Issue 91 | August 2013


EDITORIAL


NEWS 4-6 MYSTERY SHOPPER


Our undercover reporter combines a trip to the seaside with a undercover reporting session. Was the shopping trip a walk along the promenade?


FOCUS ON… THE FINALISTS EUROBIKE Sponsored by 37


Europe’s biggest bike show in detail: the bikes, the stats...and Angela Merkel


RALEIGH


E-BIKES Electric performance mountain bikes continue to grow in popularity in the UK. Yes, really.


OUTDOOR & FITNESS Frierichshafen’s other show hits 20 years, plus the latest from Thule and the Outdoor Trade Show


MTBS AND PROTECTION 47 LIGHTING 57 PICK YOUR BRAND 55 COMMUNITY


Waving Cat’s Nick Fish provides some tips for dealers on evaluating brands for next season PEOPLE


A newly bolstered team is in place at Continental, plus a new face for charity WBR


NEW PRODUCTS


A new action camera from JVC, Kask’s new Infinity helmet, Buff, Easton and more


67 SPOKESMAN


Getting people on bikes is an enduringly controversial topic, writes Carlton Reid


EVENTS 73 OFF TRACK 88 NUMBER CRUNCHING 87 90 50 SPONSORED BY


63 71


Has it been a disappointing summer for sales and the workshop? We ask the BikeBiz community


ISPO Bike will be back, Raleigh plots to ‘own the lifestyle cycle sector’and more sponsors get on board the Awards


BIKES. THEY’RE bloody everywhere at the moment. And I’m not just talking about on the roads. Time was that a brand would be doing things differently and partaking of some ‘blue sky thinking’ if it featured a bicycle or two in its adverts, whether in a magazine, online or on the telly. Nowadays, you can’t move for the


bleedin’ things cropping up in the middle of Coronation Street, with some fashionable type (or meerkat) wheeling down a trendy high street catching admiring glances from some suitably handsome, well-dressed onlookers. Even car adverts have got bicycles in them. And since


30 23


Read who you voted to become the Finalists of the 2013 BikeBiz Awards. The winners will be revealed on the Hilton Metropole, NEC, on September 25th


20


BikeBiz infiltrates Raleigh HQ to grill its MD on life as part of Accell Group


41


when did a car brand show off how good it was by manufacturing a high-end road bike? I thought cars and bikes were supposed to be warring tribes? I blame Diet Coke and that Duffy ad. It wasn’t even her


riding the bike, you know. But then it’s not just adverts. With sit-up-and-beg bikes


fittingly nicely into current vintage and shabby chic trends, those two wheeled buggers are popping up on t-shirts, posters, shop window displays, cupcakes, bunting and pretty much anything else you could think of. Where will it all end?


Brands, fashion houses, car manufacturers, music promoters and seemingly just about everyone else has got on the bicycle bandwagon.


So, what’s all this about? Doesn’t everyone hate cyclists on the road? Somehow, somewhere deep down in the psyche of creative folk everywhere bicycles became something positive, where being associated with them was ‘a good thing’. Was it Beijing and British success at the pinnacle of the


sport? Even the revelations of Lance have failed to dent that – perhaps the Armstrong scandal has been outweighed by the sheer weight of British sporting success in cycling. Unmistakably, on balance, cycling is still seen as desirable. Regardless of the specifics of what it was that led to the nation discovering that it was allowed to like bicycles again, there’s no denying that either way, brands, fashion houses, car manufacturers, music promoters and pretty much everyone else has jumped on the bicycle bandwagon. It’s been a long road for cycling (metaphor ahoy), no doubt with many more twists and turns in the road ahead. It remains to be seen whether the popularity of two wheels will plummet or whether it will continue to climb. Obviously I’m hoping for this trend to continue. All this subliminal advertising is going to pay off one day and translate into rocketing cycle sales. In the meantime, I’m off to decorate my house in bicycle bunting.


Jonathon Harker, Editor


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92