Let’s face it, we’ve had more ups and downs than a fiddler’s elbow this year. From Wiggo and the heights of London 2012, to Lance and more rain than you can fit into Lake Windermere several times over. Jonathon Harker thumbs through the headlines of 2012…
January
2012 marked a host of anniversaries – from Raleigh’s well publicised 125th to Ison’s 20th, Ben Hayward Cycles’ 100th, Windwave’s 25th, Buff’s 20th, Bikeability’s 5th, Revel Outdoors’ 5th, Boris Bikes’ 2nd, we could go on… With the trade eagerly eyeing the forthcoming Olympics, pundits were giving their predictions on how it would boost the bike business... Meanwhile outdoor retailer Blacks went into administration, with JD Sports buying it for £20m The bike show calendar got the year started with the London Bike Show, which saw 85,912 visitors in total, combined with the Outdoors and Boat shows In other news, Bobbin Bicycles announced it was selling its Globe boutique store to focus on its wholesale business
16 BIKEBIZ DECEMBER February
February was a campaign-tastic month that saw the launch of London Cycling Campaign’s ‘Love London, Go Dutch’ initiative… …And The Times launched its #cyclesafe campaign, generating debate and headlines over making cities safe for cyclists, a timely move since… DfT stats showed that danger is decreasing on the roads for all but cyclists. All of which proved a perfect storm for a parliamentary first – 77 MPs from across the parties debating cycle safety in parliament for over three hours Onto more industry-focused matters, PON made its first cycle company purchase of 2012 – Cervelo Meanwhile, Peregrine bikes, last made over a century ago, went back into production through Cyclemagic in Leicester
March
Pace Cycles and CTC opened the Dalby Forest Bike Centre South Wales cycle retailer Wheelies revealed it had doubled in size
While British brand Brompton moved to the next level in America, opening an office in Portland In the world of cycle advocacy, the Summer of Cycling was launched in March by a wealth of organisations backing bikes, including the BA, ACT, Sustrans and British Cycling. Minister for Transport Norman Baker dedicated £90k to the project (shared with Bike Week) London saw a significant expansion of flagship cycle project Boris Bikes into the east of the city And right across the country more schools joined in with the Big Pedal cycle competition, notching up a huge 890,000 bike journeys