BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

The law is about to become less of an ass. If the Department of Transport gets its way, which is highly likely, it will soon be street-legal for bicycles to be fitted with flashing lights. Police forces have long turned a blind-eye to the illegal fitting of LED lights to bikes – better illegal, very conspicuous lights than none – but the anomoly could have been used by a bright barrister against a well-lit cyclist in a ‘I never saw ‘im, yer honour’ car-v-bike court case

Madison's new Shimano prices have been attacked by contributors to the BikeBiz.co.uk bulletin board. Paul Briggs of West Yorks IBD Ellis Briggs said: "I hope Madison practice safe sex...because they're shafting us". And when Madison failed to respond to the criticism, other BBS contributors took the silence to be an admission of guilt. Bill Baxter, Madison's sales and marketing director, has now issued a statement aiming to calm the troubled waters in advance of the Madison Dealer Convention in the third week of February.

The ACT is floating the idea of a nationally-promoted, week-long, members-only ‘mid-season sale’. This would start on 14th June, the beginning of Bike Week.

The Office of Fair Trading has today kicked off a consumer rights campaign, encouraging British consumers to complain more. Great, retail sales are soft across the board and a government department wants customers to think every retailer has a Marks & Sparks style, forgive and forget mentality! Looking on the bright side, the OFT campaign also wants consumers to evaluate whether "it is worth paying more for better after sales service."

From April this year, IBDs will be eligible for loans from the government-backed Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme. Previously, retail businesses were not eligible.