BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

The Carina furniture factory of Ohio, closed late last week with up to 300 job losses, was purchased "primarily for its sales, customer base and avenues of distribution," said an exec from Dorel. But when the factory was bought in September 2003, Dorel execs said the plant would be integrated into Dorel's ready-to-assemble furniture division, and all jobs were safe. So what? Because the new owner of GT, Schwinn and Mongoose could be accused of lining up the same fate for Pacific Cycle's US plants. But it would be a groundless accusation, says Pacific Cycle exec, because unlike Carina, Pacific Cycle is an importer, not a manufacturer.

The carbon-fibre T-Bike from Proton, the state-run car manufacturer of Malaysia, has designs connections with the EP-X carbon-fibre bikes from the Malaysian EPX Group. EP-X had grand hopes for its monocoque, designed-in-Australia, made-in-Malaysia bikes but little has been seen or heard from EPX in the UK since sales and marketing staff were made redundant in November 2001. However, Proton Edar Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd, has told the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange it expects sales of the Proton T-Bike to boost its revenues by 10 percent to RM5m ($1.3m) for the financial year ending March 31st 2004. And Proton is now looking to expand international distribution for the T-Bike.

In a bid to encourage more cycle campaign groups to provide free cycle safety checks prior to Bike Week, 12-20th June, the offer of free public liability insurance has been extended for volunteers who may otherwise not be adequately insured. Previously only events during Bike Week were insured as part of the nationwide promotion.

Ads for the rep-friendly, banned-in-France Road Angel speed-camera detector have been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority. Halfords promotes Road Angel as "personal protection for you and your family" and "the modern companion for any conscientious driver." The speed camera debate has been a hot topic on the BikeBiz.com bulletin board

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