BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

An organised gang of thieves targetted Harry Hall Cycles in Manchester on Sunday, stealing 70 MTBs and top-name BMXes. Owner Graham Hall is asking IBDs, especially those in the North, to be on the lookout if offered second-hand bargains from Specialized or Trek.

PhD student Jess Draskau-Petersson was ninth woman at the ITU Nice Long Course World Championships last year for her age group. Besides triathlons she also get elite starts in London Marathon and the Great North Run which, she says, "are usually televised and a good opportunity to get sponsor logos seen due to the modest size of the female elite field."

We're going to sell just nine mini-banners (four have gone already) and these will be on rotation on the right-hand side of the site, directly above the BBS and sits vac graphic links. These banners are half the size of our normal banners but, being hi-vis, create much more of an impact. And go for the Titanium or Alumunium package and you can make your ad appear more often...

Today is Red Nose Day, the BBC fundraising telethon. Keen to do its bit for charidee, Fisher Outdoor Leisure is pledging a tenner to RND03 for every web order placed from now until midnight Sunday.

Every year it's a mad scramble to be the first website with pix of next year's Shimano kit. BikeBiz gets the same invite to the official media launch as the consumer mags, and is also gagged by the same non-disclosure agreements, but with 'underground' sites publishing OEM spec sheets, it's now very difficult for the wraps to kept on anymore. Here are a selection of 'offically sanctioned' sites with the Shimano news, and one underground one...