BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Alessandro Petacchi is in the pink, thanks to his Cipollini-besting thigh muscles and his magnesium Pinarello Dogma. This bike was first seen at the Milan bike show in September 2002. With race success, magnesium frames and bits will become that much more desirable. And Pinarello bikes make you go half a kilogram faster...

The electric bike company has become the first recipient of business-building cash from the government-backed South West Regional Venture Capital Fund, beating off competition from 200 other companies. The SWRVPF gets a minority stake in Powabyke Ltd. The company can now secure additional funding of £1.75m from other sources.

Once upon a time there was a genteel activity called road racing. Steel steeds, shaved legs, bags of holier-than-thou attitudes. Then came MOUNTAIN BIKING. It ate roadies for breakfast. Now, imagine the same thing happening to spinning. Bikes by Giant Taiwan, endorsement by the UCI, pro involvement from Missy Giove.

Pilot error? Maybe, maybe not. Giove was riding a Manitou Skareb fork and XT disks in California on Wednesday. Cycle trainer Dave Smith was with her at the time and had earlier that day read the BikeBiz.co.uk 'QR/disc-brake' story and so was clued-up to the possibility (some) QRs and disc brakes may not mix. Missy's front QR had been "really tight." But, asks Brant Richards, would zip-ties not be a short-term answer?

Orbit in the UK has already said it will modify its disc-brake equipped bikes and now Trek's legal eagle in the USA has told BikeBiz.co.uk he will "definitely talk to the relevant vendors and take a look at this issue." What's needed are lab tests but even the proponent of the wheel pop-out theory doesn't believe the supposed problem can always be replicated away from the dirt. So, is it just a problem with Ti skewers and badly-angled drop-outs, a problem easily solved, or should bike trade execs be banging tech-heads together to find out if the problem is more widespread?