CI.N Issue 002 / 2021

ISSUE 002 // 2021

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from the editor TELLING THE TALE OF 2020

For four years now CI.N has produced a study of the independent retail channel which seeks to provide a forward-looking assessment of where the market intends to invest, divest, what to do and what not to do in business, average sales prices, best-selling brands, products and plenty more.

I will concede that a minority of questions within do serve simply to tell us what we think we already know. After all, it is important to check biases, even if you are convinced you are right. The 2021 dataset challenges many of the assumptions that we might have made, and we’re glad it does. 2020 was a year that threw the rule book out of the window, into the white-water rapids of Brexit and off down the river ‘what we thought we knew’ has gone ever since.

The past year represents the first time in over 15 years documenting the industry that I have known veterans of the trade and new talent alike return with less than assured answers. Such was the 11th hour nature of the Brexit deal and the subsequent chaos in January that it cannot be argued there was ever a structured plan. For businesses large and small there was a rush to learn on the job, complete with much in the way of costly trial and error. In many instances the necessary legislative adjustments and accompanying paperwork did not yet exist on Government websites, we were told. For logistics firms there became no choice but to play the waiting game as pre-existing dock backlogs stretched and stretched; by all accounts quadrupling shipped prices on many goods. For bike journalists? Some thought we might have the answers, and we tried, but speed-reading pages of legals and tariff text isn’t the bedrock of knowledge. The learning curve for all was vertical.

So, let me get to the point and start this issue with a big thank you to the 240+ bike shops and workshops that took the time to once again lend insight into their strategies and supplier wishlists during and beyond the turbulence. It is my hope that the content of the publication helps all ships rise together and creates a more professional environment for business for all.

Short of any further rug pulling and unforeseen global shakeups, data such as this can form the foundation of decisions, or at least provide a reference point for further research. As before, you’ll find the first of many trickled out snippets of the report in this and each subsequent issue published this year.

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the professionals DEMANDING SUPPLY With Spring around the corner many in the trade are banking on a swell in demand for the great outdoors. With many stockpiling any goods available some big bets have been placed, but will there be bumps in the road? CI.N asks retailers large and small what’s in play…

Graeme Hart Hart’s Cyclery

WHICH PRODUCT AREAS OR SERVICE PARTS DO YOU HAVE GENUINE CONCERN YOU MAY STRUGGLE TO SERVICE DEMAND FOR AS WE HEAD INTO WARMER WEATHER? Graeme Hart, Hart’s Cyclery Bikes, mainly. I have been getting decent dates and supply from some manufacturers and I rented a storage unit at the end of last year and filled it with all the bikes I could get my hands on and to give me space for bigger than average orders that I don't have space for in the shop. The bikes I have now should mostly see me through to the Spring, but I'll need more stock to start arriving by then.

Some components I have concerns with. Certain Shimano lines are looking bleak, like GRX. As long as I can get what I need for repairs and servicing that's the main thing: chains, cassettes, tyres, tubes. I've got pretty healthy stock of that in the shop already. Folk planning fancy builds

Neil Holman George Halls Cycle Centre

might have to wait for parts, but there's not much we can do about that. I have a couple of builds planned for March already. That’s when I'm hoping certain framesets and groupsets will arrive.

“I WOULD BE SAT FOR HOURS GOING THROUGH B2B SITES TO KEEP THE WORKSHOP FED” Neil Holman, George Halls Cycle Centre I don't think we will have the major shortages of service parts like we had in April and May when everyone ran out of 26-inch tyres and tubes. I do think when we need some of the higher echelon equipment there will still be long lead times and shops will have to do more research and even buy from other retailers to keep the

Peter Lazarus Decathlon

shop fronts and workshops fed. I am already seeing it with Shimano Ultegra and Dura Ace parts.

I know myself, during the first lockdown and well into the summer months, some weeks I would be sat on the computer going through different supplier’s websites for hours every few days sourcing the parts to keep the workshop fed with the equipment the mechanics needed so not to form a large backlog of half completed repairs.

Peter Lazarus, Decathlon For servicing the lead time for all main manufacturers is getting longer by the day. You may find a groupset here, a bottom bracket there, but not enough to finish a bike. I think we will require a degree of flexibility from both the trade and consumer alike. For example, if a specific crankset and BB is desired maybe we will now have to be happy to instead carry an equally good bit from another label. This might open trade up to mixing componentry.

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the professionals DEMANDING SUPPLY That may mean too that after sales care needs to carry that same understanding for a period of time.

Decathon is now preparing a circular economy strategy for launch in 2021 that will take a three-pronged approach to the challenge and future sustainability; these include resale of soiled, unsoiled and returned goods that have been refurbished; a policy that prompts our workshops to create a circular economy with componentry where the quality remains high; and the third we will call a buy back option. Here we will buy a customer’s second-hand Decathlon bike for money, or vouchers to spend in store.

That bike will be resold once certified fit by our mechanics.

minimise admin fees the financial penalty will be minimal, but bikes might take a few days extra to arrive from the EU to fit with a forecast schedule, rather than ship to order as before. Brands that make the shipping easy will gain sales in the UK, those that make it difficult will lose them.

I got a call from another supplier at the end of January saying they are increasing prices by 14% and that they will absorb 3%. So that will mean more expensive bikes in the case of that brand. Honestly, there’s not much point losing sleep over as most brands will be in the same boat and the main currency this year is going to be having stock.

PRICE INCREASE ARE NOW INEVITABLE ON MANY GOODS, BUT WHAT FACTORS ARE SUPPLIERS BLAMING MOST OF ALL – SHIPPING COSTS, COVID, BREXIT?

“THE MAIN CURRENCY THIS YEAR IS GOING TO BE HAVING STOCK.”

Graeme Hart, Hart’s Cyclery It seems to be a combination of worldwide shipping, container prices (up six-fold, I’m told) which is Covid related, and customs admin fees because of Brexit. I have been speaking to all my big brands this week and some have better, more dealerfriendly solutions, than others. One has said they will absorb all port admin costs, another has put its prices up by £100 across the board.

I think once they have worked out how best to manage consignments to

Neil Holman, George Halls Cycle Centre The few I have spoken too, it is a mixture of all three. Shipping container costs have gone up, there are container shortages and not just in the bike industry, but across the board. Because of social distancing a lot of the factories have a third to half of the amount of staff in. UK firm Pashley is a good example. Currently it is 26 weeks from ordering to supply, whereas it used to be six

weeks if it wasn't already on a production run.

Brexit has many new rules and regulations to source products from Europe. Until this has been running for a while, like most new things, it takes time to adapt and iron out the kinks.

Peter Lazarus, Decathlon To be blunt, price increases are coming from Brexit for us. Import duties are applicable to EU shipped goods we carry. There is an increase in shipping costs too. Not four-fold as I’ve heard, but substantially up at present, nonetheless. Boats being idle at the docks is not normal, normally they’re turning around right away.

Covid of course helps nothing.

Because manufacturing capacity is down, it is more difficult for shift work patterns to be consistent; people can’t work in the same density and pattern as before.

Every percentage drop in our exchange rate has an immediate direct impact on cost of goods, so volatility is unwelcome. You may hedge currency for a limited period, but this carries inherent risk of buying at poor rate in the end.

The final issue is local demand, which can be volatile in both directions. With bonkers growth demand moves beyond supply and it’s simple economics that you have to compensate with price adjustments. The trick for our business is that we still wish to make cycling accessible, so Decathlon has to be strategic about that.

WWW.CYCLINGINDUSTRY.NEWS // 007

the professionals DEMANDING SUPPLY HOW ARE YOU MANAGING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS ON SUPPLY? Graeme Hart, Hart’s Cyclery I am just trying to encourage people to buy and order bikes that exist. I'm basically saying, if this bike ticks 80% of the boxes (apart from size, I never sell someone the wrong size) and you want a bike sooner rather later, just buy it. Obviously, if they are prepared to wait, then that's fine, but some bikes are going to be a long time coming. They give me a deposit, I'll order it and we wait.

Neil Holman, George Halls Cycle Centre We will only sell bikes we have in stock; if we have a bike on order that a customer wants then we will reserve it for them and keep them informed of any changes. We tell these customers that if they can source the bike they want themselves, then great, just let us know so a "reserved bike" would then become "free stock". If they did get one and it arrived in a box, they can bring it to us and we would build it up for them, at our normal build up cost.

Even now with repairs we tell customers if we have to order in a part it might be days or weeks, but we will keep them informed. I think providing you do this, 99% of them understand. Giving guarantees can lead to big trouble.

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I remember years ago when we sold many BMX bikes for Christmas, at the beginning of December the docks were all frozen up and the containers couldn't land. One of our suppliers had a container guaranteed to be with them on the 22nd December, over two weeks later than it should have been.

I drove down to their place, booked myself into a B&B around the corner and then drove round at 6am that morning, helped them unload the container picking out my 13 bikes and then got them all in my Kangoo and drove over 150 miles back to my shop so not to disappoint my customers.

Graeme Hart, Hart’s Cyclery In terms of shipping, most suppliers are expecting to have things up and running in the new normal by the end of this month.

In terms of supply, who knows. With one of my brands even 2022 preorder bikes are almost all sold out, so we're now into the end of 2021/start of 2022 if someone wants a bike that wasn't on my pre-order. I think this will impact 2023 preorders too. I think we all just have to try our best with our suppliers to get what we need and manage expectations as best as possible.

Peter Lazarus, Decathlon Customers have been extremely understanding. We have shifted our resource around to meet where the demand is coming from at present, so the central customer team is bolstered. We have also begun handling live online video calls so that customers can outline their problem or request and we can guide them accordingly. It has saved money and time for both parties.

They’ve been brilliant, actually.

Many know there’s no point kicking a business while we’re down. I know we may have disappointed some, but who hasn’t; this entire period has been unplanned and traumatic for all.

Neil Holman, George Halls Cycle Centre No, not as I see it, but then I have been in the trade for over 35 years so can see what is going on. You would have to be a real "Head in the sand" type person to think this will be all over by the summer.

I was saying in August last year the only way to get back to continuity would be to scrap two years’ worth of range changes, like the Tandem Group announced just before Christmas, but I bet the manufacturers don't listen.

I have already had emails saying about booking bikes for a 2022 range.

Why? Let’s get this over with. You couldn't supply the rest of the 2020 range, you are struggling to supply a 2021 range and why are you looking at launching a 2022 range?

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SIZE, SHAPE AND… SHIMANO It seems apt to begin a deep dive into CI.N’s 2021 Independent Retail Chanel report with a bit of stock taking. In this, the first of six pieces of analysis from the full report, we assess the maturity of the market, the over riding trends on the kind of businesses sticking around and how heavily weighted just a few key bread and butter suppliers are…

Less than one year

7%

6%

1 to 2 years old

15%

2 to 4 years old

7% 4 to 6 years old

14%

8%

6 to 8 years old 8 to ten years old

8%

10 to 15 years old

13% 12%

12%

15 to 20 years old 20 to 40 years old Over 40 years old

HOW LONG HAS YOUR BUSINESS BEEN ESTABLISHED? ANALYSIS Following a number of years of turbulence in the marketplace with record closures, followed by what many will badge the ‘Covid bike boom’ it seems timely to take stock of how much fresh blood has entered the marketplace and just how enduring some of the old guard seem to be.

The results are revealing, with 14% of our pool of around 240 indie bike shops and workshops in the marketplace less than two years old and half of those operational for less than one year.

Meanwhile the marketplace’s more mature businesses - let’s call that those trading beyond their tenth year - make up a third of the market. That might not have been as high a figure as we might have anticipated, yet it does do well to illustrate just how resilient to the ups and downs of business one must be to endure.

For context, using Office of National Statistics data we can determine that 80% of UK companies fail within their first year while still finding their feet. Just 42.4% of businesses started in 2013 were still operational five years down the line.

So how are those bike businesses that opened on the back of the last ‘boom’ - the 2012 Olympics Road Boom – doing? Well, it seems that they actually make up the majority chunk of the marketplace; 39% of the independent retail channel opened in the six years following the historic wins that saw Bradley Wiggins feature on the covers of national papers.

A theme of openings on the back of sudden surges in interest makes sense, but we recommend checking back this time next year and perhaps we will be able to say with some certainty whether Covid put enough fuel in the tank for a steady stream of openings. New accounts join the back of the queue when it comes to supply during a squeeze. Therefore, we would expect, perhaps by no fault of their own, many new openings to become a statistic unless their proposition knows of a back door to supply.

Anecdotally, judging by the subscriptions both to this magazine and to our Facebook-based advice group ‘Cycling Industry Chat’ it appears there indeed have been a wave of new business registrations.

WWW.CYCLINGINDUSTRY.NEWS // 011

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Cycling Industry News’ fourth annual Retail Study is available to purchase in full. To obtain a copy of our 47-page report email the editor at mark@cyclingindustry.news

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1%1% 0%

11%

6%

6%

25%

6%

15% 8%

19%

9%

73% 10%

300 sq ft to 500 sq ft

Store and workshop

500 sq ft to 750 sq ft

11%

q 750 sq ft to 1,000 only sq ft Workshop 1 000

ft t 1 250

q

1,250Mobile sq ft to workshop 1,500 sq ft ft

1,500 sq ft to 1,750 sq ft

Store only

1,750 sq ft to 2,000 sq ft

WHICH TYPE OF BUSINESS BEST DESCRIBES YOURS? ANALYSIS While we did not yet have comparable year-on-year data on shop age, we do on store type, so it’s now possible to examine just how pronounced investments in the workshop, or mobile operations may now be.

The data fed into our 2020 study had just a fraction over 20% of businesses suggesting they had committed to going workshop only. This year 18% say the same, but a further 13% state that they have gone mobile, hitting the road, presumably annoyed that they’ve left the 10mm at home as opposed to losing it behind the back of the door to Narnia in the shop. It is fair to assume, then, that just north of a quarter of the market has a primary focus on the workshop now and it appears that it is largely new entrants driving this

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modern departure from the traditional model.

The store and workshop model does remain dominant, but pulling data from elsewhere in our study we can see a continuation of the trend of heavy investment in workshop space, additional staff talent, as well as the specialist tooling required.

38% have placed available cash back into developing this area of the business as a priority, with 32% making the investment to train staff and 30% spending on tooling. In terms of year-on-year growth, the trend is extremely bullish. 96% have seen their servicing departments take on more work compared to the year prior, by far and away the largest growth of any sideline revenue to the main store business.

Campagnolo SRAM Shimano SunRace Box Microshift FSA TRP Other 0

50

100

150

200

WHICH IS YOUR GO TO BRAND FOR CHAINS, CASSETTES AND OTHER DRIVETRAIN GOODS? ANALYSIS Well, there’s no surprises here, even Wikipedia outright pins Shimano’s dominance in the components market as somewhere between 70 and 80% of market share.

As is quickly evident from that purple candle bursting the edges of our pages, 83% of our surveyed stores rely at least in part on some supply of Shimano stock, with closest competitor SRAM attracting 35% of service and aftermarket accounts.

From page 30 of this issue Duncan Moore takes the time to ask the question whether such market dominance is actually healthy for the long-term prospects of our industry and to discover just how serious a challenge the likes of FSA, Sunrace, Campagnolo, Box, TRP and Microshift are happy to mount against such mighty competition.

It’s fair to say that the bike industry has been caught off guard by Covid, which has proceeded to expose many shortcomings of the current over reliance on a few sources. From being challenged comes the opportunity to adapt and overcome, some might argue.

There has almost certainly been a marked increase in the headlines of production line investments over the past year, though many have been attributed to the rush to capitalise on the e-Bike movement, not resolve the components shortages, as far as we’ve seen in the news thus far.

As you’ll read later on, Ben Hillsdon, Shimano Europe’s presently stretched PR Officer told CI.N: “This huge demand upswing in 2020 has led to customers selling more bikes and placing far more orders with us than we would usually expect.

“Whilst demand is higher than usual across both ends of the market we are working hard to address supply chain demand as well as working with our business partners to offer solutions so they can bring complete bicycles to the market as soon as possible.

“Incoming orders are extremely positive but future demand is difficult to predict in the current climate so we cannot give a concrete reply at present. However, we strongly believe in the future growth of the bicycle market and will prepare our factories for it.”

WWW.CYCLINGINDUSTRY.NEWS // 013

(( PROFILE GALFER ))

Galfer’s pads feature on pro peleton bikes and OEM bikes galore

FEELS FAMILIAR

Whether or not the Galfer name is familiar to you there’s a Good chance you will have ridden the firm’s brake pads; and now they’re on the lookout for UK distributors. CI.N finds out more from sales manager Ivo Martini Vristo What has attracted Galfer to the UK and what kind of would you be seeking?

Galfer is hoping to connect with a bike specialist distributor. As it stands our cycling product is carried only through TWS, which is our motocross partner. Specifically, right now we are looking for distributors who make the difference in the bicycle sector.

We feel we have a very high-performance product as a direct result of years of research and development.

Backed by this engineering savvy top riders are engaged in various disciplines who are used to performance from every single component of their bike.

We know we make a difference with our products in the braking segment and we are looking for a distributor for the UK market that are already bringing quality service to a broad customer base.

Our policy has been to have more than one distributor specialising in the bike sector in each country, and often at least three, so we are sure to cover all the territory and types of bikes; urban, downhill, XC and E-bike.

Some of our motorcycle pedigree filters through for both e-Bike and road cycling and so shops servicing these bikes should look for our purple pad designed for heavier loads, as well as the blue developed specifically for road use, but with that experience earned from our moto division.

Tell us a bit about your production capability and the available product catalogue: At current production levels we produce almost 2,000,000 brake pads each year.

For mountain bikes Galfer has four different brake pads for different disciplines, each tailored with a specific compound, including a competition ready (green) pad that doesn’t require any bedding in. A black iteration is designed for all round use and at a quality price, while our red pad is suitable for UK conditions in particular because it does very well in extremely wet conditions!

Galfer also has a quite complete range of caliper adapters for assembly an oversize rotor and the center-lock adapter.

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WE ALSO HAVE THREE DIFFERENT BRAKE ROTORS TYPES OF “DISC WAVE” MTB and e-Bike: Available in ø160, ø180, ø203 and ø223mm in 1.8mm or 2mm thickness and for six-bolt or center-lock system. These are light and powerful rotors.

Road: Available in ø160 and ø180 in 1.8mm thickness and for six-bolt or center-lock systems. Again, these are feather light.

Bike Trial: Available in ø160mm for six bolts systems only.

For the bike retailer are you able to supply workshop quantities, as well as retail ready products?

In export we always sell to the retailer through a distributor due to the transports costs and now the customs formalities for UK. Our distributor will be able to supply big and small quantities and we have workshops brake pad packs (boxes of 30 sets without single packaging) ready for supply too.

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(( PROFILE GALFER ))

Galfer’s production extends to over 2 million pads annually

With e-Bike pads requiring extra stopping power testing is key

A UK distribution partner is now sought

Various compounds exist for differing use across all segments

When it comes to brake pads, how deep is the catalogue and how quickly can you bring new pads to market?

We cover 95% brake pads of the market and have the capacity to design, develop and introduce a new model in about 6/8 weeks. This is thanks to holding everything in the same facility (R+D, production and test). The same goes for our disc production.

What engineering experience transfers from the motorcycle market to the cycling product?

The R+D department is located in the same place and we apply the suitable developments for moto to the bike product. For example, the digital simulations before we manufacture, the bench testing machine, the research of the raw materials, some of the same treatments and machines used for manufacture. In summary, all our experience of 69 years in the motobike segment is applicable within our cycling product.

Our “Disc Wave” rotor design comes from the moto development of last 20 years, for example.

Galfer is not just an aftermarket brand, you also supply to some big OEM brands. Where may shops have seen your product?

We supply 100% of Hope’s OEM brake pads and also some models of Magura and Formula. What many do not know, and what makes Galfer one of the brands with the greatest experience and knowledge of braking systems in the bike sector, is that we were the first friction manufacturer of the hydraulic disc system in collaboration with Magura in 1998 for the Gustav M model.

We also produce the KTM brake pads for the aftermarket and some other private labels.

Galfer supplies the “Disc Wave” for some new models

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of Orbea, like the Rise or the Gain. Also we are present on Pivot, Fantic, Berria, Lee Cougan and Mendiz bikes.

On this note, Galfer also has plenty of product on the professional circuit – which teams use your product?

Several UCI XC, downhill and Enduro teams like Polygon UR, Commençal Riding Addiction, KMC-Orbea, BH Tempo-Cafes, Orbea’s Enduro Team and The Brigade, among others.

For OEMs both bike and e-Bike interested in working with Galfer what can you offer?

Galfer has a European manufacturing base that has a record of producing high quality products at good prices and with a performance edge. Also, we have the ECE-R90 certification for the e-Bike brake pads (G1652); that means our pads have the same or higher quality of the original pads.

What would Galfer’s ambition for the UK market be in terms of sales and distribution across the UK? We have always believed that the communication and image of the brand must reflect the high quality of its products. We have always invested a lot both in terms of sponsorships in the various disciplines, both in the bike and motorcycle sector and in terms of advertising and editorial collaborations on the major international online and offline magazines in the bike sector.

As we have done previously in other countries we are now aiming to support that growth in brand awareness in the UK and to have this backed across the territory through more distributors. We look for specialist cycling distributors who know how to give value to the brand and the quality of our products.

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(( PEER’S VIEW ))

PEER’S VIEW: JENNY JONES, GREEN PARTY Having gathered the views of Labour and Conservative MPs in prior issues, it’s time we gathered the thoughts of what one may assume to be the most natural alignment for the cycling market, The Green Party. CI.N speaks with Peer Jenny Jones on progressing the active travel agenda.

hoto credit: Chris McAndrew

“WAY BACK, I ACTUALLY HELPED PAINT LINES ON THE ROADS THAT WERE DESIGNED TO GIVE CYCLISTS SPACE. THE MINUTE THEY WENT DOWN IT MADE A DIFFERENCE...”

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B

ack in December of 2019 when the Conservative Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party laid out their ‘Cycling Election Manifestos’ at Brompton’s Greenford headquarters three of the four were clearly geared up for a fight on cycling. It had become a genuine policy hot potato; and why not? After all, cycling is directly relevant to everything from the health service, through transport and the economy, not to mention the broader issue of climate change politics.

The Green Party, represented at the hustings by London Assembly member Caroline Russell, went toe to toe with a surprisingly generous budget promise from the Labour Party on active travel, while the Lib Dems likewise pledged 10% of the transport budget on the off chance they ended up with some say in Parliament.

It is, then, not to be assumed that the Green Party will always go overboard on spend pledges to drive the kind of meaningful change arguably required to meet climate goals. In fact, the spend pledge at the time was an entirely feasible £2.5 billion annually, or around 8.6% of the transport budget at the time. For context, over the entire Parliamentary term the Conservative has pledged £2 billion in new money for cycling and walking combined.

Jenny Jones, one of two House of Lords peers representing the Green Party believes the current spend scratches the surface and is disproportionate in the context of the wider transport spend.

“We are well short on funding for cycling. Meanwhile we are spending billions on roads and worse, still building new ones. The evidence available shows that building more roads encourages greater vehicle use and a side effect of that is both pollution and congestion. It is madness to be speaking about millions for active travel projects, but billions for new roads.”

For Jones, cycling for transport and leisure is perceived as a fundamental right. By her own admission she comes from a poor background and was only handed a bike upon passing her 11+. “Dad cycled to work every day of his life,” she tells us. “It was a big deal to have the bikes, it was accessible transport for us.”

Crucially the right to get from A to B safely is raised early in our conversation and a nod over the water to our European neighbours is naturally made.

“There are a few things that matter to me personally. I believe that you should not have to wear some sort of uniform to cycle, nor a helmet if you so choose, though of course it doesn’t hurt. Over in Holland where cycling is so prevalent you wear whatever you wish and cycle in safety.

The key is infrastructure that gives the rider confidence to go about their business. It needs to be easy and accessible, with lanes feeding in to the main arteries.”

The hostility towards bikes, rightfully on the road, has been felt many times by Jones herself. During our call stories are recounted of Black Cab drivers hollering out of rolled down windows criticisms of clothing choice, as well as a fellow peer shouting “get out of my way, I know you hate cars.”

Jones does not hate cars, she says, albeit remains highly critical of their environmental impact. “I hate nasty drivers. Where did so many drivers get this arrogance from?”, she asks. “Jeremy Vine posts a near daily video of himself getting cut up on his bike.”

“I complain, a lot,” says Jones with a smile when asked what action she has taken to bring about changes for cyclists. Actions have backed up the complaints too.

“Way back I actually helped paint lines on roads designed to give cyclists space. It was technically illegal and late at night. I hope I cannot be prosecuted now! But the minute the road markings were painted on it made a difference. Many motorists gave the cyclists the space they needed for a while,” she says.

Nowadays, Jones more often than not goes through the proper channels to drive change. That said, it is notable that she stood shoulder to shoulder with the Extinction Rebellion climate movement, even succeeding in bringing and winning a judicial review on the group’s right to protest.

“The biggest impact the public can and perhaps has made comes through protests like these. Free speech is disruptive, it is the step change that can make the difference. All of a sudden since Extinction Rebellion and Gretta Thunberg’s appearance in the public eye everyone is talking about climate change. People have got the concept now, but many find it hard to extrapolate. The Conservatives can actually be good at things like the protection of rivers and trees, but they are not great at extrapolating these issues to a global understanding. It is perhaps that many Tories own large chunks of the land and so localised management is more of an issue than the bigger picture.”

No punches are pulled as we mention the Government’s Bike Repair Voucher scheme and there is an accusation that the Conservatives have mastered the gimmick to get the public on board, but fall short of follow through on many issues.

“There are ideas and schemes aplenty. The Eat Out to Help Out offering, for example. There’s no broad plan and

Jones has been a prominent figure of active travel and pollution discussions.

certainly not a funded one,” says Jones. “With spectacularly low interest rates there is money to spend, the various road and airport schemes show that.”

Aligning thinking with fellow All Party Parliamentary Cycling and Walking Group member and co-chair Selaine Saxby, CI.N’s last political interview, it is suggested that not all meaningful change requires bucket loads of cash (though it certainly helps).

For Jones, the Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes have been an eye opener to how incremental changes can have a broad impact. “The minute you add Low Traffic Neighbourhoods change is noticeable, but numerous benefits are not immediately seen. If you close the roads with planters it’s good for bringing bees back and giving kids the opportunity to play in the street, as they should feel safe to do. They can bike to school far easier with traffic calming too. Small changes can have spin off benefits.

This is the way we’d would like to keep thing moving things forward until such a time the big changes can be made.”

It hasn’t escaped Jones’ attention that seemingly minor adjustments for the purpose of prioritising people on the streets have been met with stiff resistance.

“I have seen the case in Kensington where a promising cycle lane was removed only on complaints from famous residents and taxis drivers. In a word, it’s stupid. Bike lanes naturally discourage car reliance and it is important to begin the process of trialling alternatives. Ken Livingstone understood that a carrot and stick incentive could work, but it was the buses that benefitted most. You have to make it easy for people by creating an entire end-to-

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(( PEER’S VIEW ))

On the front line with campaigners

end infrastructure; that’s lights that let cyclists through, reductions of pinch points where incidents are known to happen and more parking at destinations and hubs. To enable multi-modal transport trains could do a lot more to let more bikes on. The more I talk about it, the more I realise the pace of change is just too slow.”

There is clear disappointment felt, but a willing to push the subject in the chambers with the right evidence to support calls. In order to make a coherent case that is

“YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE BY CREATING AN ENTIRE END-TO-END INFRASTRUCTURE. THE PACE OF CHANGE IS TOO SLOW....” likely to get airtime Jones asks of the cycling industry that the work our campaign groups do is logged and evidence collected to back the many-fold direct and indirect positives attached to cycling.

“I cannot take questions from individuals as there simply aren’t the hours in the day and pitching to the chamber actually has a cost of several hundred pounds attributed, but I am keen that cycling campaign groups keep in touch with their findings. We are just two Greens out of 800 in the Lords, so naturally our time is often devoted to subjects

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Jones on a tour of Brompton’s factory

such as policing or the environment. What that means is that when we raise our hands the questions asked must be of a high quality and well researched. Each department affected by the question must be notified when pitching in order to carry out proper research, so for cycling that’s transport, health and others,” explains Jones.

Ultimately Jones’ other work on environmental causes is likely to have a benefit on active travel, with air quality a subject that crops up in conversation a handful of times, alongside the wider discussions on burning fossil fuels.

Jones describes the pollution issue as an “illness of poverty”, refencing studies that show the poorest as so often the ones trapped in the most polluted neighbourhoods. Naturally, this is an area where those subtle changes like LTNs can make a meaningful difference.

We sign off by asking whether, in the face of widespread opposition from Conservatives, Boris Johnson’s reported fondness of cycling could ultimately see resistance over-ridden.

“Boris has zero physical fear, so I can’t badge him as an ordinary cyclist, he just tends to bulldoze through and so I don’t know if the bike lanes made much difference to his personal experience of cycling. He can take some credit for introducing many bike lanes, while Sadiq Khan has put too many on hold during his term as mayor.

“I don’t understand why the Conservatives don’t see active travel as a broad solution to the health of communities. The more people outside of cars the better air quality and we certainly must stop motors idling outside of schools, that is horrendous. We have got to get our heads round the idea we cannot keep burning fossil fuels. Are EVs consuming fossil fuel-based electricity the answer? I don’t think so.”

(( ANALYSIS RETAIL MERCHANDISING )) The showroom feel has steadily replaced the sea of wheels of old

DRESSED TO IMPRESS Spark your customer’s interest with vibrant lighting, engaging features both front and back of store and even predict their movements. Liberty Sheldon finds out from retail merchandising experts Project Duo how to steer a customer to increased sales…

W

hile it is fair to say the covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the dramatic decrease in small independent businesses on our high streets, bike shops have remained on the list of essential retail services allowed to stay open throughout the pandemic, and as such the industry has seen a massive uptake in people jumping on the bike boom.

A ‘Covid Impact’ report published by The Bicycle Association, covering sales from January to October 2020, outlined that the UK cycling market is expected to be worth 2.2 billion by the end of 2020 as cycling during the pandemic’s first lockdown exceeded 250% of normal preCOVID levels.

Many businesses have had to adapt and take advantage of what has been an unprecedented time in our history.

As one of the few shops open in local areas, bike shops have had to work harder than ever to keep customers coming through their doors - even if it is only a few at a time. However, it would not be considered unusual to ask that ‘in a time where retail digitalisation is banging on the front door with popular online services such as amazon, how can bike shops ensure their stores remain appealing to visit?’. The answer- retail merchandising.

Cycling Industry News discussed the importance of retail design in bike stores with Randal Huntington, CEO of ProjectDuo, and quickly realised that visual merchan-

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dising is not as simple as moving stock around the store and changing the clothes on a mannequin.

Retail design guru’s such as Randal educate their clients on lighting, product placement, marketing, traffic flow and even the position of the cash counter in the store and have seen this result in the store having a great improvement in turnover.

“Most of our projects have at least a 30% increase in turnover after we have redesigned a store. We have had up to 120% increase in turnover, and that was for a major retailer. It just goes to show what a little paint and light can do,” he told CI.N. “People come into stores for an experience, particularly now more than ever. If I want to buy something, I’m not buying it in a store, I am buying it online. If I am coming to a store, it’s because I want an experience. I want to get out of my house and remember the good old days.

“We are always going to want to go to the shops. Retail will not die like people have been saying for twenty years.

Ever since the internet was invented people have said that bricks and mortar retail will die. The reason I say it won’t, is because when I come to Europe, I am always reminded that every city has a town square. This is because as humans we have always wanted to gather and experience other people. Malls and shopping streets are our modernday town square so we will always go out shopping.”

Spacious channels guide the customer, drawing attention with key products at the eyeline

EXPECTATIONS According to Randal, meeting a customer’s everyday expectations is paramount when it comes to successful retail design in a bike shop. He highlights that “their expectation of what a retail experience is, is in line with everything else. I always say to my clients, if your customer is shopping at this level for their clothes, their watches, their cars, your bike shop needs to be at that level. You can’t expect them to come down to a bike shop. That’s why brands like Trek and Specialized do so well. They have realised their customer shops at BMW or Jaguar and they make sure that their store meets the same expectation.”

Selling a brand new experience every time a return customer walks in is one of Randal’s many tips and tricks for improving your retail merchandising strategy. “Add new gear, new seasonal kits, and new tech displays that are signed well, and updated often. And remember that customers are in-store for the experience of interacting with products.”

GOOD, BETTER, BEST. I’m sure we can all admit that at some point in our lives we have walked into a bike shop and been bombarded by a sea of products. Randal emphasises that displaying more stock doesn’t mean you’re going to sell more. This

Mannaquins can help bring an extra dimension to clothing

Pairing displays to show the full package can help increase add-on sales

could have the opposite effect and leave customers feeling overwhelmed. In fact, less is more.

“If it takes longer than 16 seconds to put a bike in your customer’s hands, the odds of them buying that bike drop dramatically. If you need to hang it from the ceiling, it’s clutter,” says Randal In a less is more approach, Randal tells CI.N the marketing technique referred to as ‘Good, Better, Best’.

This approach revolves around the customer only having three brand choices for the type of product they are looking for- the good choice, the better choice, and the best choice.

“Working with good, better, best keeps it simple. You can go, okay here are our three brands, you want to look at a hybrid bike, here is our good option, here is our better option and here is the best option. Which one are you?

“From a retailer’s point of view this is easier because now they are not carrying a lot of stock, they are just carrying those three brand’s stock; the good, the better and the best.”

This also makes it simpler from a marketing point of view too because then you are only marketing good, better and best, which means you only have three bikes to market and not ten. You can focus your campaign simply on good, better, best.”

“IF IT TAKES LONGER THAN 16 SECONDS TO PUT A BIKE IN YOUR CUSTOMER’S HANDS THE ODDS OF THEM BUYING DROP DRAMATICALLY...”

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(( ANALYSIS RETAIL MERCHANDISING ))

TIPS AND TRICKS With over twenty years’ experience in the industry, working with brands such as Trek, Cannondale, GT bicycles, footlocker and more, Randal shares some of his best tips and tricks that bike shop owners can use to get clued up on the effects of retail design.

Lighting is considered problematic in many retail stores.

For many stores, improved lighting could single-handedly improve sales by 10% or more. Randal urges bike shop owners to consider ambient lighting, spotlighting, and the temperature/color of your lights as a starting point.

Additionally, it is important to remember that before someone walks into your bike shop, they must walk past it. Randal emphasises that treating your shop front as your magazine cover, your home page and your Facebook profile can aid in improving sales and making your store appear more inviting. “We put our best foot forward on social media to attract the right kind of attention from the right audience. Do the same with your shopfront,” he says.

Interestingly, Randal tells CI.N that the side of the road that your customer drives on influences the direction they will head when they walk in your store and therefore bike shop owners should plan traffic flow and merchandising around this. And make the back of your store as profitable as the front. For example, draw customers to the back of the store with strong, highly visible features like vibrant signage, colour block merchandising, large television displays, and more.

Applying a local touch can also aid in improving sales and relationships with customers in a store. Local trail maps, club photos, staff bike of the week or even a local hero recognition can be more effective than you think.

Finally, as the coronavirus pandemic has seen a huge rise in mechanic training and workshop demand, Randal suggests that although the workshop needs to be considered in good store design, addressing the workshop as a totally separate business to the retail side is more effective as the front of house and the workshop have different needs, and different methods of bringing in profits.

“ONE WAY OF DOING RETAIL IN THE FUTURE COULD BE THAT SHOPS BECOME SHOWROOMS FOR VIEWING AHEAD OF HOME DELIVERY...”

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Presenting flagship models separately can create discussion points in store

THE FUTURE OF RETAIL In a time of uncertainty and ever changing shopping trends, the future of the retail industry seems like another step into the unknown. With may believing that one day the modern-day high street with cease to exist. It will simply evolve, we’re told.

“I think one way of doing retail in the future could be that shops turn more into showrooms rather than shops.

For example, in bike stores, you would have one of everything where you can see it, touch it, and try it, and then scan it with your phone through a QR code, and then it will be delivered to your house next day.

“We have moved so far in retail that people are no longer looking for or are worried about achieving that instant gratification, because that has been taken away from us with Corona. But I am still wanting to go to a store that is going to give me that social experience. It’s an opportunity to try that at least,” Says Randal.

With a bustling high street and shopping centre seeming like nothing short of a distant memory, it is vital that bike shops place more of an emphasis on retail design, using this unusual global situation as an advantage.

In the last year we have seen ten years’ worth of change in the retail sector, according to Randal. He highlights that now is as good of a time as any to try anything different, because we are all expecting different. So, if you have some crazy idea that you want to try in retail, now is the time to try it. Just remember, less is more.

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(( ANALYSIS TRADING STAYCATIONS ))

Photo credit: Sandy Plenty

Bikepacking, while already trending, may be a big beneficiary from Staycations.

GOING NOWHERE? GOOD… Most of us will be resigned by now to a routine that involves journeys that begin on the sofa, take a loop of the local woods and end up back where they started. With staycations looking like the only cycle tourism option for summer Liberty Sheldon looks at the trends and the product in the market…

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A

s we approach the one-year mark since the UK emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic, many of us have been left dreaming about the good old days when we could take our steeds abroad for the annual cycling vacation. However, as we wave goodbye to winter, restrictions are still in place across the country and therefore it looks like any cycle touring will remain close to home.

Survey results published by the Statista Research Department show that UK Google searches for the term ‘staycation’ in July 2020 increased by over 500% compared to the previous summer, and the term ‘UK Staycation’ increased by over 400%.

Many would jump to the conclusion that the staycation trend has been predominantly brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and according to The NPD Group, recreational bicycling did grow by 203% last spring as social distancing was enforced.

Chris Smith, Managing Director at bike rack maker Pendle Engineering, told CI.N “There’s no doubt that the pandemic has put health and wellbeing in the forefront of people’s minds, and of course we all know that cycling is

Family cycling excursions have been a boon to segments such as child seats

Rack specialist Pendle said bike rack purchases have been preferred to on site hires.

“IN THE WEEKS FOLLOWING THE FIRST LOCKDOWN THE TRAFFIC TO THE PENDLE WEBSITE DOUBLED, THEN DOUBLED AGAIN...”

a huge source of both health and wellbeing. For those stuck at home working over the dining room table, the need for escapism and fresh air has definitely increased and you only need to speak to a handful of IBDs to know that many have flocked to biking.”

Additionally, some would argue that a spike in bike popularity was coming as finding greener means of transport and reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become an even more prominent discussion. Smith added: “It feels like everything stems from Covid at times, but I also think that the nation is waking up to cycling having a key role in the pursuit of low-carbon activity and ultimately net-zero.”

Cumbria based Lyon Equipment believes that the staycation trend has also been exacerbated by Brexit.

Nils Amelinckx, Lyons Assistant Cycle Market Manager said: “Seeing as we no longer form part of the European Union, there is less scope for international holidays for the immediate future and will definitely force more people to plan their 2021 holidays within the UK.” Furthermore, a 2019 survey by YouGov, revealed that 41% of people would be more likely to consider a holiday

in the UK post-Brexit, with only 19% claiming that Brexit would not affect their thoughts on travel.

The template for the staycation boom is also evident in sales patterns according to brands. “Looking at our top three cycling brands, we have seen significant increases in sales across the board. Our Bombtrack turnover more than doubled and the growth curve was only limited by the inability to land more bikes quickly. We sold out well before we intended to sell out! With Bombtrack’s range being largely adventure orientated it’s obvious this type of bike certainly appeals right now to people looking to explore the varied and stunning terrain we have on offer in the UK,” says Amelinckx.

Dominic Langan, CEO at Madison added: “From April 2020 through to December, we saw a 51% growth in Thule sales, our touring bike sales in this period grew by 118%, a 76% growth in Madison bags and panniers and M:Part bicycle racks grew by 30% until we ran out of stock.”

“Childseat sales grew by 256% as families looked to get out on the bikes together for days out during a long warm summer,” added Langan.

Pendle also experienced a surge in demand as a result of the initial UK lockdown. “In the weeks following the announcement of the first national lockdown, the traffic on our website doubled, then doubled again. PBR products are perfect for staycation goers, allowing families to take their bikes with them on holiday and avoid the costs associated with hiring bikes,” says Pendle’s Chris Smith.

With the industry facing a supply dilemma throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and now the complications added by Brexit, ensuring that goods arrive in store is paramount for bike shops across the country who are wanting to return to normal and keep up with the dramatic rise in demand.

Lyon says it has been able to offer an excellent depth of stock when it comes to Ortlieb and Salsa in particular.

“With Ortlieb being made in Germany, we are protected from the long lead times and shipping issues we have seen with some far Eastern production.” The brand is confident that it will be able to meet the vast majority of its 2021 pre-orders in time.

“We have goods landing all the time and enough to deliver another very strong year, but if demand continues

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(( ANALYSIS TRADING STAYCATIONS ))

to grow, there could be supply issues,” says Madison’s boss. “The growth in cycling has been global and factories are under immense pressure to meet demand. Limited availability, increased shipping costs, increased raw material costs and increased production costs are all putting a huge inflationary pressure on products which may curb some of the demand, but we expect 2021 to be a big year as we gradually and hopefully come out of the restrictions of the pandemic.”

Chris Smith, Pendle said: “We have all of our products manufactured and assembled by our sister company Pendle Engineering, who also reside in our Nelson Lancashire HQ – so production lead times usually aren’t an issue! However, we’ve been seeing a worrying trend in raw material prices and lead times, spurred on by the pandemic and Brexit for sure.”

Now, a staycation article would be somewhat incomplete without a bike touring and bikepacking kit list.

Salsa’s Warbird, distributed by Lyon, is a bike that can not only go the distance at the Frontier 300 but with its longer wheelbase, it equally lends itself to longer overnight trips loaded with bags.At the entry-level of the range, Salsa’s Journeyman is a great starting point to the brand and this model will become available in the UK later in the season.

Also distributed by Lyon, Ortlieb’s bikepacking range has just seen a major overhaul with the addition of the Fork-Packs and Roll Closure versions of its Frame-Packs.

The entire range is fully waterproof and comes with a 5year warranty.

Additionally, the very nature of a staycation suggests that a vehicle would need to be packed up as easily as possible but needs to be quickly unpacked again for regular use. SeaSucker racks make for great staycation racking option due to their ease of use and fast installation.

Once at the destination a SeaSucker rack can be quickly removed and safely stored ready for the return journey.

Rated to 95kg of pulling force each, SeaSucker suction cups feature a proven design derived from high strength vacuum equipment used to manoeuvre large sheets of plate glass in building construction applications.

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After a year of little adventure, how many customers would buy this setup outright?

With the Seasucker Komodo and Hornet racks, a single bike can be installed directly without the need to remove the front wheel. The Komodo is designed for vehicles which have limited roof space with folding and articulating cups to ensure compatibility, it’s also optimised for road bikes only. The Hornet is designed for installation on the back panel of SUV or minivan type vehicles, which are high enough to carry a bike vertically secured by the handlebars with wheels facing outward.

Furthermore, Thule’s rail-fixed roof racks are the winners of multiple design awards. The brand offers rear mounted and towball racks. Compatibility of the racks can be measured against your customer’s car using an online tool available on the Thule website and the Madison B2B site to make it easier for shops to ensure they’re buying the right setup.

Clothing is also an important factor to consider for anyone with a bike focussed staycation in mind. Your customer will require something that manages sweat well, does not restrict movement, and offers protection from the elements, too. Madison clothing, such as a Protec or Roam jacket, padded shorts or a set of Element gloves to keep your hands comfortable can make all the difference.

Pendle racks are also an option for the family cycling staycation. The racks are engineered from high quality materials with a tough, weather resistant powder-coated finish. Products available include the Wheel Support Towbar Rack, Hang on Towbar Rack, Roof Rack and the Pendle Tandem Rack.

The most recent Government announcement outlined how people traveling into the UK from the 33 red level countries will have to pay £1,750 in hotel fees, so this has possibly closed the door on international travel for many Brits looking to go abroad for a bit of summer sun. So, whether you are planning a trip to the highlands for some off-road action, ride the beautiful lanes of the Peak District or just cycle along the sea front with the family, there is a plethora of equipment out there, perfect for a UK cycling staycation. We’ll see you out there.

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(( ANALYSIS COMPONENT SUPPLY ))

CHANGING GEARS? A lot has been learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and arguably we have seen a vision of the future if the bicycle continues to become ever more important as a transport and leisure item. Duncan Moore asks if the trade’s existing drivetrain supply chain can cope in an expanding marketplace…

T

he wolrd has changed so much over the past 12 months that it can be hard to remember what life used to be like. We are now at a place where cycle stores are considered essential but many of them are struggling to get the stock they need, whether that be complete bikes or repair and service parts.

There can be no denying that the onset of COVID-19 caught everyone out along the whole supply chain, but could there be some good news in all of this?

As the virus took hold factories slowed production or simply shut down due to staff shortages, or national lockdowns. S,hortages began to appear in the supply chain, not only were shops finding it hard to get regular service items like mechs, chains, shifters and brakes but so too were bike manufacturers.

Talking to C.I.N. about the situation Ben Hillsdon, from Shimano Europe had this to say: “This huge demand upswing in 2020 has led to customers selling more bikes and placing far more orders with us than we would usually expect.

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“Whilst demand is higher than usual across both ends of the market, we are working hard to address supply chain demand as well as working with our business partners to offer solutions so they can bring complete bicycles to the market as soon as possible.

“Incoming orders are extremely positive but future demand is difficult to predict in the current climate so we cannot give a concrete reply at present. However, we strongly believe in the future growth of the bicycle market and will prepare our factories for it.”

It would appear that the industry’s reliance on SRAM and Shimano may be creating supply problems not only for manufacturers seeking OEM parts but also for IBDs in need of service parts, too. However, this could be argued as being good news for others.

Just as in other sectors where new manufacturers appear with new ideas (think how Huawei was all set to disrupt the mobile phone market) so too there are operators in the cycling market that have been quietly working

The Box Two-9 speed shifter

“THE TRP SYSTEM IS COMPATIBLE WITH A VARIETY OF CHAINS AND CASSETTES IN THE MARKET, THEY MIX WELL...”

away waiting to break the market’s status quo. Now is that time for businesses like as TRP, Box and FSA. Such a changing of the guard is nothing new, it has happened before. When mountain bikes first appeared on the scene Suntour was still a force to be reckoned with and there was no SRAM. Granted both Campagnolo and Mavic had a go at cracking the off road groupset market, but both are now simply the preserve of the hardcore retro collector. Similarly, while boutique American manufacturers such as Paul Components and White Industries made mechs they were simply too expensive for the mainstream market never mind OEM use.

So, who are the new pretenders and why should the industry take notice of them? Perhaps the best now is TRP and its Tektro line of parts, but there’s also newer players; Box, with a history in BMX and Full Speed Ahead, otherwise known as FSA. For many years Tektro has been the go-to choice for low to mid-range braking options, but to dismiss the brand as

simply a budget option would now be foolish.

Dirk Belling, a brand coach who has been working with Tektro to develop the label in Europe believes that it has the experience ready and waiting to ramp things up well beyond the early aftermarket derailleurs and other kit that are already landing on the market. “Tektro is a 33year-old family business based in Taiwan and in 2006 the high-end brand TRP – Tektro Racing Products – was founded. Today, TRP engineers are working closely with the professional race teams. This product feedback and testing is key to the TRP product development process.”

But what are those products that are being developed and how much impact can they have on the OEM market?

With many OEMs already using Tektro brakes, it was an obvious move to capitalise upon this and develop the range. Following on from the development of its TRP DH R EVO brakes with 203mm diameter, 2.3mm wide TRP C 2.3 rotors, which have seen success on the international downhill circuit, Tektro is now bringing the stronger disc technology to cargo bikes and in particular e-cargo bikes as it is partnering with Riese & Müller as an OEM supplier.

However, even with OEM contracts in place, the brake market is a crowded place to be, whereas when it comes to drivetrains there’s much less competition, especially for mech and shifters. Having honed its skills with a seven-speed derailleur designed for the rough and tumble of downhill racing the know-how is tried and tested on the world’s most rigorous stage.

TRP has already got five years of development work on its drivetrain packages and introduced its G-Spec DH 7 (seven-speed) and G-Spec TR12 (12-speed) mountain bike mechs and shifters in 2019. Once again, the components were race proven on international downhill racer’s bikes and are now available in the wider marketplace.

“This system is compatible with a variety of chains and cassettes currently available in the market and we provide a list of all working combinations. In general, they [the mechs and shifter] can mix with SRAM, Shimano, Sunrace - always to the given specifications,” says Belling about the option of carrying the components in stores to use when direct replacements for original parts are not available.

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“WE TRIED TO ACCOMODATE CROSS COMPATIBILITY, BUT IT CAME AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR OWN ECO-SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY.” It is a similar story for Box, which introduced its first 11speed mech and shifter package aimed at the growing enduro market in 2017. Unfortunately for Box that was the same time that SRAM dropped its Eagle drivetrain on the market. The dominance of SRAM caused Box to reconsider its priorities in the market and instead look towards the e-Bike sector. This led to the launch by Box of an eBike specific nine-speed derailleur system. The thinking behind this was that the extra torque generated on an eBike would cause too many problems for a wider geared system and so nine-speed was settled upon.

Lauren Ryan, Brand Manager at Moore Large, which distributes Box in the UK, explains how the brand has now moved onto offer a range of nine-speed drivetrain packages for regular as well as e-Bikes.

“Even though the nine-speed was intended for e-Bikes, staff at Box started using the gears on their MTBs and that gave rise to what is now known as Prime 9 by Box.” Available in a range of price point configurations, Box’s nine-speed set-up is designed around a wide-spread cassette so that it runs as a 1x configuration. While this potentially means less wear, it also means another standard and a lack of interchangeability, which could be considered an issue by some IBDs simply looking for an alternative source of service parts away from the big two.

Addressing this issue Ryan says: “We tried to accommodate cross-compatibility with our friends at Shimano and SRAM, but it came at the expense of compatibility within our own ecosystem. So, we soon threw that idea to the wind. To be honest, in the early days we used to curse our competitors for creating new ecosystems thinking that they were doing that calculatingly to spite us all, but we realised pretty quickly that it was the only way to guarantee performance and accountability throughout the system.”

In the case of FSA and its K-Force WE 11-speed road front and rear mechs and shifter package, it has been created with compatibility in mind. Edoardo Girardi, Full Speed Ahead and Vision Europe’s General Manager, explains: “Our groupset has been tested with different 11-speed chains and cassettes and our cassettes and chains are compatible with other 11-speed groupsets; once again, shops can rely on FSA components to match with other brands, not only in case of unavailability, in some cases our customers experienced higher performances with FSA parts.”

While both Box and TRP are currently targeting the offroad market with their drivetrain packages and FSA is for the road, all three are looking to diversify their offerings as new market sector gain in popularity. “Of course, having

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Photo credit > muc off

(( ANALYSIS COMPONENT SUPPLY ))

THE COMPLETE BOX PACKAGE Box admits that the aftermarket is the initial focus, but OEM may naturally develop

now the know-how and the technology for a complete road groupset is allowing us to expand into the off-road side; it’s a project for FSA’s future even if we don’t have yet a time to market, we’re working on it,” says Girardi.

In the case of TRP Belling explains that “in the coming years we plan to introduce several new designs in various market segments. The 700c segment especially gravel and adventure are those where we observe increasing demand.

We are always looking for opportunities in the market where we can bring new technologies and smarter solutions for a better price than what is currently available.”

“The lure of gravel and eventually road is sometimes intoxicating, but we still have much to do in our lane,” says Ryan, talking about the possibility of Box entering other disciplines. “We have demand far outpacing supply. Rest assured we have engineers working on meaningful product development and we’ll let you know when we are getting close to something worth sharing.”

Given that all three brands are obviously looking to develop their presence in the market can we expect to see them names Box, TRP or FSA appearing more commonly

WE REAR DERAILLEUR FSA pitch its drivetrain as high quality at a competitive price

as OEM supplier in the future? According to Girardi: “FSA is growing in the OEM business on all the disciplines, from MTB to road and e-Bike as well. We’ve been among the first brands offering a complete range of crankarms sprockets and parts for e-Bike engines, so we created the ground to be considered a strong partner for e-Bikes.

“On top of that, we stepped into e-Bike business with a rear hub engine dedicated to e-Road and e-Gravel. There is still a lot of potential to develop with these new kinds of bikes,” says Girardi, before noting that for the IBD market, “FSA’s strength is the quality-price ratio. FSA can offer a wide range of category products with high-quality products at a competitive price on the complete line-up.”

For Box, the move to OEM is a project that will happen but one that is not a priority.

“We have some spec confirmed on a handful of OEM brands, but we are also abundantly aware that we must walk before we can run,” says Ryan. “There is lots of activity in this area and we are blessed with a supply chain that can deliver in about half the time of some others at this time.

“We’re not sure that the rise of e-Bikes has made it easier specifically for Box because it really is a tide that lifts all boats. Nevertheless, we are well suited for e-Bikes in that we have a robust system that was born from one.”

As already discussed, TRP is working closely with Riese & Mueller as an OEM brake supplier for the eCargo bikes, but that is not the only collaboration the company has in place. “In cooperation with the Canyon Urban PM team we developed a complete integrated brake-lever unit for the new PRECEED:ON handle-bar/ cockpit,” says Belling. “We don’t think that the rise of eBikes is making it easier, but we are listening to our partners and customers’ needs and this is a big opportunity. The TRP team has become very strong in listening and developing custom solutions.”

Belling also feels that TRP’s strength in the e-Bike market will be beneficial in the longer-term to IBDs. “In the future more and more OE, especially on e-Bikes and e-MTB, will spec Tektro and TRP e-Bike solution brake products, which means IBD will have the service opportunity as these are still a high wear item.”

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(( PROFILE HAVEBIKE ))

TO THE

RESCUE If there’s one good thing to come of a financial cash it’ it’s the ability to start tells CI.N how afresh, as many have done this year. HaveBike CEO Nick Brown B the 2008 crash sparked turning a hobby into a quickly expanding business… ex

H

earing stories of people growing tired of the city and moving into passion projects is not uncommon, but nonetheless a good reason is often required to make the leap from the relative safety of a well-paid job to an industry that isn’t known for making millionaires.

Not too long after the 2008 financial crash that’s exactly what Nick Brown, a former lawyer, opted to do, even though he was not a victim of the financial meltdown as such.

“It began for me in the summer of 2009 after the crash.

My boss at the time didn’t make redundancies, but did offer an extended summer break as business was quiet in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers’ collapse. At the time I was buying and selling bikes on eBay and enjoying it, what’s more I was making okay money. Despite being on six figure salary at the time, the draw of doing something I enjoyed was strong,” starts Brown.

It actually started long before that, he admits. As is so often the case with people who end up in the bicycle industry the true beginning was “tinkering with my bike in my mum’s

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kitchen, taking it apart and putting it back together.”

During the summer of 2009 Brown toured Italy and France, apparently checking out the bike scene overseas and pondering whether an opportunity existed abroad.

Upon his return the decision was made to leave his role in the city, but the plan of what to do next was not formalised truly until one day he had a poor experience as a customer in a London bike shop.

“I was horrified at being told there was a three-week lead time in this shop. The reality is, no matter how busy a shop is, for a Londoner and indeed any modern shopper, that wait time is not acceptable,” says Brown, before adding the disclaimer that the Covid-19 ‘bike boom’ experience might be the exception to the rule.

The HaveBike leadtime goal is to have turnaround inside a maximum of 72 hours and furthermore, a customer should be able to book in within the next five working days.

“We’ve never run at north of two weeks at any point, bar that crazy period during the spring. Because we are a

The HaveBike team is made up of enthusiasts

“WE HAVE INVESTED IN AN IMPORT COMPANY TO HELP OUR SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICE THE EMERGENCY SERVICES CONTRACTS.”

Havebike collect and deliver upon request

service rather than retail business we have great storage, a surplus of skills on hand to complete work and the way we operate is fine-tuned for efficiency,” we’re told.

Part of the efficiency begins with the first customer interaction, an online book in that is delivered via purpose built e-commerce platform designed to book in and allocate work in a time-smart manner, as well as deliver convenience in collection and payment for the customer.

“Luckily I had contacts from my time in the city who are smart in cloud computing and software development, so that investment was made early. This system enables us to pull up any bike in the workshop’s details in an instant for a stats check and allocation of work. As an aside to that, it’s really our market disrupting collection service that set us apart as we offer collection and return as part of the price.

It’s not just about the workshop, but the logistics network too,” says Brown.

The vans that pick up customer’s bikes are again purpose built inside to ensure each bike is protected and secure in transit. With the pandemic very much turning the world upside-down, those vehicles have been found further and further afield too.

“Pre-Covid, our mechanics went in to businesses, but the lockdown killed that trade entirely. We decided to do something about it as we knew many customers lived in an accessible radius around the city. The benefit of going wider, we found, is that outside the city people use their higher-end bikes rather than the commuter steeds they risk in London.

That has meant the mechanics are enjoying working on those bikes and as a result our natural expansion is underway. Havebike now stretches into parts of Hertfordshire and Essex, as well as a full coverage of Surrey and anything inside the M25.”

There is perhaps more to the expansion too. Brown alludes to building on one of the bedrocks of the business; the service of emergency service vehicles and not just those in the local area.

“We have invested in an import company to help our supply chain to service emergency services fleets with custom made bikes built to our spec. Naturally, we are talking to overseas organisations for bike supply. The ambulance bikes can carry 70 kilos of defibrillators and oxygen tanks and remains a workbench on site thanks to a super strong kickstand. The ergonomics of spending eight hours

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(( PROFILE HAVEBIKE ))

of cycling often in heavy gear is a design consideration we’ve taken seriously,” says Brown.

The action to capture large the service contracts has been a pillar of the Havebike business from early on and, again, Brown believes his former life in the city has done the business favours.

Brown explains: “As a former lawyer I’ve a skillset that lends to high level negotiations, I perhaps didn’t present as a bike mechanic. Public sector contracts need a certain response to tenders and bidding skills to carry you through negotiations. One of our early contracts was with St John’s Ambulance. They called us in for a meeting, requiring a fleet to be both supplied and maintained. We came from that meeting with a problem to solve on supplying 40 paramedic bikes. We delivered this deployment ahead of the London Marathon, on time and on budget. From there word spread to the London City Police and MET who were just setting up their bike division.”

Sticking with expansion and negotiations, we touch on the subject of how quickly Havebike’s competition is expanded; most notably how the Covid spike mirrors his own entry to the market. Mobile mechanics businesses, CI.N’s own data confirms earlier in this issue, are proliferating quickly as people find themselves at career junctions. This has both positive and negatives for the market, says Brown.

“In the past we have acquired some mobile mechanics, such as Ultimate Bikes. Part of our expansion strategy is to offer more joint ventures or acquisitions. It’s great to see the mobile mechanic market broadening as it gets the message out this service exists to those yet unaware.

What I’m more worried about is the hobby mechanic that will come in and devalue the work of qualified and experienced mechanics at a time when prices should be going up.”

Brown agrees that for a long time the bike market undervalued its skilled work and has only recently been getting to grips with charging an appropriate rate to better support a mechanic’s wage that will attract rather than deter talent from landing in the trade.

“We think we are one of highest payers in industry and offer a decent scope of career progression too. A few years ago Serco did a benchmark study on industry salaries as part of its service contract for the London Bike Hire scheme.

Ultimately Serco found it paid its mechanics the best and Havebike came second. I think it’s an important issue, mechanics have earned the qualifications and often have years of experience; we should collectively pay better for that knowledge. The only difference really is that I wore a suit as a lawyer while the mechanic has overalls, both are learned and valuable skillsets.”

For Havebike the pricing structure, including pick up and delivery sits at £59.99 for a safety inspection and basic service, £89.99 for a full clean and removal of key bits under the Deluxe banner and, finally, the Super Deluxe at £200 offers a complete strip, clean, grease and rebuild of all the key moving parts.

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Nick Brown, HaveBike’s CEO

“Times have changed for the bike world. Many years ago people wouldn’t dream of buying a high ticket bike, but now the average sales prices are rising fast; so should the prices for servicing should reflect this,” says Brown.

With corporate servicing contracts a key part of the business we ask to what degree will last mile servicing become part of the mix, to which we learn that a model pioneered in the USA by Velofix and Beeline Bikes is mirrored with some last mile servicing work for direct-to-consumer label Ribble. Havebike is also a Canyon approved service centre.

“We’re perfectly geared up for this kind of work,” says Brown. “There are a number of direct to market e-Bike manufacturers and retailers we hope to work with. Every bike we handle gets that initial 104-point check over, so every bike is safe when it leaves the workshop. For our usual customers we have made the process familiar, like an MOT, with advisories and mandatory service points put forward on each transaction.”

Of course consumer direct trading can cause bike shops as many headaches as opportunities, but for Havebike policies are in place to manage the expectation of each customer, no matter where they buy.

“We deal with customers bringing in online bought parts with sensitivity, after all, who wouldn’t want to spend £200 less on Ultegra, for example? We are very straight with the client as certain parts we do supply without a fitting charge, but if customer supplies product the fitting charge is added.

They may argue we are taking the old one off for cleaning, so have to put back anyway, at which point we go into some detail with them about our three-month labour guarantee offered, among other enjoyed perks. The customer often takes it on board once it is explained to them. We did moot the idea of an online levy, but that’s perhaps too far; it’s the way of the world.”

Havebike begins 2021 with plenty in play, including an 1,000 bike contract which, at the time of writing is yet to be revealed. Further to that lucrative trade, a pioneering link with Shimano will see Havebike be the testbed for on the road accredited Shimano Service Centres.

Havebike are now recruiting to assist with the firm’s territory expansion. For the role details, head to CyclingIndustry.News/Jobs.

D I S TRI BUTED I N THE UK BY

WWW.BOB-ELLIOT.CO.UK

(( ANALYSIS PRIVATE EQUITY INTEREST ))

BULLISH ON BIKES It will not have escaped your attention the uptick in headlines speaking of bike industry buyouts, investments and mergers. CI.N speaks with Baird’s “Bike Bankers”, who managed the sale of Canyon, to find out if interest in investment really is growing…

O

n the first coming of the electric bike, when cumbersome lead acid batteries were the norm, it is fair to say investors heads were not turned in the slightest. At the time trends like home computing were instead the darling of private equity funds; there was scope of immense growth, fast technological progression and an ocean of widespread ownership ahead. There was even a salary sacrifice scheme – the Home Computing Initiative – which went on to be mirrored in the cycling world with the Cycle to Work scheme.

Just one of those schemes survives today and dare we say it’s because politicians with a mind open to increased cycling can still see an arguably unrealised blue ocean of opportunity ahead in our market; and it ticks a lot of policy goals.

Unsurprisingly, policy and investment marry up more often than not. With Joe Biden in the White House green energy and cannabis stocks got a shot in the arm, among other forward looking, new dawn segments. Similar investment trends can be seen in much of Europe,

038 // WWW.CYCLINGINDUSTRY.NEWS

perhaps excluding the weed. Like it or not, times are changing and if you’re an investor it doesn’t hurt to have an open mind and a knack for spotting an opportunity ahead of the masses.

Let’s look quickly at how a handful of listed cycling companies have seen investors swarm on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic as other segments have taken longer to regain steam.

Parent to Raleigh, The Accell Group, has more than recovered its pre-pandemic valuation. Meanwhile, having chopped back and forth within a fairly consistent range for the past five years, investors buying up Shimano stock have, since March of 2020, taken the share price from a low of 12,930 to a high of 26,600 (Yen). Interestingly, the charts mirror the broader industry’s panic upon the first lockdown, the price crashing well below its prior range, only to rebound drastically upon the realisation that bicycles would play a central part in the recovery effort globally.

Finally, the Tandem Group, as well as having grown its

investment has accelerated in the active living segments, all sustainability driven markets and micromobility. There are a few areas that tick all of those interests and cycling fits the bill very well.”

More than that, the technological advance brought about by the electric bike has given both private and institutional investors food for thought. This is seen as cycling 2.0; a development that opens the doors wide to a forecast of strong growth, much thanks to the much broader demographic appeal of the e-Bike, among other draws.

Where the bicycle’s design has arguably remained constrained to a dual triangle frame and a pair of wheels almost since its invention, the electric bike has brought about the ability to create a gadget that can build in software appeal and tech-ready hardware that has the ability to transform both personal and business-driven mobility.

earnings per share by 43% over the past three years, has since the first Spring 2020 lockdown grown its share price from a little over £1 to a recent peak of £5.85. That’s not just back to pre-pandemic levels, it is in fact more than double the value of the prior high.

Global wealth management firm Baird are one of a few with active input on the cycling market and are in fact the very same people who brought about the sale of Canyon to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert in December of 2020, guiding founder Roman Arnold through the process of finding and negotiating with the new majority shareholder. Bikes aside, Baird last year also managed the private equity buyout of bread maker Hovis.

Boris Partin, a director of Baird’s European investment banking team said that Covid has brought about a sense of urgency among investors.

“Trends that might have come into play over a five to ten year period have really been bunched up by the Coronavirus and the shifts have been seismic. Most notably,

“CANYON HAD THE INGREDIENTS FOR A STRONG INVESTMENT CASE AND THE ABILITY TO GROW THROUGH OBSTACLES...”

If we are to take a leaf out of famed investor Warren Buffett’s book, a golden rule of investing is to pick a company that has “an economic moat”, which quite simply means something unique that cannot easily or quickly be replicated. Canyon, we’re told, met criteria.

“The ingredients for an investment case were there.

Canyon is differentiated to the market, has a strong brand, offers value to consumer and has the ability to grow through obstacles thanks to its structure. Its route to market is obviously direct, which means profitability is easier to realise. Investors also like fragmented industries and cycling can fairly be said to be that.”

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(( ANALYSIS PRIVATE EQUITY INTEREST ))

According to Partin there is a “wall of money” in the waiting for companies that can demonstrate a potential to grow.

Baird’s focus is on the mid-market, that’s companies valued from single digit millions up to £100 million. Specialising in mergers and acquisitions, we’re told that Canyon was not the first and will not be the last deal of its kind the bike business will see, though it was one that met the criteria of a scalable business that can smash through ceilings now that new financing has been sourced. A consumer direct model is apparently strongly desired for such deals as a result of the slimline supply chain being able to deliver greater profitability and returns for shareholders.

In this instance, Canyon approached Baird to find the ideal partner, a process that is typically kept under the radar and so the first many in the bike industry hear of the transaction is the announcement itself.

Partin says “For many businesses investment is required to progress to the next level. PON, for example, have over a period of time been acquiring others to generate growth, so it’s not necessarily about making a leaner business, often it’s about having the ability to fill gaps to drive growth. An £100 million business will very often acquire businesses that have £20 million or £5 million in complementary sales, or that fill gaps in the supply, for example. Private equity investors like that format and as is said, a fragmented industry like cycling is particularly appealing for these types of transactions.”

In the case of Canyon, Baird’s private approach to investors eventually led to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert being chosen by founder Roman Arnold, but a co-investor, Tony Fadell also took a stake. Fadell, the former head of Apple’s iPod division and a cyclist himself brings with him the experience of his former team and his Future Shape company, which is a specialist in sustainability and digital technologies, nicely aligning with Canyon’s electric bike advance.

So, given the timing of the acquisition and Canyon’s concept velomobile we ask Partin whether it’s a coincidence, or whether investors took an interest in this new dual motor half car/half cargo bike concept.

“Micromobility is a pull for investors, but that particular

concept I wouldn’t say was a massive focal point, it’s just another reinforcement of where this segment could go. It does do very well to demonstrate just how innovative a company Canyon is, which is attractive. I think the attraction was in part the ability of this company to tap into the masses of every day cycle commuters, it was not really ever about the 40-mile a day weekend warrior,” says Partin.

Among the options for Canyon as it continues its journey could be the chance to take the company public, something which we’re told the firm “has the building blocks for”, but that decision ultimately rests with the ownership.

“If they went for an IPO they’d probably have a good chance of access,” believes Partin, though some further growth is likely required beforehand.

Coming just as we send this magazine to print the news lands that one of North America’s largest electric bike brands, Rad Power Bikes, is the next label to secure what, by bike industry standards, is a jaw dropping investment; a $150 million cash injection with input from Morgan Stanley, among other funds. In this case it is a minority investment in the consumer direct business, which has tackled the after-sales expectation by introducing own brand showrooms and a network of Rad Mobile Service Vans to deliver and set up the bikes safely, apparently for 75% of US consumers by the end of the year.

“E-bikes will play an important role in the future of mobility, extending far beyond the traditional bike market,” said Sam Chainani, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Counterpoint Global. “Our partnership with Rad Power Bikes is exciting as this innovative company is rapidly changing the way the world moves. Mike Radenbaugh and his team have already proven the economics of convenient, energy-efficient mobility solutions.”

It all sounds very corporate, but the themes align, investors were drawn by the idea that e-Bikes may very well be the future of mobility worldwide.

With a significant uptick in interest from private equity in recent years and a unique resilience to economic downturns, one has to wonder, has the bike industry’s time come and will things ever be the same again?

“E-BIKES WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE FUTURE OF MOBILITY, EXTENDING FAR BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL BICYCLE’S USAGE...”

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£89.95 P

(( PROFILE CONTINENTAL ))

RUBBER SIDE DOWN Navigating the choppy waters of Covid with relative calm, Continental’s size and the hard work of a dedicated team has seen it offer stability for partners. Continental’s Sarah Hohmann Spohr and Cambrian Tyres’ Rob Scullion talk us through what to expect in 2021…

How was 2020 for Continental’s bicycle arm – like others did you struggle to meet the unusually high demand?

We have been very pleased to see the enthusiasm for bikes as both a means of transport and fitness over the past year. Many people experienced or re-experienced their bikes, while existing riders got to ride more often.

The bike turned out to be a vehicle that was perfect for keeping the social distance.

Due to our safety measures and broad organisational spectrum, plus regional locations and transport methods we were able to manage the tremendous demand very well, despite the tough conditions. For 2021 we expect similar conditions to persist for a while longer and so are still improving measures in order to serve the market in a timely fashion.

Continental’s production is nowadays a global affair, but European production still accounts for most bicycle tyres, is that right?

Continental has been producing bicycle tyres handmade in Germany from day one of our company’s history. Being founded in 1871, Continental is turning 150 years this year and we would like to invite everyone to join us “feeling our heartbeat of mobility”. We originally produced in our Hanover location, though in 1907 our Korbach plant took over, which is where we produce our bicycle tyres today.

Since we also own another plant in Asia Continental really has a good initial situation to serve our customers globally and close to where our tyres are needed in a timely manner. Our network of global business partners enable the company to handle region or brand specific demands in a very personalised way.

As Continental is a global organisation it is incredibly well set-up to be able to source from a selected, but really very capable range of suppliers who we work very closely with. That has enabled us to maintain supply during a tough spell for the industry.

To what degree has research and development been affected during 2020; is the new product pipeline on track?

Actually, we would not say our R&D progress has really been disrupted. With our reasonable safety measures and team spirit we were able to maintain work on our projects in a timely manner. We are really looking forward to the new season and sharing more of our innovations soon.

Our Taraxagum project a great example of our team at Continental keeping the pace on innovation. As you know, this is both an intense research project and a new technology driven approach. For the work on the Dandelion plants we are working together with Fraunhofer Institute, who support our team with the scientific elements of the development.

Just to share some more details, since the Dandelion plant on the one hand is fairly easy to handle and can grow in a broad belt around the globe, shorter transportation to production is possible. With our Lab in Anklam, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the Northern part of Germany and Korbach located in the centre of Germany, we are showing what it is possible. Besides these aspects, the Dandelion plant we are using also makes a great contribution to biodiversity and does not stand in competition to food cultivation.

With the Urban Taraxagum we had the chance to bring the first serial bicycle tyre on the market ever made from Dandelion rubber. Better still, it is no less capable when put to test alongside other conventional models in regards to grip and performance.

We are busy currently diving even deeper into the research. With this technology we are able to deliver great impact on our sustainability goals.

With electric bike sales moving strongly how much extra development are you placing into tyres for various assisted bike styles?

First and foremost, we are warmly welcoming everyone who decides to ride a bike more often. We are thinking

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(( PROFILE CONTINENTAL )) comprehensive and believe everyone deserves the best ride out there. This means our team must develop specific solutions that solve a concrete need, which now certainly means dedicated e-Bike solutions for each segment covered. Our aim is to get people on bikes and inspire them to ride, whether the bike is electrified or not. Therefore, we are working on both e-Bike-ready, but also eBike-specific solutions, such as a new tyre model to hit the global market in Q1 of 2021.

For the bike shop salesman, are there any tips you have to effectively sell the product and explain the tyre treads/compounds to the end-user?

Firstly, Continental is a brand that is recognisable not only internationally, but also to both enthusiasts and nonenthusiasts. For workshop sales we can use the example of the Ride Tour; it has an entry-level price point, high puncture resistance and is E-bike ready. The customer is likely to be someone who uses the bike purely for transport and has no intention of looking up the ‘tech’ of the tyre. When you can offer a £20 tyre with a brand name they would recognise and associate with German quality it makes the sale easier.

At the other end of the scale when talking about our BlackChili compound. It is our umbrella name for our highest performing compound, there are multiple versions of this, but the easiest way to explain it is, ‘the compound is adapted to suit the tyre and its intended use’. Road tyres will have a bias to rolling speed and an Enduro tyre will have a bias towards grip. We want to make sure each adaptation is made to the highest quality to reach the highest performance resulting in market leading tyres.

Finally, getting dealers to ride new product is key, customers love to hear, ‘I have that on my bike’. With the new Conti Insider program there is a chance for dealers to register and test our latest creations. This will be across all categories and price ranges.

Find this initiative at www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tire-tester.

From a bike shop’s perspective, why choose Continental over some very tough competition?

For a bike shop it is essential to rely on steady availability and great service. We were able to prove our capability throughtout 2020 in tough conditions and with our broad

The Contact Plus has become a best-seller for Continental

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Shops are encouraged to try before they buy with the Insider scheme

organisation and a global team we were able to keep all of Continental’s international partners happy.

Seeking feedback and being in close contact with each other is key, so we welcome feedback from our partners and stockists.

What’s on offer to support stockists on the point of sale front this year?

We have all the usual suspects available, like free standing POS displays, tube dispensers and tyre cuts.

Cambrian also has just taken delivery of the new slatwall POS system that is a more adaptable way of presenting product if you don’t have the space for a free-standing system. If any of these are of interest to a dealer, please get in contact with your wholesaler’s rep to organise.

Lastly, we are trialling the Conti Insider program in the UK now. It gives dealers the chance to test out new tyres that are coming to market. The first round will include our new Contact Urban and the Ruban tyres. We have had the first wave of applications and the stock will be delivered to dealers in February. There are a few spaces left, so if you think you’d like to get in on the test get in contact with your wholesaler rep for details.

We may be short on trade shows this year, but have you any events planned to show stockists new products?

Firstly, we’d like to say how gutted we are for the organisers of both trade and public shows; it’s an incredibly difficult time. We have had to change our approach to getting the word out about new product. The lack of trade shows, and our Tech reps being unable to visit stores means we can’t show new product in person and explain the tactile differences. The excellent reps from our wholesalers have done a great job passing on information to the dealers. With any new products we will be able to launch this year the wholesalers will be the first port of call for the dealers, but if you would like to arrange some more in-depth online training, please do not hesitate to contact Cambrian Tyres.

2021

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(( ANALYSIS CLOTHING MARKET ))

Staff with strong knowledge of fabrics and technologies can sell the benefits all year round

WHERE HAVE MY CLOTHES GONE? Assuming we’ve caught your attention with that headline we’d like to hold it with the finding that, amongst Independent bike retailers, clothing stocks will be cut by 45.6% into 2021. CI.N explores the reasons behind the decline for a once busy marketplace…

T

he trend has been an eye-wateringly clear one; for the four years our editorial team have been directly surveying the UK independent bike retail sector clothing has been the sacrificial lamb of the shop floor.

(Actually, this year marginally more told us they would not carry electric scooters, but that’s another story without historical to reference.)

Understandably, last year the clothing market as a whole took an unprecedented downturn, reducing 25%, the largest drop since records began. The Office for National Statistics data made dire reading, unless you were selling fluffy pyjamas, or perhaps clothing that is more function than fashion – after all, while the pubs may have been closed, the outdoors most certainly was not and activity spiked.

So, what is causing this loss of faith in the clothing segment with independent stores and can anything be done to remedy the situation for any retailers whose business strategy is ‘salmon’ – aka, swim against the current?

For Endura whose sole focus is clothing and accessories the trend has apparently not been felt, which the label puts down to a focus on IBD relationships.

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Simon Richardson, Endura’s UK and International Sales Manager told CI.N: “If anything, our relationship with IBD’s is strengthening, especially over 2020. We see the IBDs who embrace apparel enjoying very significant increases in apparel sales to both new and existing consumers.”

For Richardson there is an element of smart management involved on the bike shop’s end, but he says that Endura has positioned itself to give bike shops flexibility in their ranging in order that it aligns specifically with the shop’s target market. With that in mind, engaging presentation is key to any business’s sales success through the seasons, he says.

“Look at your store with the fresh eyes of a new customer. Does it match what they should expect; is it as exciting, clean, well presented, and easy to shop as other non-cycle stores on the high street? That is the standard.

In-store comforts, along with clear sight lines, good hygiene, logical consistent product displays with strong outfits, product adjacencies and clear branding are all hygiene factors now. Endura’s team of Account Managers are always happy to work with our Retail Customers to elevate their Visual Merchandising game.”

Endura’s local testing grounds prove a product

Owner of Hertfordshire’s Highway Cycles, Len Simmons, told CI.N he acknowledges the pros and cons of committing to a clothing stock and manages levels with care to ensure the store is never over-stretched.

“We are going in other direction to the market, although from a low base. As a shop owner I will never prioritise it, but it is there for that impulsive customer who knows they could use a bit more specialist gear. We have a 30-day no quibble returns policy, so if our sales staff see somebody browsing we mention this and that normally converts the sale. If you are an Evans Cycles or similar you sort of have to carry depth and seeing that does take me aback, but for us it’s kept low risk; the last thing I want is to be competing with the Amazon’s of this world.”

Competition, then, is a primary reason for caution. Page one of Google is dominated by the industry’s heavy hitters and those with advertising budget. A handful of independent labels – Le Col, Stolen Goat and LaPassione – have obviously spent to get ahead of Evans, Wiggle and Sigma Sports, but for the small business that’s quite a stretch. It is not impossible, though. As detailed by Velovixen a few issues back if you have a speciality or something proprietary it is possible to break into the top search terms. In VeloVixen’s case ‘women’s cycle clothing’ returns this independent business on page one of searches. A quick search for ‘merino cycle clothing’ further illustrates the point with indie brands featuring ahead of the market leaders.

For anyone brave enough to have a go, Google trends shows the term cycling clothing growing from Mid-March, peaking in May and staying steady until the start of winter.

That trend is fairly familiar over the past three years.

On going up against with well-funded competition Endura’s Richardson says: “The IBD can fight back, in the same way as other retailers, by creating compelling experiences and always working to be relational rather than transaction. Use your digital presence to both provide the information that customers need to research their purchases, but do so with your voice for your customers.

“THERE’S NO DOUBT STORES HAVE REFINED THEIR CLOTHING OFFERING IN THE PAST FEW SEASONS....”

Compliment that with accurate up to date information from our live data feeds, along with enhanced product and campaign assets.”

Starting a thread on the subject of reduction of clothing stocks on trade forum BikeTradeBuzz, a retailer known for the purpose of this article as Dire-Comp told CI.N his reasoning for reducing his store’s commitment to the segment.

“It is straight forward maths over emotion really. We as small businesses always want to own the market totally in our little pond and often feel aggrieved when people buy elsewhere. I think as a result over years we build our businesses with this in mind and want a little slice of each cake.

I'm slowly training my thinking to lose the emotion, start thinking clearly about what works and what business we want to continue to resource. Clothing is everything you don't want in a bricks and mortar businesses. It’s high inventory and low turn, but also you must be conscious of staffing resource required to set up and sell, the low margins and how trend reliant it can be. Conversely, it’s ubiquitous, saturated and heavily reliant on square footage.”

So, what can clothing brands do to convince stores to keep the faith in what was once a staple of most bike retailers stores?

Speaking in reference to the rapidly growing ETC clothing line, Adam Garner at Moore Large told CI.N late last year: “There’s no doubt a lot of stores have refined their clothing offering over the past few seasons. That said, cyclists still need and want to buy cycling clothing, especially those new to the world of cycling, or those that are used to cycling but are perhaps cycling more since COVID. Many brands have two ranges of clothing dropping every year and it is the norm to see both a SS and AW line up. What we’ve done differently to other brands is to focus on a core range of commute-based clothing and styled it so it won’t go out of fashion quickly. This means any investment from a store or online retailer respectively will have longevity and reduce the need to offer discounts to the consumer.”

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(( ANALYSIS CLOTHING MARKET )) Changing rooms with mirrors and good lighting can bolster sales

Fashion has steadily met function on cycle clothing

“WE HAVE STARTED PROVIDING OUR DEALERS WITH PRE-MADE SOCIAL MEDIA TO HELP SALES...”

ETC’s Arid ladies jacket

It is that constant turn in the British weather and the associated conditions on the roads and trails that Endura’s Richardson says means there will always be an opportunity and, as a result, a chance to upsell to almost any customer who comes through the door.

Following up, Garner’s colleague and ETC Brand Manager Drew Farquharson told CI.N: “We fully appreciate how stocking all the colours and sizes can be a headache for an independent retailer. That said, there are plenty of retailers out there offering a manageable range of clothing. For the ETC range we have produced a range of clothing that is simple and effective, isn’t over complicated and we have kept the SKU count down. We also aren’t in a rush to change it out every six months so retailers can be confident stocking our range, knowing that it will have a much longer shelf life.”

It is worth remembering that cycle clothing is more function than fashion, no matter how brands would pitch their lines. With that in mind it is understandable that fashion giants such as Asos and Boohoo would acquire former high street staples to take them online, but for something that has technical features and requires knowledge to sell effectively, a physical retail presence will remain impor-

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Waterproofing and breathability in one garment is not easy to achieve

tant, according to Ian Young, also pitching in from Endura.

He says: “Remember that apparel is a touch, feel and try on purchase. Of course, use your digital channels to encourage customers in to your store and then ensure the experience is a good one and they’ll keep coming back for more. Without easily accessible and super accurate 3D body scanning (which may come in the not too distant future…) there is no substile for trying a garment on and sitting on a bike in a friendly IBD, whilst hopefully getting useful advice on the available options.”

With consumers increasingly accustomed to digital influence, a social media presence driving online traffic is something that should preferably run alongside, believes Moore Large’s Farquharson, albeit acknowledging time constraints of the typical indie business. That’s why the Derby distributor has sought to assist.

“Social media is key for showy items like clothing. At Moore Large we know that you may not have the tech and you definitely don't have the time to produce social media assets, so that is why we have started providing our dealers with pre-made social posts that you can share directly to your channels and help give your consumers a nudge to come in.”

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(( ANALYSIS CLOTHING MARKET )) Fluorescent tones are good for day and night visibility

Endura’s Hummvee short

“CRAMPED CHANGING ROOMS ARE NOT COMFORTABLE EXPERIENCES, DON’T LEAVE THAT IMPRESSION WITH YOUR CUSTOMER.”

Merino fibres make good next to skin layers

Given the disproportionate SKU requirement of clothing with such a broad range of colours and sizes, many bike shops are increasingly in favour of more flexible terms on ordering, preferring not to be the one taking the stock risk. That is something that brands like Dexshell have taken on board, adapting policies to make the business relationship friction-free.

“We are very aware that cashflow is one of the most important things that a shop has to manage on an ongoing basis. As such we never insist on large MOQs or annual stock commitments. We offer a low minimum order with carriage paid and ensure that we keep all styles and sizes in stock across the year. That way retailers can be confident that we will always have what they need when they want to top up with stock across the year and we are happy to send out individual items if necessary,” says Global Marketing Director Mark Almond.

For items that are carried, the importance of merchandising is stressed by each of the aforementioned labels.

In Dexshell’s case there has been a by now infamous product demo present at trade shows where consumer place their hands inside a waterproof sock and fish about in a tank of water. While the world is Covid panicked that

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For those who suffer cold extremities gloves can be crucial

sort of product demo is obviously not going to work, but as has been mentioned, clothing is very much a product that is touched in store. It can be that interaction that makes or breaks a sale.

Also the founder of a marketing agency under the Red Cloud banner, Almond lends his thoughts on what can get a sale over the line, stating that “presentation is a critical part of successfully selling clothing.

“Consumers will not always know what they want and so a clear, concise display will help them decide the best products for them as well as show the options in their best light. For smaller clothing items such as ours, we have also found that we are very often the ‘impulse buy’ for a consumer and an effective display maximises this potential.

“With regards to changing rooms, we would suggest they need to be roomy and with good lighting. After all there is no point having a great POS if, when the product is tried on, customers can’t move or see it in a cramped, poorly lit area. Cramped changing rooms are not comfortable experiences either and these experiences will help form the opinion of your shop in the customer’s mind.”

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(( INTERVIEW HOPETECH ))

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE With a reputation for reinvestment in the business Hope has sailed a steady course through bust and boom, growing only as much as it needs to. Alan Weatherill, HopeTech’s Head of Sales and Marketing tells CI.N how hedging bets against Brexit has ultimately set the business up to navigate Covid and unpredictability with a level head…

Hope has presumably had a good run of late, but things may still get better for you – how’s business been?

We’ve certainly benefited from the huge increase in cycling during the global pandemic. Although we never forget that only 12 months ago the whole cycling industry was seeing more shops closing every week and everyone struggling for trade.

It is still fresh in our minds, that when the first lockdown was announced we immediately had many of our larger retailers and distributors cancel all their pending orders due to uncertainty. Obviously these were quickly reordered once people realised cycling was one of the few activities that they could still take part in.

We did close our whole site for several weeks during the first lockdown for the safety of our staff. Before reopening we moved machines and rearranged assembly areas to ensure everyone could work safely.

You invested heavily in a surplus supply of raw material not so long ago, so presumably Hope remains well positioned to supply the market?

Before the original Brexit deadline we put in place plans to significantly increase our stock holding of imported raw materials. This was maintained throughout every subsequent deadline, so stock was still in place when the first lockdown was announced. It was certainly required as our

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main forging supplier in northern Italy was badly affected.

After a tough year, their staff are all well and gradually returning to full production. With all that happening, followed by the current border issues we have ended up running our reserves of material pretty low, but production has been maintained throughout.

We have raw material schedules in place for the next few years so we’re confident of ongoing supplies to be maintained providing the ports remain open.

In terms of demand you mentioned being a touch behind, how are you catching up while Covid still dominates headlines?

All our customers are increasing their orders with us. We currently have at least six months of brake production on order, which every customer would like delivering straight away. We’re having to ration products to dealers and distributors to ensure we can support everyone. As mentioned earlier, we still have the state the bike market was in at the start of 2020 in the back of our minds, so any expansion is very carefully considered and very measured.

We’ve also cut back on any additional costs where we can.

As we’ve seen from the last twelve months, none of us know what’s around the corner.

That said, we’ve still invested over £1.5 million in new CNC machines to help cope with the rising demand. We

Pedals cut from a large block of aluminium and anodised to finish

companies to be ready for the changes Brexit would bring. Even now we’re still waiting for some of the changes to be actually decided so precise planning was virtually impossible.

One of our key advantages through this whole process has been our relatively small size and close control of all aspects of our business. As each issue has arisen we’ve been able to quickly react and adapt. Our latest change for EU shipping is to register for VAT and EORI numbers in the Netherlands, so becoming the importer of record for our parts into the EU, removing any customs hassles for our EU customers. This should be in place early next month and removes the requirement to setup warehousing in the EU. There will be lots of conversation on sourcing of local goods to meet tariffs requirements. Will we ever see Hope pursue more OEM trade?

We are seeing increases in orders from our few OEM customers, but this is more as a result of shortages rather than trying to meet tariff requirements. We’re still committed to being an aftermarket brand.

It’s been interesting to see how many perceived British brands are suddenly having problems proving the necessary manufacturing in the UK to evidence “UK origin” status.

Hope stacked raw material high as Brexit approached

are probably one of the few engineering companies in the UK who are expanding and buying new equipment, so at least the lead-times for these machines is quite short.

Let’s get Brexit out of the way – you’re well positioned, but it hasn’t been without its challenges, is that right?

We took the decision very early in our Brexit planning to not waste expenses on possible outcomes, only certainties and as we all know there were very few of those. The simplest was to increase our stock holding of raw materials. If Brexit went smoothly we’d just have a little more money tied up in raw material, but no money would be wasted.

We already shipped 25% of our production outside the EU, so we had all the documentation in place for becoming a “third country”. Although we didn’t quite comprehend the fortunate position we’d be in once the trade deal was finally done regarding “UK origin”. With all our production in the UK it is a very simple declaration for us and no duties on sales to the EU. The only issue we have currently is with UPS who didn’t seem to think anyone manufacturers product in the UK anymore, so despite us using all the correct paperwork and declarations, they’re miss classifying all our shipments and charging our EU customers 5% duty.

We also can’t leave this subject without mentioning the Government ad campaign before Christmas telling

As a privately owned entity you’re very much in control of sculpting the business day-to-day. What benefits does this flexibility bring?

The main advantage is that we can make decisions and changes in policy quickly. No board or shareholders have to be consulted before moving forward with plans. Also, we decide of the pace of growth, without shareholders demanding expansion every year. We are trying to move at a pace that is comfortable for us, without too many risks.

We have even cut back in some areas of the business over the past year to reduce costs due to the uncertainty, but production staff have seen an increase. We currently have 150 people working at our site in Barnoldswick.

Alongside we have increased our production to try and meet this new found demand, but being a manufacturer committed to keeping production in-house does put limits on this growth. The new machines we buy generally take around six months before they’re working at full capacity. All these changes, as well as ensuring we’re still operating a Covid secure workplace, have resulted in around a 25% increase in our output. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, our demand is well over 100% up.

Our current split on sales are 54% UK, 36% EU and 10% RoW. This is a slight change from previous years where we used to ship 20% to RoW and a little less to the UK. This swing has been influenced directly by the strong demand from UK retailers.

Metals aside, Hope’s carbon arm is knocking out some precision products. What’s new here?

The carbon department was run very much as a development shop initially with quite low volumes, but we’re now starting to see increasing production in handlebars and seat posts alongside the HB mountain bikes.

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(( INTERVIEW HOPETECH ))

“WE HAVE PAUSED OUR PRODUCT LAUNCHES FOR A WHILE AS WE CONCENTRATE ON MEETING DEALER ORDERS.” Hope aims to make goods that are repairable, not disposable

With the Olympics being delayed it’s given us more time to produce bikes for British Cycling so these are still on schedule, but they are quite a niche product so we don’t really see them becoming a volume product.

The carbon disc wheels are an area we’re putting quite some time into as initial tests have shown them to offer significant advantages over current designs.

With the aerospace industry around you making vast layoffs has Hope taken the opportunity to recruit any available talent?

We have been able to recruit several new production staff, but we are being very cautious as the future is uncertain for all of us. We have begun conversations with few local aerospace companies to see we can supplement our capacity by renting time on their CNC machines.

What should dealers be looking out for in terms of product this year – any tips on best sellers or new lines coming through?

The biggest issue we’ve had is production and keeping up with the rising demand. We actually paused all new product launches for the time being so we can concentrate on meeting the demand from dealers.

Our designers our still working on new products, so once we start to see any capacity availability, you should see the new parts appearing.

As far as categories goes, we can see an effort to involve more women, the Hope Academy and of course e-Bike too. Is it fair to say Hope is now a broad church looking to grow far beyond its off-road roots?

When Hope started over thirty years ago making aerospace tooling, we manufactured parts for our own bikes. This is still the basis of how we operate, making parts we want to ride. We just have a far more diverse interest in cycling these days.

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We are also still committed to cycling advocacy in many different forms, not always obvious. Unfortunately, due to the lockdowns and restrictions our kids and women’s activities were all cancelled last year and it’s looking like it will be quite some time before we can restart them this year which is very disappointing.

We also have quite a following for Cyclo-cross amongst our staff and late last year we heard that the local cross league would be cancelled due to council land being unavailable. We managed to secure private land at Broughton Hall, with the necessary space to be able to run an event safely. The local league managed to run three events while the government permissions allowed.

We feel that it’s essential these grassroots races carry on taking place, obviously only when safe to do so. We are now in discussions with other local clubs on how we can run mountain bike events in the spring at the same venue.

The general public are now factoring the sustainability credentials of companies before making purchases.

What are Hope doing to address this important issue.

We were founded on these principles, in reality without really knowing it. We are practical engineers so always make products that are repairable, not disposable, bolted together, not riveted or pressed. We still offer spares for many our products that are over twenty years old, keeping them customers on the road.

Within the factory we have always recycled our waste metal. It’s something that general engineering companies have always done.

We have started to make further steps by not using plastic in any new packaging and gradually redesigned existing packaging to remove it. We still have some way to go on this journey but are committed to it. www.hopetech.com

ask the boss

SUE COULSON > BATRIBIKE

The Batribike business has shifted a gear or two in the past few years, timing a deal with Promovec spectacularly well to better guaranteed supply and pricing stability.

Co-founder Sue Coulson talks to CI.N about the momentum behind the brand…

The past few years have been transformative for Batribike, but for those who haven’t had you on radar fill us in on the past year’s progress: It has been a pivotal period for Batribike, as I am sure it has been for many brands. It has enabled us to build on our growth plan and accelerate our business to new levels. As well gaining around 40% more dealers we have introduced new models and new technology.

Underneath we are still have the same values we have always had, but with more visibility, brand awareness and more web traffic directed back to our dealers.

With a key supply partner like Promovec are you at all ahead of the curve to a degree on guaranteeing supply of bikes for 2021?

Using the Promovec system of motor, battery, display and controller gives the advantage of a matched system and also reduces the supply sources, which, with the shortages of components being cited across the industry definitely gives us an advantage.

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We also have a complete delivery schedule for bikes arriving throughout this year which should give our stockists some confidence.

How has the product itself developed with this partnership – what are the key benefits in terms of performance, servicing and pricing?

Since being partnered with Promovec we have increased the range of models using the in-frame battery; the advantage to dealers who wish to stock more than one battery size is clear. We are proud to know the provenance on batteries and motor systems and this in turn gives us advantages including the industry leading three-year warranty on both motor and battery.

In terms of service the battery analyser developed in conjunction with the BMS gives huge amounts of data on what has happened to the battery during its lifetime, including temperatures and charging cycles. The analyser is only available to our dealers. The new Connect+ app takes us another step forward.

By limiting the supply chain in this way we have much tighter control over servicing and price.

What benefits does the Connect+ app offer both the dealer and consumer?

The app has been developed exclusively

by Promovec and gives the rider options in terms of how the power is deployed.

The rider can choose between ‘Speed’, where the assistance is a percentage of the maximum speed, so you can feel the boost in speed as you move up the levels; and Power where the assistance is defined by the best motor performance and gives a smooth transition across the levels.

Then there’s a ‘Set Distance’ function where you set the distance for your trip (within limits) and the help level is varied to give the best battery performance relative to the journey. All the usual time, speed and distance metrics are displayed, as are diagnostic messages.

The bikes also come with a mini LED display on the handlebars so they can be used without the app, if your customer prefers.

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ask the boss

SUE COULSON > BATRIBIKE

CAN BATTERY PRODUCTION BE ‘GREEN’?

Promovec do make that claim and that’s primarily based on the localised production of the batteries, meaning there is no shipping across the oceans for these bike’s power systems.

This ability comes from a joint venture dubbed Viridus, made up of Promovec and Chinese company Greenway, all led by Jesper Lundqvist.

“Right now, the bicycle industry has an excellent opportunity to lead the way in green mobility, the devices for which must also of course be produced in a sustainable manner.

That means there must also be companies in Europe that will help to lead the way and inspire other industries and consumers to adopt the green agenda. Together with our customers in the industry, we wish to be among the

We have already had good feedback from dealers and customers from the few advance models that were released in the Autumn.

How broad is your retail network now and where do gaps exist, if at all?

We have had good growth in our network across the whole of the UK. While we do have gaps in certain areas and we encourage dealers to contact us to become a stockist. We are mindful to retain the ability to support all of our dealers to get the best out of becoming part of the Batribike team.

With additional warehousing space now added what capacity has the business for stock now and how full are the shelves going to be heading into spring?

We were really well-placed last year to keep our dealerbase stocked throughout the year with deliveries arriving throughout the year. Taking on an additional warehouse next door enabled us to store any extra stock that we could get to fulfil the extra demand.

Going into the current year we have deliveries coming virtually every month throughout the year. The extra warehousing allows us to get single model deliveries giving us the best possible advantages in production.

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trailblazers,” says Jesper Lundqvist.

Local production inside Europe also hands e-Bike OEMs a source closer to home. Speed of delivery, which is crucial at this time of short supply, is a key selling point of the Viridus arm.

“Today, if you import the subcomponents from Asia, you have to order six months in advance. This makes life difficult for the bicycle manufacturers, who often require more flexibility in their production. We believe that through European production of green batteries we can create precisely this greater flexibility, thanks amongst other things to the much shorter distances involved. This will also save the world a large amount of CO2, and that’s the most important aim,” says Jesper Lundqvist.

For the bike shop considering stock, what sign up requirements exist and what perks are on offer once registered as an account?

Our application process is easy to complete and we are happy to discuss requirements on an individual basis.

We offer our stockist a unique support package. This includes the creation of a webpage within our site for every dealer with content specific to them and SEO directed to their location.

Our dealer news emails throughout the current situation have been sharing latest news and initiatives that we think will be helpful, as well as updates on current stock levels.

Have you any plans to broaden the range in terms of performance, price or bike style in the future?

Our price points are positioned to sit in the bracket below £2,000, an area we feel demands a reliable quality brand offering a concise model range.

We do not change our complete range annually, which is generally appreciated by our dealers. Instead our range has evolved, for example, by utilising existing popular models and fitting the latest tech like the connect+.

We also brought in two new models during 2020. The Nebula and Zeta have proved popular, that is despite not

having the ability to “launch” in the normal way with trade shows and dealer visits.

Our future plans include utilising our partnership with Promovec to bring upto-date features on new models developed in-house for 2022.

In terms of exporting the brand, Batribike is already available across Europe via Promovec, which has further helped us grow.

“OUR PRICE POINTS ARE POSITIONED TO SIT BELOW £2,000, AN AREA WE FEEL DEMANDS A QUALITY OPTION.” For shops wishing to make contact or have a rep visit when viable, what’s the point of contact?

The best way to contact the sales team is to fill in the online contact form on the link below and we will be happy get back to you in a timely manner to discuss your stock needs.

Batribike.com/contact-us/dealeropportunities

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