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wonder people are confused. Often, the way we communicate our ‘standards’ is responsible for more confusion than the standards themselves. And chances are, in a few years time, they’ll be gone…. Unfortunately, the burden of these new proprietary standards is mostly on bike shops. They are the ones that provide ongoing support to these passing standards and deal with the frustration of researching and finding the right parts to keep riders riding. In the automotive industry, where parts are meticulously indexed by vehicle, replacement parts are just a cross- reference away. The bicycle world, on the other hand, has traditionally relied on fitment attributes and a more informal system of physical inspections and expert knowledge to figure out what fits where. This is both a saviour and a curse to the industry in that it gives the aftermarket free rein to produce components that are compatible with others, but also gives the aftermarket free rein to produce components that are hauntingly similar to others. While this approach of standard fitments worked in simpler times, the rapid pace of innovation and the explosion of new fitment standards have made this unsustainable. The consequences are clear: confused, hesitant buyers, costly returns, barriers to entry for staff


26 | July 2025


and a lot of wasted resources pumped into marketing and training everyone on the workarounds.


The best thing we could do, as an industry, would be to focus on the experience of the owner and the long-


term serviceability of bikes and bike components. To focus on a few proven standards of fitment for each component


THE BEST THING WE COULD DO, AS AN INDUSTRY, WOULD BE TO FOCUS ON THE EXPERIENCE OF THE OWNER AND THE


LONG-TERM SERVICEABILITY OF BIKES AND BIKE COMPONENTS. TO FOCUS ON A FEW PROVEN STANDARDS OF FITMENT FOR EACH COMPONENT INTERFACE AND BUILD PRODUCTS THAT ARE SERVICEABLE, REPAIRABLE AND REPLACEABLE.


interface and build products that are serviceable, repairable and replaceable. We should look to bring clarity back to our technical standards and think carefully about how we define the physical attributes of our products and how we publish them. We need to focus on providing users with the information they need to properly service and repair our products for years to come, creating libraries and archives that are publicly visible and searchable.


As people who have been immersed in this industry for a while now, we’ve reached a point where we believe there has to be a better way. We need a collaborative system that can connect the dots, a comprehensive method that helps consumers, product managers, online store operators, and everyone else


involved to navigate the compatibility puzzle with greater ease and efficiency. The best time for a more streamlined solution was 20 years ago, the second-best time is now. 


www.bikebiz.com


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