BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

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Cannondale has jumped its last hurdle in its super-quick Chapter 11 sale to Pegasus. The deal, never in doubt, has now officially concluded. Company officials are said to be "upbeat" and "optimistic" about the newly-formed Cannondale Bicycle Corporation.

Two Brit aerospace engineers are soon to take delivery of the first production models of their Taiwan-made BMX-style recumbent for kids. And BikeBiz.co.uk played its own little part in helping to kick-start KMXing: after reading a story about the recumbent karts on this site last summer, a Taiwanese manufacturer contacted KMX Karts Ltd. and a beautiful relationship was born. The company wants 100 UK IBDs to stock the karts that had kids queuing at The Bike Show last weekend.

On May 16-18th an international gathering of folder folk will meet in Philadelphia at The Round*Up USA, a small-wheel and folding-bike festival billed as "three days to explore the compact bicycle universe." Lots of new folding-bike models and products will be launched . Brit small-wheel companies such as Brompton and Airnimal will be at the Anglophile-organised show and there will be prototype folders from Dahon and other micro makers. But which bike will win the Fast Fold Showdown (as if we didn't already know...)?

He's in the pay of nobody. He has little bike trade 'baggage', emotional or historic. He's respected by industry and advocates alike. He's listened to by politicians and key bureaucrats. He has the zeal of a convert. He's inclusive, and a diplomat. Marketing could be his middle name. Is Phillip Darnton the two-wheeled lynchpin we've all been waiting for?