Boost footfall by tarting up your shop. But how does the taxman treat the money you spend and how can you plan things in the most tax efficient way? By tax specialist RICHARD GARROD.

280 assembly and factory jobs are to go. From 2003, Raleigh bikes will come in to the UK fully-assembled and sales will be handled from a Nottinghamshire distribution centre. 116 years of bike building in Nottingham comes to an end in December. Triumph Road is currently chocka with radio cars, photographers and camera crews...

A full report - and loads of pix - will appear in the March issue of BicycleBusiness but here are a few headline products seen at the NEC trade show which finished yesterday...

Yvonne Rix and Toyah Wilcox. Leslie Roberts and Noel Edmunds. Max and M Trax. Diamondback and Derby. The Bulwell Three and a bunch of newts. Raleigh was an interesting, but turbulent, place to work in the years 1975 to 2002. Here, in a constantly updated version of a paper written for the 11th International Cycle History Conference held at Osaka in August 2000, TONY HADLAND catalogues the ups and downs for Britain's best known bicycle manufacturer (latterly an assembler, now to be an importer only)

More and more bicycles are now being manufactured in former Eastern Bloc countries. And to capitalise on this fact, a Czech entrepreneur is about to launch a pan-European web portal for the bike trade.

After jettisoning its freelance contributors in August and cutting its promotional budget at the same time, the writing was on the wall for big bucks enthusiast site madformountainbiking.com. Started with launch capital of £4m, the madforsport.com group of websites – originally billed as “the ultimate network for active outdoor sports” – never generated the expected level of advertising spend. The site is now "open to serious offers" the owner's MD tells bikebiz.co.uk

[UPDATED] Peter Eland's final trade show report from Koln, Germany.

In the September edition of BicycleBusiness, the monthly print version of this website, our IBD-cum-supplier columnist takes issue with the Erl Wilkie Chain Reaction slot in the August mag. SpokesMan says IBDs don't get involved with cycle campaigners because of time restrictions. And, anyway, to paraphrase, he asks 'what have cycle campaigners ever done for us'? Well, here's two things from just today!

"How can it be that the bike with its current total of 27 gears, its rear and front disc brakes and comfortable suspension is also regarded as the favourite toy of the rapidly growing Internet generation?...The bicycle requires some degree of physical fitness, in order to be fun, the Internet requires some basic knowledge. On the one hand, you can virtually surf to the most wonderful places which mankind can conceive, on the other, on a completely real level, with all the senses." This is from a press release from the IFMA marketing team...

In effect, Cycle Bid Co. – a new company set up to own what was once the Derby Cycle Corporation – becomes the ‘stalking horse’ to flush out any other bidders for the owner of Raleigh and ex-owner of Sturmey Archer