Study: Baby Boomers are so yesterday
GenX is taking over, woot! So now we can stop catering to our parents and get the bikes we want? What do we want anyway?
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ALLENTOWN, PA (BRAIN) Monday May 7 2012 8:45 AM MT—Baby Boomer bicyclists may dominate the airwaves and magazine spreads in Flomax advertisements, but the generation no longer dominates the rest of the cycling market, a new study reveals.
Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1984, is the single most important group to the U.S. bike market today, followed by Generation Y, born 1985 to 2004. That’s according to the American Bicycling Consumer study, being released by The Gluskin Townley Group later this month. The group has been releasing small portions of the study ahead of its release date; last month the group reported data showing thatused bike owners are often better bike shop customers than new bike owners.
Gluskin Townley’s managing partner Elliot Gluskin, said retailers should see Generation Y pass Gen X in importance over the next decade.
Source: addtoany.com
FYI - Suntour is recalling some forks
http://www.srsuntour-cycling.com/SID=sieb647b523f1fe410f456c51b7576a0/dstore/news.html
Bicycles Model / Years / Model Name / Giant / 2011-2012 / Revel 1 & Revel 1W GT / 2012 / Avalanche 4.0 & Avalanche 4.0 GTW Trek / 2012 / 3700D & 3900D
SR Suntour Suspension Fork Date Codes: CK110301 through CK110731
Sold at: Specialty bicycle stores nationwide from April 2011 through March 2012 for between $400 and $600. Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumers should stop using bicycles with these forks immediately and return the bicycles to any authorized GT, Giant or Trek dealer for a free repair.
Consumer Contact: For additional information, please contact SR Suntour toll-free at (855) 205-2453 anytime, or visit the firms website at www.srsuntour-cycling.com
Rick Vosper: Why Bike Ads Work
Some good thoughts on advertising in the bike industry.
Source: bicycleretailer.com
Accell in talks to buy Raleigh
HEERENVEEN, Netherlands (BRAIN) Tuesday April 3 2012 7:27 AM MT—Accell Group is in talks to buy Raleigh Cycle Limited, the owner of the Raleigh, Avenir and Diamondback brands. The company announced Tuesday that “it is engaged in exclusive discussions … which, if successfully concluded, could lead to the acquisition of Raleigh by Accell Group.” Accell Group owns a wide array of bike brands, including Batavus, Koga, Sparta, Winora, Hercules, Hai Bike, Ghost, Lapierre, Atala, Redline, Tunturi and XLC. In North America, it owns the distributor Seattle Bike Supply and most recently acquired e-bike supplier Currie Technologies. According to Accell, Raleigh has approximately 430 employees, had sales of over $260 million last year and sold approximately 850,000 bicycles.
Source: addtoany.com
The Inverted Bike Shop.
Interesting concept for a LBS.
Three US cycling orgs agree to merge
This is an interesting development. I hope they can come together and unite under one voice for us.
Bikes Belong, the League of American Bicyclists, and Alliance for Biking & Walking, hope to become one organization.
Leaders of the Alliance for Biking & Walking, Bikes Belong, and the League of American Bicyclists Leaders met in San Diego, on February 13-14th and have issued a joint statement announcing they are to merge.
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Click the link to read more from BikeBiz.com
Source: bikebiz.com
QBP wages Web war at Frostbike UPDATE
There was some updating done on the previous article from BRAIN. It makes more sense now. Also, check out bikehugger.com and the resulting Facebook/G+ conversations they had over there.
We live in exciting times.
Source: addtoany.com
FSA brings wheelbuilding to Washington
Moving assembly back to the states makes sense from a bottom line perspective. Could we see more of this in the industry?
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MUKILTEO, WA (BRAIN) Feb 24, 09:18 MT—FSA technicians will start hand-building a small number of Vision wheels at the company’s Seattle-area North American headquarters this spring with the eventual goal of assembling all the brand’s aftermarket wheelsets in-house.
FSA, which owns Vision, will start the project this spring with Vision’s new top-of-the-line Metron 81 carbon fiber wheels. Depending on how that goes, FSA would expand assembly to include all Vision and FSA wheels for the North American aftermarket, said Fletch Newland, FSA’s marketing manager. About 40 percent of Vision’s wheels are sold in the aftermarket.
“We have not had an assembly set up for our wheels previously so we’ll start off still sourcing some,” Newland said. FSA currently imports wheels assembled from the TH Industries’ factory in Taichung. TH, parent company of FSA, runs a dedicated carbon fiber rim production facility and also builds all hubs in-house. Spokes are sourced from a third party.
Shifting assembly to North America will reduce import duties, helping to keep prices competitive and potentially increase margins, Newland said. Duties on wheelsets are 10 percent from Taiwan. Hubs are duty free, rims are 1.8 percent and spokes are 10 percent, but more spokes can be packed into a container than complete wheels.
Source: addtoany.com
QBP wages Web war at Frostbike
An interesting concept, but in a way it is kind of late to the market in my opinion. QBP should have been helping the LBS ramp up to this years ago. That is the reason they are “losing the war”, Amazon has had years of lead time on this.
I do like it that they are moving in that direction. I hope it goes well. More competition in the market creates a better environment for the customer right?
Quality Bicycle Products founder and president Steve Flagg minced no words in drawing the battle lines: “I believe that our industry is losing the war against the Chain Reactions, the Wiggles, the Amazons,” he told the crowd assembled for Friday’s VIP retailer dinner to kick off Frostbike 2012.
“We think that together with all of you we can address this problem.”
Launching QBP’s “Buy Local Buy Now!” campaign, Flagg sketched out the potential strategy:
Via mobile device, a customer in a shop could log on to a QBP service with access to its stores’ inventory and search for a specific product. A map would pop up indicating the nearest shops that have the product in stock or that will have it in a predetermined number of days.
If a retailer is selected for same-day pickup, the customer would pay for it online and then be asked if they want the product installed at the shop. Flagg noted this would play to local dealers’ key strength and offer what online competitors can’t: service, warranty information and deep product knowledge.
“I believe we have the capacity in 2012 to do this,” he noted.
Source: addtoany.com
ENVE Composites launches all-carbon downhill rim
This could be sweet!
OGDEN, UT (BRAIN) Feb 16, 18:21 MT —Enve Composites is introducing what it says is the industry’s first all-carbon downhill rim.
The Santa Cruz Syndicate team has been racing ENVE’s DH-specific prototypes since September 2009.
The company says the new design offers “vast increases in durability over the traditional alloy offerings on the market.”
Top pro Steve Peat raced the same pair of race wheels with the rim design for the entire 2011 season, the company said.
The ENVE DH rim is 31 mm deep and features a 21mm inner bead-to-bead width. They are available in 26-inch, 32-hole configuration and weigh 475 grams per rim. Retail is set at US $999 per rim, and complete pre‐built wheel using DT Swiss or Chris King hubs start at $2,750.
Source: addtoany.com
UCI to extend sticker program to wheels
The UCI is declaring its year-old frame approval program a success and says it will expand the program into wheels next.
The international cycling union says 57 manufacturers have sent 96 frames through the approval process and gained the right to use the “UCI-approved” label on the bikes.
Source: addtoany.com
Source: addtoany.com
SRAM: Hydraulic disk road brakes this year
FYI -
SRAM: Hydraulic disk road brakes this year CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN) Feb 1, 14:50 MT—Almost overlooked in SRAM’s press release announcing its new Red group Wednesday were a few sentences about the company’s plans to bring hydraulic disk brakes to the road and cyclocross market. “It’s been rumored that SRAM is developing RED level road hydraulic brakes. We want to confirm this and let you know that we are currently working on a hydraulic disc brake and a hydraulic rim brake. Information on pricing will come at a later date and no photos are currently available. Key features: • Hydraulic disc brake: RED level / Drop bar DoubleTap lever actuated / All new master cylinder and caliper / 140-160mm discs • Hydraulic rim brake: RED level / Drop bar DoubleTap lever actuated / tire clearance up to 28C / Firecrest rim compatible Commercial availability - Fall 2012
Source: addtoany.com
Bike Gallery converts space to tri shop
Kind of a interesting thing for Beaverton, I will have to check it out.
Bike Gallery converts space to tri shop BEAVERTON, OR (BRAIN) Jan 23, 06:55 MT — To serve the surging triathlon market, Portland, Oregon-area chain Bike Gallery has converted the upper floor of its Beaverton location into a separate store, Epic Tri Shop. A grand opening is set for this Wednesday evening. “Triathlon has been growing in Portland for sure. There’s been a real plethora of events the past three or four years,” including the launch of half-Ironman and Olympic-distance races, Epic manager Gordie Cumming said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth in the number of people participating.” The 1,000-square-foot store-within-a-store has its own register, a modern, boutique atmosphere and custom racks made by a local fabricator, said Cumming, who competes in Ironman and half-Ironman events, XTERRAs and other tris.
Source: addtoany.com
Storm brings Seattle retail to a halt
Just in case you didn’t know a couple hours drive north of Portland was blasted with a super winter storm. We got lucky and had rain mostly.
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Source: addtoany.com
Bike Geek, Cancer Survivor, and geeky dad. Writes about cycling, two wheeled culture, and the bicycle industry.