscious soy-bean inks, Shimano Inc has published its 2003 annual report, available here as all-electronic PDF. Highlights? More cash for Shimano. Lowlights? Only a whisper of a mention of the global 'missing parts' crisis...

The Eastwood company was yesterday profiled in The Sunday Times. Edited extracts from the article can be found below...

A production team from Granada is seeking advertising creatives to take part in a reality TV show set in the 1970s. The creative types will pitch ideas to Raleigh execs in time for a proposed Christmas TV advertising splurge. The reality TV show will air on Sky One. But can the creatives live without their cellphones?

Nike's 'Magnet' TV ad debuted on Friday night in the US. It throws a spotlight on Lance Armstrong and features Mellow Johnny racing a flock of birds, a herd of buffalo, a freight train, a gang of Hell's Angels and a motley collection of fixed-wheel street racers. Oh, and a kid in a football helmet...