Issue 95 | December 2013
EDITORIAL
NEWS 4-8 CORE BIKE
Now a decade old, Core Bike 2014 is going to be a big one – the biggest yet going by the current exhibitor list. Here’s an advance look
FOCUS ON…
Revamped trade shows, ‘Year of the IBD’, our Distribution Round-up and an anonymous IBD speaks out...
CYCLIST SAFETY has rarely been far from the headlines, particularly over the last month or two. The tragic headline figure of six cyclists dying in two weeks on London’s roads has served as a spring board for debate, which has produced responses from the likes of Boris Johnson looking to crack down on cyclists wearing headphones, to cycle advocates like London Cycling
15 REVIEW OF THE YEAR
Troubled financials, MTB wheel sizes and baristas. And that’s just for starters. BikeBiz attempts to make sense of the year that was ‘13...
RUTLAND CYCLING 26
Rutland Cycling has taken to winning awards like a duck to water. We find out why
Sponsored by THE BIKE PLACE
E-BIKES Shimano steps into the e-bike market and one retailer urges us all to stop using the ‘c’ word...
OUTDOOR & FITNESS We’ve got phone cases you can take swimming to bottles that filter water for you...
WHEELS, TYRES, TUBES 49 FOOTWEAR 59 DEALER PROFILE PEOPLE NEW PRODUCTS 57 COMMUNITY
Hoops Velo is one of the newest outlets from Gary Bird of East St Cycles. We get the details
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British Cycling gets a new man in charge, while Paligap’s sales force gets some fresh faces
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Cav’s latest opus, Boardman’s brand new bike line-up and cycle glasses of the future
SPOKESMAN EVENTS 75 NUMBER CRUNCHING 86 OFF TRACK 88 90
Carlton Reid gets hands-on experience with local cycle campaigners and their successes
SPONSORED BY Jonathon Harker, Editor 65 71
Get our readers take on the changing bike trade distribution model on our community page
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The Silverstone trade show is expanding for 2014. We take an early look
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Campaign organising flash rides calling for immediate action to make London’s roads safer. There’s no simple solution to the cycle safety conundrum, but if you take a long term view there’s some reason for optimism. While it’s scant consolation for the families and communities affected by the awful events in London and elsewhere across the nation (where they don’t get quite so much media coverage), the ‘critical mass’ of cyclists will surely be one of the biggest promoters of cyclist safety.
It’s ironic that despite pre-dating cars, bicycles are now challenging the status quo on the roads.
If the figures are to be believed, the level of cycling has
increased dramatically in the UK over the last decade or so. Excellent news, but have drivers forgotten how to cope with more vulnerable road users? It’s with no little irony that despite being around for well over a century, cyclists are now challenging the status quo on the roads, simply due to the number of riders on the road increasing again. Motorists are having to learn to cope with cyclists again (or in many cases for the first time) and the more pragmatic are taking the challenge in their stride. The worst are refusing to engage common sense and there’s some that are probably just nervous whenever they see a cyclist and wish they had had more training about dealing with them back when they were learner drivers. Training motorists in dealing with cyclists on the road is
exactly what the likes of the AA and BSM driving schools are now doing. The drivers they are producing will, hopefully, be more considerate to riders. But that’s for the long term. In the here and now there’s plenty that can be done, like
manufacturing HGV cabs with better visibility and getting Bikeability on the National Curriculum – two measures that probably few would find issue with, but require political will to make happen. With vitriolic comments and various media publishers
eager to cheaply cash in on that vitriol, it feels like cycle advocates are beating their heads against a brick wall, but if some foundations for long-term improvements can be laid and some blinkered attitudes can be changed then it might not be all in vain.
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