As ever, weather played a big role in the performance of the industry, and April was when the rain took hold… In between rainstorms, the industry’s eyes were on Accell, which revealed it was in talks to acquire Raleigh. By the end of April both parties had signed on the dotted line IPC Media’s first Road Cycling Show took place at Sandown Park, Esher in Surrey Fuel queues sparked a rise in bike sales, said Evans The LCC’s ‘Love London, Go Dutch’ project sunk its teeth into all four mayoral candidates, including the successful Boris Johnson Future launched BikeRadar US April also saw bike retailers hit by the ‘test ride thief’, offering dummy keys before making off with bikes The month saw Addison Lee boss anger cyclists, cause a media storm and finally back down
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
October
Lance Armstrong’s reputation suffered blow after blow in October. The USADA finally produced its doping dossier for the UCI which confirmed, on October 22nd, that he was a cheat, unleashing a scandal that threatened to dwarf the positive name cycling earned at the Tour de France and Olympics of 2012 But it wasn’t all bad news. Labour committed to separate cycle paths during its Party Conference, the Tour of Britain got its largest TV audience ever (won by Jonathan Tiernan Locke), it was revealed that one million more Brits are getting on their bikes more regularly and NEC Cycle Show attendance grew too October also saw Neil Merry retire from the cycle business. The former CSG UK joint MD first joined (then named) Hot Wheels in 1984. Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that sales of bicycles had outstripped those of motor vehicles in Italy for the first time since the ‘60s
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
August 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 poll. Sport England found a rise in cycle participation in the UK, and the CTC was granted charitable status
September
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, wtih 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
November
September was the month that 2pure merged with Chocolate Distribution C new Transport Secretary – Patrick McLoughlin – was appointed following the cabinet reshuffle Paralympic cyclists picked up the gold medal baton for Team GB, with the likes of Sarah Storey leading the way Proving the nation was not tired of watching cycling, the Tour of Britain was broadcast live on ITV4 for the first time A Daily Mail columnist wanted cyclists to be licenced, telling us all about it in a column suspiciously similar to one she wrote years ago… With funding in place, Reading Council was the latest UK town to set about a city cycle hire scheme, with scouts choosing the best locations for docking stations
December
Statistics revealed a rise in British bike manufacture Decathlon unveiled plans to open 100 stores and 30 sports villages in the UK PON Holdings acquired Union Bicycles from the Dutch Bicycle Group, the latest is a line takeovers that saw it snap up Cervelo in February The lead up to the launch of Madison Genesis Pro team continued with a team up with Volvo DfT figures revealed a nine per cent rise in cyclists killed or seriously injured on the roads. The Times kept up its cycle advocacy with a strong call to make cities adapt to bikes
We’ve polished BikeBiz’s crystal ball and through the mists (or dust) we’ve seen some extraordinary sights for 2013. There will be a blazing hot summer, a new commitment to spend cash on cycle infrastructure from the government, an increase in the cycle to work threshold to over £1,000, a cut in business rates, free coffee for cyclists…OK, not all of these will necessarily happen, but we live in hope. If all that hasn’t sated your desire for 2012 headlines head to www.bikebiz.com/news/archive