BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

The latest international distributor meeting for Pacific-owned GT has been held in California and was the "best yet", claims Pete Garski, GT’s international sales director. Distributors from 17 countries convened in Orange County city to view and place orders for GT's 2003 bikes

Many top-end IBDs ship out bikes-in-boxes. These top-end bikes are 95 percent assembled but the flatpacked bikes available from supermarkets need a great deal of consumer fettling. Tales of badly assembled bikes are legion, but where’s the proof? The ACT is stepping up its campaign for the UK to follow France and ban unassembled bikes-in-boxes, and wants IBDs to keep photographic evidence of bungled supermarket bikes

Malden Mills of Massachusetts makes Polartec, the treated polyster base-, mid- and expedition weight fabric used by top outdoor manufacturers around the world. Polartec's silkweight Power Dry fabric is eminently suitable for sublimatic printing and is highly wickable as well as offering a high degree of UV-radiation protection: perfect for cycle jerseys then. And the Volvo-Cannondale jersey has won Malden Mills' APEX award for “Best Next To Skin Product”

So, you fancy being a distributor, huh? ANDREA KIRKBY evaluates the pros and cons, and guides you through the legal minefield between agency status, and sole or exclusive distributorships.

Like last year, there's to be an ITV Tour highlights programme once a week (post midnight, natch). To watch the daily live ITV2 coverage - including voiceovers from contract-tied Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen - UK viewers will need cable, satellite or digital terrestial tellies.