BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Read our January to April review here.
Read our September to December review here.
May
-May saw the first Irish Cycling Show take place (“and about time too,” said Stephen Roche). May also revealed that Manchester Central would host the first Bike and Triathlon Show in 2013
-Successful companies in the trade continued to hit the headlines, with Ribble announcing a £2m record profit
-In the same month Sky revealed it would continue to sponsor British Cycling until 2017
-And if we may be so bold as to mention BikeBiz.com smashed its online record (for the first of two times in 2012)
-In less positive news, road safety was subject to budget cuts and the IAM decided to publish a dodgy report saying half of all cyclists run red lights
-And in slightly odder news, Plymouth was named the UK’s most cycle friendly town
June
-Mega bicycle conglomerate Derby Cycle saw its revenue rise 17 per cent
-North America’s Interbike revealed that 2012 would be its final year held at the Sand Expo centre, where it has been held since the 1990s
–Lance Armstrong was accused of anti-doping violations by the USADA, setting the wheels in motion for a very public undoing of the man…
-In stark contrast, fun was found to top reasons to cycle, according to a YouGov poll.
-Sport England found a rise in cycle participation in the UK, and the CTC was granted charitable status
July
-The British summer continued to disappoint, but at least it started to clear up by the end of the month for the long awaited London 2012 Olympics
-The wet weather dented Halford’s performance, even in usually-as-safe-as-houses cycling, and CEO David Wild left the retailer
-But July saw Cyclescheme notch up its 300,000th customer to have bought a bike through the scheme
-It was also the month that Bradley Wiggins became the first Brit to…you know the rest
-Denis Publishing revealed it would be launching Cyclist magazine later in the year, and Future’s ChopMTB.com got underway
-In other media news, ITV4’s eight-part weekly magazine-style Cycle Show was announced
August
-You’ll need no reminding that Bradley Wiggins, hot from his TdF victory, didn’t do so badly at the London 2012 Olympics either. A roll call of magnificent cyclists surpassed expectations scooping medals galore for Team GB, all while being watched by 51.9 million TV (and internet) viewers
–RideLondon – a bike equivalent of the London Marathon for bikes – was launched for 2013
-The sun started to emerge on the summer, with Wiggle saying it had seen its biggest summer sales week in 12 years
-Work began on the Glenlivet MTB trails (costing around £500k) and Belfast announced it was planning to launch a city bike hire scheme
PIC CREDIT: London 2012 Olympics
