BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Following the story on BikeBiz.com on the latest ad campaign from Smirnoff Ice - which portrays alcopop cans as a better use for aluminium than folding bikes - Dahon California Inc. is threatening to sue Diageo, one of the world's biggest booze brand owners, if it doesn't withdraw its advertising posters. The bike used in the outdoor campaign is a Dahon but the company's Joshua Hon believes the campaign is a dig against all aluminium bicycles.

It's a prototype and distinctive. If you're offered a Sub 5 that doesn't look quite the same as usual, contact Orange.

If you had to liken a Stealth bomber to a saddle, this would be the one to use. It's sleek, black and designed with the aid of computers and electrodes stuck to Simoni's bum. The Tour de France commentator is one of the first in the UK to own a Fizik WingFlex Arionne saddle (and in the best traditions of Monty Python's Holy Grail, he's got two of 'em) and it had its first outing on yesterday's Phil and Friends Challenge Ride in the Peak District

Show season is about to kick off for another year. David Hyde's September trade shows get the ball rolling...

Nick Harvey, the Bike Week co-ordinator, may have just landed a promise of £25k from the newly-announced Cycle Industry Fund, but he's seeking £75k more from outside-of-the-trade sponsors, including the DfT. And after totting up all the figures, and counting all the estimated extra bums on saddles, he reckons he's got proof Bike Week 2003 was a stonking success