Cycling Industry News – Issue 02 2023

STUNNING

NEW

E-BIKE

RANGE FOR 2023 WITH RETAIL PRICES STARTING AT £1,599

URBAN SERIES

URBAN 3L

The Urban 3L Low step alloy frame with its easy access and upright riding position is suited to getting around town and exploring the countryside in comfort and style. It’s the ideal premium commuting and leisure bike.

Inova 52mm tyres with Kevlar puncture resistance for a smooth comfortable ride, Tektro 9 speed gear system and Tektro Hydraulic disc brakes and a strong rear luggage rack are the main highlights.

The Heart of the bike is the Bafang M200 mid motor producing 65nm of smooth power assist supported by the LG cell Lithium 417wh battery integrated into the aesthetic pleasing alloy frame set.

ADVENTURE SERIES

The Adventure 5R is up graded to feature the M510 high torque mid motor from Bafang.

The 5R model features a roadster frame style.

Integrating the motor mount into the frame optimizes weight distribution for great handling. Wide bars, short stems and progressive geometry make these bikes a dream to ride. The battery is concealed in the down tube giving a sleek, stylish clean looking stunning e- bike.

Large volume Kenda 2.20 Kranium tyres for a smooth fast ride keeps this bike rolling on the most uneven surfaces.

The heart of the bike is the Bafang M510 mid motor system with 95nm of toque which provides a powerful smooth power assist, backed up by a LG cell lithium 522wh battery. Stopping power come from Tektro Hydraulic Disc brakes with 180/160mm discs and gear function through the Tektro 9 speed gear system that completing this top of the range model.

STREET SERIES

ADVENTURE 5R STREET 5

A Rip-roaring ride! Blast the city streets and ace that commute!

To simply call this bike a ‘mini-velo’ would do it a disservice. Designed from the ground up to ride like a full-size bike but be almost as practical as a folding bike, it’s a whole lot of fun! Perfect for those that want a full-size bike but are limited on storage space.

Style over substance? Not here, running on wide 20” x 2.30 Inova performance tyres looking mean and sporty but are supremely comfortable to blast over our pothole ridden urban landscape.

Power assist comes from the Bafang M410 mid motor system with 80 nm of torque coupled to internal 504wh LG cell lithium battery. Stopping power comes from Tektro Hydraulic Disc brakes with 160mm discs and gear function through the renowned Shimano Nexus 8 speed internal hub gear system completing this top of the range model.

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THE LONG-GAME

IN this issue, long-term views are doing some heavy lifting. I don’t need to sugar-coat to anybody just how sharply the bike industry’s fortunes turned, more or less in line with the rollout of Covid vaccines globally. Not that any of us would still be wishing regular lockdowns upon populations, but under these circumstances we had a once-in-a-decade-or-more event with seriously favourable conditions for the cycling consumer and business. It had to come to an end.

Market cycles of extreme greed, where everybody piles in all at once with little regard for a long view, very often flip quickly to climates of extreme fear once the party stops. The trick in business is knowing when and what to buy, when to stop buying it and when to sell like there’s no tomorrow. Very rarely does anyone get it right all of the time, be it retailers, suppliers or investors. We are, by our very nature, drawn to the herd mentality and in this ultra-rich information era, it’s easier than ever to see what your neighbour is doing and be compelled to copy them, or maybe even go one further.

As is now evident, many caught up in the euphoria of easy money have been left ‘holding the bag’. If there’s any consolation for the SME, some massive multinationals called things seemingly even worse than rest of the market despite having, theoretically, better information. This is, of course, no consolation at all when people caught in the fray are losing jobs as a result.

So, short-term there’s some work to be done and pain to be felt. But before we look at some long-view figures that shine a little optimism into this column, let’s first look at the outliers who are bucking the trend and try to understand why.

First to mind is Pinarello, whose UK MD Richard Hemington was interviewed in these very pages last issue. Sticking steadfastly to its niche and not having its head turned by pack chasing seems to have paid off. Ultra-high-end naturally means low volume and, in this climate, less risk than mass appeal products. Not something everyone can offer, sure, but it somewhat demonstrates the worth of not following the pack, sticking to a USP and charging your worth to a clientele that you’re very deliberate about targeting.

Now for some of the best available forecasts we have to hand from EU trade umbrella CONEBI. We’re told that Europeans are expected to buy an additional 10 million bikes annually by 2030, or 47% more than pre-Covid. The high value electric bike is leading this charge and, from 3.7 million units sold in 2019 it is forecast that the EU28 will sell as many as 17 million a year by the end of the decade.

I hear you… Forecasts got us into this mess, but with numbers like that, hopefully they’ll get us out of it too.

Publisher Jerr y Ramsdale jerr y@cyclingindustr y.news

Editor Mark Sutton mark@cyclingindustr y.news

Staff Writer Simon Cox simon@cyclingindustr y.news

Head of Sales Frazer Clifford frazer@cyclingindustr y.news

Head of Produc tion Luke Wikner production@cyclingindustr y.news

Designers

Dan Bennett Victoria Arellano Published

TUBELESS-READY. OUR BEST.

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It’s our commitment to keep evolving and improving the performance of our tyres for both professional and amateur road cyclists. That’s why we have created the first tubeless ready tyre in the Pirelli P ZERO™ family. Lightweight, with reduced rolling resistance, TechWALL+ puncture protection and improved grip for the highest levels of performance.

Don’t turn on the TV and certainly don’t open the papers. With bad news at almost every turn, what we really need is some ideas to move beyond the gloom. Jonathon Nunan delivers the Bicycle Retailers’ Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Downturns…

THE WHIPLASH

We are experiencing, as an industry, the whiplash of a pandemic recession. The whiplash of a hopelessly lumbering, overly concentrated and stretched supply chain. The whiplash of a once in a generation cycling boom. All combined with a lack of understanding of how to deal with the whiplash. And a strategy for what comes next.

It’s important to recognise that the “Whiplash” didn’t just happen to you, or us as an industry. It happened to everyone. Still is. To lives, finances and businesses. Everything. Everyone is dealing with that (to some degree) and making changes to how they live or operate; working out how to tackle these new challenges and determining what their new needs and priorities are. Adjust. Reset. Embrace the new normal. Take advantage, even.

DON’T PANIC!

As any Economics professor will tell you, at the heart of Economics, lies the human condition and with it, human emotion. This is balanced of course with the more sanguine “laws” of s upply and demand, and such things. The battle of the rational and the irrational.

Panic is one of the most visceral, most essential, most basic of human emotions. Whether it be a Sabre Tooth Tiger standing in your cave entrance, or a Vogon spaceship about to destroy your planet to make way for an intergalactic bypass, panic is a totally natural, and in principle, quite important emotional response to stress or imminent danger.

But whilst the urge to “fight or flight” might save you from predators and Vogons, panic and the impulsive,

reactionary decisions that follow, are invariably bad for a business. Like, existentially bad.

So, your first response, in the face of the current bike retail (and economic) downturn, is to take heed of Ford Prefect’s, North Star advice: “Don’t panic!”

YOU’RE PROBABLY IN A STRONGER POSITION THAN YOU REALISED

The pandemic, economic downturn, drop in disposable incomes, supply chain SNAFUs etc., happened to everyone. Everyone is familiar with the situation, to some extent. And no one wants you to fail. Not your landlord. Not your suppliers. Not your staff. Not your bank manager. Not your customers. No one. They need you, as much as you need them. Hence, you not only have a position of unusual bandwidth of operational forgiveness, but in many cases, an excellent position to bargain, negotiate, or reset.

AND WHO’S FUNERAL IS IT ANYWAY? (Tough Love Warning!!)

But before I go any further. Seriously folks! (I say this with all the love, admiration, and respect of a 25+ year IBD advocate) most of your stores feel like funeral homes right now. There’s almost an air of mourning in most bike shops I go into. Like, everywhere. That’s not good. That has to stop.

See your business as the customer does. Does it look welcoming, engaging, tidy and stocked? You know. Like a professional retail establishment should look? Walk around. Look at it through a customer’s eyes. Would you want to stay there for more than two minutes? Spend actual money? And critically, would you come back, or recommend the store to your friends or colleagues?

Turn that frown upside down. Turn the lights on. Turn some music on (playlists your customers won’t be scared off by). Fire up the coffee machine. Tidy the place up. Re-merch. Buy some flowers. Make it a friendly, welcoming, happy place to be. Please.

NOW. GET ACROSS YOUR BUSINESS. ALL OF IT.

Next. Get your accountant and and/or your accounts admin in. Turn on your RMS and your coffee machine. Open the books. Get your bank accounts up. Debtors lists. Utilities bills. Payroll software. All of it.

Get across your business. Every ugly square inch of it. Understand exactly where you are financially. Be brutally honest. Get laser focused on the most

pressing priorities. Paying rent, staff, key suppliers, utilities etc. Understand all your options and best strategies. Work closely with your accountants and finance managers on the identified priorities and strategy.

Whether you establish that you’re sicker than you realised, or perhaps doing better than you thought make sure your business is under control, focused and on the right path financially.

MORE COFFEE. IT’S TIME TO TALK...

SPEAK TO YOUR BANK MANAGER

Banks really like it when they’re kept in the loop. They will appreciate the call and the chance to help where they can, whether it be with financing, credit lines, restructuring of existing loans and financial management advice. They will (should) be in your camp.

SPEAK TO YOUR LANDLORD Finding new tenants during an economic downturn can be really difficult. Especially for a retail space the size of most typical IBDs. Like your bank manager, your landlord will appreciate being kept in the loop. Happy to make sure you manage your way through a dip in trade. Hopefully, like you, they’re in for the long run.

SPEAK TO YOUR UTILITIES & SERVICE PROVIDERS It’s standard practice for utilities providers to offer payment support and debt management procedures, such as “Holiday” periods, payment plans and tariff changes. It’s

also a super competitive market. When was the last time you reviewed who was offering the best deals on electricity, water and gas in your area? And there’s nothing like threatening to cancel your contract, to attract a better tariff offer.

SPEAK TO YOUR SUPPLIERS In some respects, this isn’t a call you should be having to make. Any supplier worth their salt will already have reached out to you to make sure they’re helping to best manage your backorders, inventory, and accounts, and adjusting to the changing market situation. There should be few people outside of your own business who will be going into bat for you more than your suppliers. Few more who will want you to succeed and flourish. You are the bloodstream for their products and their business.

SPEAK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS Your customers likely live in the same neighbourhoods you do. Their kids probably go to school with your kids. They might even regularly join you on the regular morning café ride. They also are probably in, or working in, business themselves. They should be understanding of some necessary changes or initiatives. Keep them in the loop and tell them how much appreciate their ongoing support. They’ll then be cool with; deposits on orders; revised service pricing; longer turnarounds; requests for online reviews; sharing digital content etc.

EACH ONE UNIQUE AND WRITTEN IN DIRT. WE SPIN TALES OF SPEED, RIDE THE TWISTS OF THE TRAIL, WE FORGE FRIENDSHIPS AND MOMENTS THAT LAST FOREVER.

iXS packs a heap of features into its clothing, protection and helmet line-up. Safety and function wrapped into an understated collection of great looking products, many with a compelling environmental story, letting you weave your trail stories with a brand you can feel good about wearing. The 2023 iXS Spring/ Summer collection is due early April, and we would love to come talk you through the range, and recommend the best products for your riders. Contact sales@hotlines-uk.com to book an appointment, request the sales & marketing pack or make a discounted staff purchase so you can try it for yourself.

THE UK’S LEADING CYCLING EVENT

WORLD-CLASS RIDER LINE UP OVER 200 BIKES TO PUT THROUGH THEIR PACES HINTS & TIPS FROM THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS

DON’T THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER...

Don’t try and solve a short-term problem, by making long-term problems. Whilst more nuanced than this, there are two key considerations I want you to firstly focus on;

1. BRICKS & MORTAR FUNDAMENTALS

There are fundamentals underpinning why consumers seek out and spend money in your (or any) physical retail store. Centred around the Temporal, the Tangible and the Human. If absent or insufficient, they also tend to be the same reasons consumers won’t spend money in your business.

• Stock – range, depth, width, and tangibility.

• Staff/Humans – service, expertise, experience, relationship and human interface.

• Convenience – immediacy and (often) single source.

• Recourse – fix it, replace it, upgrade it, explain it.

Understanding your function, purpose, USPs and the problems you are solving for your customers, is central to the success (or failure) of every business. Your business too.

2. OPPORTUNITY COSTS

• Discounted stock will ultimately need to be replaced by full priced, possibly, more expensive stock.

• De-motivated staff will need to be re-motivated or replaced.

• Lost staff will need to be sourced, trained and developed.

• Lost customers will need to be won back or replaced.

• Reputational damage is expensive and takes time to repair. Especially if you rely on a defined population/market.

In short, don’t try and save money, by costing you more money (or your business) later.

STOCK

If sales are down, cash flow is poor, and/or you’re holding too much stock, I totally get it. You’ve got to aggressive ly clear some inventory. Pay some bills. But, before you do, there’s two things to consider.

1. There’s nothing like empty hooks and shelves, or size range gaps, to bounce a customer out of a retail store. Possibly for good.

2. Be wary of taking a hit on stock, you must then replace, and possibly at a higher cost.

Be more scientific about your clearances. Categorise all your stock into;

• Good Stock – front it, face it, put it in the window (and on your website and socials)

• Needs a Nudge – as above, but give it priority position; maybe offer a multibuy discount or add on bonus.

• Clearance Stock – go hard but be creative, and ideally use clearance lines to drive traffic and/or to reward purchase of full priced products or bigticket items. Make sure clearance and discount signs don’t dominate your store. It’s called “Special” for a reason.

• Burn it. Bin it. Make it Gone! –you’ve already lost your money on this “dead” stock. Don’t let it “pollute” the store, website, or other products. Clear on a third-party site/location; or literally bin it, donate it, or give it away. It’s costing you money, space and time.

Be systematic. Be focused. But don’t get desperate. Or at least, don’t look desperate. Consumers can sense desperation, which can taint your overall business. Use clearance items strategically to the advantage of your business. If it doesn’t drive traffic, create larger ticket sales, increase sales of full margin stock, or costs you more to sell it than to keep it; get it off the floor and the walls. Like now. Go do it. Go on. I’m serious. Come back and read the rest of this later…

course, but (prompt, capable, friendly, available) customer service is right at the top of the pile.

And note that I said “enough” staff. Not necessarily lots. I’d take three quality retail staff, over six inept ones, every day of the week. But just understand those three, quality staff, are critical to your commercial blood flow, and central to the raison d’etre of your business proposition and viability.

Look after them. Motivate them. Take them to the pub. In fact, even smarter still; financially incentivise them to move the stock that will make your accountant the happiest – spacesucking, dead SKUs, as well as the stock you make the most profit on and or generate the most footfall with. And, as a bonus, have happy, returning, advocating, five-star reviewing, customers. Plus their friends, family, and colleagues.

is closing the store when it suits you, not your customer. Having the right opening hours schedule is largely about understanding the work/life schedules of your local audience and responding to the shifts in community and target demographic demands. So, what I’m saying here is, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

Cutting opening hours is essentially about reducing wage costs. But be smart about it. You can still stay open when your customers want you open, by staggering start and finish rosters; by involving your priority staff in scheduling, and backfilling with casuals during known peak periods.

Remember, you still need to be able to receive and process stock deliveries. If you’re going to close early or midweek, make sure you’ve got at least one or two staff on still to receive goods, check invoices, enter, ticket, merch and/or store. The front door might be closed, but it doesn’t mean the back door needs to be. Two 50% wage cost days, will be better for the business than a single day 100% wage cost saving closure.

Alternatively, the answer can be to, stick with me here, increase your opening hours. The strategy (and historical experience) here centres around the fact that, all your competitors are more than likely, also trying to save costs by cutting staff, reducing stock and opening hours.

As can be typical during economic downturns, there is a collective overreaction, that then tilts the local market supply and demand pendulum the other way. It’s just that most businesses don’t realise it because they’re closed when customers are peering in through their front doors, or not realising that their customer, then went down the road to the store who was open and is now their customer.

Downturns are the best time to invest time and money in taking market share. I’ve seen it work. I’ve done it myself.

MARKETING

The same thing applies to marketing. During downturns, spending on all aspects of marketing (especially by SMBs), i.e. advertising, promotions, merchandising materials, sponsorships, PR activities etc., are invariably the first sandbags ejected out of the gondola.

And just like industry wide reductions of opening hours, staffing and inventory, this actually creates opportunity. Not only to fill the gap. But to fill it cheaply. It’s not just the suppliers who are feeling the pinch and looking to make deals. So are media companies, designers, events, clubs, teams and anyone involved in selling advertising, sponsorships. Hence, they’re looking to do deals as well. It’s a great time to cut your competitors’ lunch, take market share, build awareness and tribe, but to do it affordably.

Not only do you ride out the downturn better than most, but you lift out of it quicker, and ride the eventual uptick with a larger following than you had before the downturn. Winning!

“DOWNTURNS ARE THE BEST TIME TO INVEST TIME AND MONEY IN TAKING MARKET SHARE. I’VE SEEN IT WORK. I’VE DONE IT MYSELF.”

TIME TO RE-ASSESS AND RESET...

TIME to revisit your business strategy – mission statement, business goals, growth strategy and timeline, market positioning statement, USPs, the lot.

Has your business got the right software, hardware and business tools to successfully and efficiently implement your strategic aims and meet your capability needs?

Assess your supplier suite. Do you have too many suppliers? Or the wrong suppliers? Do the suppliers you have, fit where your business is now, and going forward? Are they working for you, as hard as you are for them?

Invest in local area and customer network insights; identify demographic, attitudinal and behavioural shifts. When was the last time you did a proper competitor analysis? Do your brands, product ranges, capabilities, service offerings, or pricing strategies meet your market? Or at least the one you should be targeting? Do they best fit your business strategy and desired USPs?

And now you have a refreshed understanding of your customer targets, needs, motivations and expectations, it’s a good time to revisit your “brand” identity; logos; colours; look and feel; store layout and design; your website structure and UX; your social media and communications channels strategy, activity and management.

Are there additional sales and revenue channels you

can tap in to? Online “marketplaces” or auction sites? Event sales? Bike fitting or coaching? Servicing local gym bikes? Servicing local large business employees’ bikes? Bike hire, or leasing? Specialist equipment hire i.e. racing wheels, aero helmets, bike bags/cases etc. Can you offer local pick-up and delivery for service and sales?

Look into your staff training structures, whether it be internally, through suppliers, or even third parties. What about regular team building activities? And of course, incentive and bonus schemes? You are a ‘sales’ operation after all.

Take a look at how out-sourcing can save your business serious time and money. For example, did you know there are professional stock take companies who will come into your store, and conduct a full stocktake, in probably the same time it takes you to build a couple of bikes? Leaving you and your staff to keep working and selling stuff? You don’t even need to close. It’s a revelation to every bike shop I know who’s engaged in such services. There’s plenty of other out-source opportunities that will be equally as revelatory.

Take a long hard look at everything your business is, isn’t, does, and needs to do. Everything. Take your time. Seek outside help or guidance if needed. This is important stuff.

Tools that enhance your sales capability, like retail finance, can be particularly useful in a downturn

The thorny issue of bike theft and what, realistically, a thinly resourced police force can do to help is a hot topic. With many cases dropped immediately, BackPedal comes to market with a first of its kind private recovery service looking to partner bike shops in the process…

CRIME

The problem is clear as day: bike theft in the UK is rampant and there’s very little, barring a very good lock, to stop thieves getting away with your customer’s pride and joy. In CyclingIndustry.News’ annual study 53% of stores said that the perception of theft and lack of safe and secure cycle parking was a directly cited reason customers have been hesitant to buy a bike. More than half of customers deterred by this alone. Something to think about; changing this perception will benefit us all in customer volume terms, but the dial needs to be moved a long way. We need a game changer.

So, what if there was a game changer? Something so simple that it can sit on your countertop and be upsold with each eBike you sell? Let’s bring into the frame an industry first product that came onto CI.N’s radar thanks to the investment of PedalMe Founder Ben Knowles, a man known to been keenly interested in tracking bike fleets.

The Founder and beneficiary is James Dunn, whose BackPedal business is starting out in the bike recovery business. With the help of specially

trained staff, ranging off-duty or expolice to ex-military personnel, James and his team are tracking, tracing and executing recovery operations on behalf of customers. What’s more, they seem to have the support of the police.

The size and shape of Backpedal’s challenge is to start reversing a trend which, as it stands, sees almost all bike theft go unpunished and unrecovered. A stat from last year’s crime data suggested that 87% of all UK neighbourhoods saw not a single bike theft solved by local police. There have even been well publicised cases – such as that of BBC presenter Faisal Islam –where GPS trackers have pinned down a stolen bike’s location and police have been unwilling to take the case on.

James explains that he is excited to move from a “baseline of zero recovery, up towards 80%, maybe 90% recovered.” Thus far the rate is 100%, although the firm is still young.

As many do, the business started as a passion project and evolved quickly. “My girlfriend’s bike got stolen from outside a gym. She is a teacher that cycled to school, so had to beg and

borrow lifts to stay mobile. We had the CCTV from gym showing lads with an angle grinder. They rode off and the police did not respond at all. I asked, how is this still a problem and why was the instant response essentially ‘we can’t do anything’?”

The idea of vigilante recovery seeded first in the UK’s bike capital, Cambridge, a hotspot for bike crime. First of all James found a suitable GPS tracker, creating a saleable product. Then came the grow slow, learn fast phase. Could James viably make this recovery service take off and do so within the framework of the law.

James explains: “Our job is to do as much as we can quickly and safely. Sometimes that means using the police, other times there are clear lines to follow. If we can see bike accompanied by a group of lads that look rough we won’t approach; that’s for the police to tackle. In the instance we have good intel and a safe approach we can get a recovery guy out, for example an ex squaddie, to which this kind of recovery is a doddle. Sometimes we knock on a few doors, get a bit of info, then

STOPPERS

look over a garden fence and spot a bike. We will always inform police and record each recovery for the avoidance of doubt. Once the intel lines up and we have eyes on a bike we’ll generally move to recover. The police have had no problem with our work, but of course they cannot and do not encourage it to the general public in case someone gets hurt.”

The recovery work is all coordinated from a central operations facility, meaning those on the ground are always up to date. Those involved are all compensated “well” ensuring that the team has enough ready to move boots on the ground to ensure a stolen bike does not move away before action can be taken. In many cases, says James, thieves stealing high value eBikes are becoming smart to the fact that electronics can mean traceability and so he says many bikes recovered are stashed in the public domain, making recovery far easier.

For the retailer, customer piece of mind is a valuable service, but it is the service – a £9 per month subscription that is where BackPedal earns its crust. For the shop, your involvement is

primarily in the sale and fitting of the tracking kit.

James explains “If people already have a GPS tracker they too can sign up to our service. As long as the signal is reliable we can do the recovery. However, particularly if a shop sells eBikes, this is where £180 to £200 can be earned for sale and fitting. We pass the trackers through almost at cost to our retail customers and they typically can earn a 100% margin. On a high ticket eBike sale this works very well as add on sale item at checkout. For the mechanic it’s a simple 15-minute job to fit to the eBike’s wiring. We package the tracker for retailers to put on the countertop.”

So, what’s the next step for BackPedal?

James is hopeful that fruitful conversations with insurers could complete the package. “We hope that in the next six months we will be able to sell such a package and it’ll be ultra-competitive too considering the value and peace of mind a customer will gain.”

For stockist enquiries, contact team@backpedal.co

It is hoped that in the near future the product will bundle insurance too

Riders are charged a £9 per month subscription

Recoveries have helped delivery riders get back on the road

BRIGHT LIGHTS

Where many stores are reducing bike count in favour of handing floor space to profitable services and accessory sales Mark Swift at USE Exposure spots an opportunity, but it’ll require the enthusiasm we have for bike tech transferring to add on sales…

There’s something to be said for brands that endure in their product lifecycle being well aligned to the best showrooms in the trade. Premium products scream premium experience and the savvy customers seek out and will return more often for both.

It’s fair to say Exposure has earned its stripes on the longevity front and very quickly we learn that the return rate has been sub 1% for a “long time”. Long-term and die-hard winter riders are often advocates of the brand’s staying power and serviceability. It’s a story that has seen the brand expand into dive lighting, which needless to say cannot fail, as well as medical and dental lighting.

If you’re not yet familiar, let us relay a story told to CI.N upon our arrival to the South Downs business. In this story a farmer was the customer,

putting to use the brand’s lighting for late nights in the field. One evening while laying slurry this particular farmer’s Diablo fell into the muck, first passing through the spreader, presumably never to be seen again. The field was churned and darkness had fallen; no sign of the light which, having been spat through machinery deep into the muck, should have been long dead. Months later when the muck moved again the farmer’s son spotted a red flashing light. The Diablo had survived with only a gouge in the machined body and still held some battery.

“We are stalwarts of servicing older lights, even those sent back from all around the world; being made in the UK it’s entirely possible for us to provide that service. In this case we asked to keep the light because of the story behind the repair,” says Expo -

sure’s Head of Sales and Marketing Mark Swift, proudly holding the still slightly cow muck smeared Diablo and smiling.

Those hyper refined machined bodies are a signature of Exposure Lights, channelled venting around the LEDs looking both cool and cooling as the top-spec LEDs within get to the work of lighting up the dark. They’ve become fan favourites at 24hour marathons both through word of mouth and the inescapable prowess of the technology at work, technology that grows smarter by the model year.

It's here that Exposure’s Head of Sales and Marketing Mark Swift says that bike shops who have done their homework have the opportunity to capture customer value.

He tells us why, offering “At this time when bike sales have slowed up

bike shops need to think about getting smart on add ons and really understanding the benefits of the upgrades. Lights like ours mean that a shop staffer can sell the idea that a customer will use their bike more in all seasons. Sell the idea of pulling a bike out of the garage more in winter, sell the idea of Thursday night rides and demonstrate how you can ride just as you always do because of the technology within. In many cases I think the conversation can focus overly on lumen output, but like upselling a clever bit of suspension kit, there’s more than meets the eye that can change the entire ride experience; we need to get excited about that message.”

Such a piece of technology that enables riders to perform in all seasons is the Reflex+ addition to selected off road lights. With this smart piece of programming the rider benefits from automatically adjusted lighting output on the trail, with accelerometers, gyroscopes and other

widgets within detecting rider speed and the incline, putting out more light on fast sections where it’s needed and saving energy on slower grinds up hills. Better still, an artificial intelligence profile is built up over the ride to make sure that the run times given are the run times achieved.

The innovations are all product of rider feedback and indeed the majority of staff at the South Downs HQ are riders themselves (one is a diver, lending expertise for the marine biz).

At the time of writing its coming into spring and while the Maxx D orders are slowing, Exposure has long been passionate advocates of day lighting giving road-going cyclists an added dimension of visibility. Therefore it’s very much stock in season for The Trace and Trace R, available at £49, or £85 for a set. Encouragingly, given the local manufacturing and ability to adapt supply on a whim, that pricing has remained extremely stable, according to Swift.

He says: “Pricing has been fairly

stable compared to many of the alternatives on the market. Early ordering of raw materials kept us on a steady course and where price rises have come they’ve gone up minimally and nothing that will surprise consumers. In my view, there’s not a great deal of crossover between us and our competition due to the price points, build quality and consumer perception of our brand. We tend to find that lots of consumers trade up once they’ve had a cheaper, bad experience. Customers thereafter tend to go through the range as they educate and become more enthusiast about how the ride experience shifts. Most of the time we find customers own multiple lights, perhaps retiring a Joystick for walking the dog a night and buying a SixPack for that more serious performance.”

Where the technology has become steadily more capable consumers are, as seen with other technologies, wanting to gain more control. That means lighting that talks to mobile

The team at the South Downs business hand-assemble and service the lights

phones and is able to be tailored by the enthusiast. These customers, says Swift, are akin to those who line up for the latest iPhone on launch day and they are obviously incredibly brand loyal and ready to spend on top-spec kit. What’s not to like for the bike shop?

Of course for the customer that’s ready to accept that the factory settings are based on countless hours specialist lab and real-world testing, Swift says there’s really no need to overthink the product given the long hours Exposure’s programmers are working.

“The amount of programming that goes into each light is incredible. Every single one of the lights with our new charging infrastructure has to have a new PCD and new programmes written for it. We use outside people to do that because we need to be at the cutting edge and there are various programmes for different sectors of the market. When you have accelerometers paired with thermistors that take a body temperature, there’s thousands of readings a second and the components have to communicate in fine detail to react and deliver the correct lighting output in real time. For example, any Reflex light has ten different programmes with between two and three modes on it. In theory that’s 26 different levels of lumen output to be finetuned, each powering a different arrangement of LEDs.”

The expertise that goes into both the hardware and the software is something to behold, yet, smart as they are, there are no features for features sake, everything serves a purpose and stems from real rider input. The Peloton functionality, as another example, automatically dips the rear light beam if the light detects

another person on the rider’s back wheel, ensuring nobody is blinded, but maintaining visibility. Activ is similar in that it detects oncoming traffic via a light sensor and automatically dips the front beam. Cleverly, the sensors are tuned so that it picks up light at about 2 o’clock to prevent beams miles down the road being picked up; it also detects rear lights of cars too.

Exposure remains predominantly a brand that sells into the off road space, but as we enter Spring and the production turns to urban lighting we’re told the balance is tipping steadily and that retail partners are doing more and more for the road going cyclist. In 2011 it came into law that new cars had to feature daytime lighting as standard and in time Swift thinks this should naturally become something cyclists consider. He describes a target market of people that exists, including many youth riders, who are still riding without lights at any time of day. For Exposure there is hope that bike shops can advocate more strongly the benefits of being seen at any time of day.

In order to relay the mess age to consumers, exposure does regularly send out demo kits to accounts who may wish to be pro-active in making sales. Swift explains “If you are a stockist you have the chance to have kits sent over to demo to customers on rides. Getting side by side with a customer really helps sell the benefits in real time, especially to mountain

bikers. Overall we have 60 sets of lights available to stores wanting demo units.”

As a premium feature rich product

Exposure’s lights are well-suited to being presented and sold in a physical retail location. While the consumer has swung in the direction of online, Mark says that the customer mindset at present is being swayed by the quite steep discounts available in the market, which from a retail perspective is lots of work for little return. All the more reason then to back a brand that is able to turn production up or down on a whim and has avoided becoming caught up in the frenzy thanks to its premium positioning.

Another perk of this positioning is helping to protect the brand from another trend that may encroach on lighting sales at the lower end of the

“GETTING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH THE CUSTOMER REALLY HELPS SELL THE BENEFITS. ESPECIALLY TO MOUNTAIN BIKERS. WE HAVE 60 DEMO SETS AVAILABLE...”

The Strada series shown here with a raw metal finish. Those deep channels are excellent heat dissipators

Raleigh is a UK distributor of over 40 sports and cycling related brands supporting the UK’s Independent Bike Dealer network. We offer industry leading logistics and service delivery to UK’s IBDS including next day delivery, free delivery on SRAM products and our Partner Plus Programme.

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market; that is the as standard integration of lighting products, in particular into electric bikes at an OEM level.

Mark lets us in on a little known, but almost obvious detail of the eBike world – that is that battery and motor makers wish to reserve as much of the juice for range as possible and so there are theoretical limits to OEM specced lights when it comes to real performance applications.

“People we encounter are still upgrading on their eBike OEM spec lighting as generally they’ve a low lumen output as standard, yet those who are serious about performance still upgrade. By the time there is a noticeable impact to aftermarket sales I expect Exposure will likely produce more for OEMs, as we have in the past. Most manufacturers of eBike kit restrict power to the lights to save it for the motor, so at the moment there’s no great clamour to pull lots of energy for lighting. That we are aware of, the most energy manufacturers will offer power wise is just over 2,000 lumens, but there is a potential of near 3,500 lumens.”

What’s new with USE?

Ultimate Sports Engineering clearly had some ideas in the pipes and indeed on one occasion our camera was pointed away from some shiny cockpit product taking shape from aluminium billet. We may already have said too much.

So, what can be said for the brand and its tasty catalogue of finishing kit? There’s an expansion of the brand’s gravel catalogue in response to the category’s continued relative strength and this will continue into Q3 and Q4 with launches in the pipeline. What that means is both new flared bars now on the market, plus USE has also brought out a specific Vibe seatpost revamp to cater for roadies pivoting to gravel riding. Mark says: “We had roadies contact us about a Vibe post reissue. This is the post that launched the company, so we made it lighter and put it in line (has no lay back). The suspension seatpost has never gone away as a product; the USA in particular loves them.” Prior to Covid’s arrival there was also strong rumour of suspension arriving for a mountain biking application. “That’s a lot more advanced than the last time we discussed a product,” Mark says.

Sticking with mountain biking, bar widths are going wider as per the trend. 780s become 800s and 740s go to 760s (the most popular width once and 800 has been cut down).

TO SKI, OR NOT TO SKI?

With a fundamental ingredient to winter sports absent in unseasonal heat there is a crisis for the snow industry in Europe. One man’s trash is another man’s gold, as the saying goes, however. Bike riding season just got longer. CIN explores the impact…

If you had headed for some of Europe’s premier ski and snowboard destinations early on in 2023, in particular those at a lower elevation, you may well have found green grass where typically there would be an abundance of snow. France, for example, experienced temperatures up to eight degrees higher than what is typical at some key resorts, which is not at all conducive to fresh powder landing on the slopes. In fact, in many places it was too warm to even attempt making artificial snow which, when required, is at a steep cost burden to resorts who require reliable powder dumps to move past break even. Where Morzine had entirely closed slopes at times in January, tourists instead condensed into higher elevation resorts pushing Avoriaz to a crowded state that again made conditions hectic for high-spending holidaygoers.

Making international headlines, the

Alpine Village of La Morte in France opted to do the unthinkable; give up on snowsports and reopen the mountain bike trails. The quick thinking has somewhat saved a season as mountain bikers in the hundreds showed up.

A short-term solution does not make a long-term fix, however. For the ski and wider snow industries, the topic of climate change presents an existential crisis. Yet for the bike industry, uncovered mountains is not necessarily a bad thing. Scientists measuring snowfall in the Alps have pointed to a clear trend; less snow is landing, which inevitably means the thinned layer of powder lasts less time and melts faster.

Sean Lally, a permanent resident of Switzerland, yet known to many as the training lead with Cycle Systems Online says of the poor weather in his region: “As someone who lives a stone's throw away from the Alps, in Bern, I have certainly not been skiing

much this season. Apart from going up to glaciers 3,000 metres up, it has been dire. The buzz around ski resorts has been to promote the mountain bikers to keep the lifts going and visitors coming to the areas. Funnily enough there is an exhibition on at the Swiss Alpine Museum called 'Apres Lift' about former ski areas that are now defunct due to lack of snow. This has had a considerable impact on the economy and culture of the mountain communities.”

Of course, the situation is in flux. There is weather – that’s short term and not to be confused with climate change. Then there’s the sustained trend over many years; Europe is warming and weather patterns changing. Consumers, it seems, are not yet too concerned when it comes to buying gear they believe they’ll use time and again.

Paul Varney, who works as an agent for ski and bike clothing brand Craft

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told CI.N that “the UK snow industry is having its best season for years with early sales and lots of repeat orders. There was huge positivity from snow retailers at the Slide trade show.”

The UK is, in a few senses now, not representative of Europe at large, however. Varney concedes that in the future change looks ever-more likely. “We don’t know when, but we can’t deny change is coming.”

Most European destinations, he suspects, will adapt and are in fact already fundamentally ahead of the game in depth of product knowledge thanks to selling for four seasons, as opposed to the UK, which he says from experience only really sell “hot and cold”. Therefore, the retailers on the mainland are already well versed on garment technologies that straddle sports and seasons.

“Broadly speaking, I don’t think the conversation on climate change’s effects on the projected seasonal lengths for snow and bike is really registering with either industry, perhaps not even with the consumer, but you can’t ignore it entirely, we have to be realistic about what is happening. Personally, I have skied one year where there was a huge dump of snow, booked again for the following year on that basis and found myself baking in 22-degrees with only grass around. Part of me thinks this has always been the risk skiers and boarders take, that can fairly be said, but we’d be foolish not to consider possible future trends.”

With this in mind Paul expects that hybrid garments that work across a range of sports can do well. Craft, he says, has some fantastic garment technologies that are versatile across the seasons and usage. “Our Active Extreme lines sell as much in ski as with the big bike accounts,” he says, adding that the garments work for any scenario where sweat wicking and drying is of primary importance,

alongside temperature regulation. There’s a perhaps surprising source closer to home that we stumbled across in the course of investigating the trend. UK manufacturer Exposure Lights (profiled in this edition) says that its largest growth of late has come from Northern Europe, a place where snow is near ubiquitous for the winter and often a little either side. Of all the destinations to raise an eyebrow at the melt is Finland, which Marketing Manager Mark Swift says was one of the first to note a shorter snow season many years ago. This, predictably, influenced buying patterns in large part down to an extended mountain bike season.

Swift told us “It’s fair to say the snow seems like it’s coming later. In Switzerland we have two hits of large purchasing on the tail end of snow coming and going. The distributors lately are commenting to us – especially in Latvia, Lithuania and Nordic places –that they have noticed a longer spell of MTB activity. I don’t think they are consciously talking about it in a way that it’s yet affecting business, but when we broach the subject of seasons changing it’s like a penny drops.”

As has been pointed out, a belated snow dump does not cancel a trend. Data shows that since 1951 nearing half of France’s 169 ski resorts have at some stage closed down to lack of snowfall, more so in recent years, according to the University of Grenoble’s findings.

As a result, some resorts are planning for a future where snow is no certainty. During the recent spate of headlines it emerged that a resort in Métabief, France, has partnered with the domestic Centre for Snow Studies, asking the question – does the resort have a future for snowsports on the current warming trajectory? At 1,463 metres above sea level, the answer was not easy to digest. The report found that visitors will be unlikely to be skiing at the resort past 2035, a finding that has prompted the resort to develop its winter mountain biking options, as well as invest into other side line mountain activities.

Based in France with access to the slopes at Mont Chery, Lets Gets and Morzine is Rose Brompley, who works for Santa Cruz. Having seen the conditions change over the years, we’re told that at Super Morzine bike park the berms are showing through the snow during Mid-February.

Rose tells CI.N “The lifts in Les Gets will open on weekends as soon as snow goes in the Spring. The lift staff had remarked that they had had more bikers than skiers on the Mt Chery side so far this winter. In the past there was a discussion on how to play it as Mont Chery has now opened twice over the past seven years for MTB within the winter season due to lack of snow. Locals aren't happy as they say it discourages people from booking early winter. I think as the years roll on reactive action will have to be taken. Resorts close to here, like Champery in Switzerland, are much more motivated to open as soon as possible either for walkers or bikers.”

Some studies suggest lower elevation resorts will struggle with a viable ski season by the end of the decade

Skids where there would normally be snow – berms are poking above the snowline early in some resorts

What a difference a year or two makes. In the March of 2021, when CyclingIndustry.News first spoke with the ‘bike bankers’ of global investment, mergers and acquisitions powerhouse Baird things were rather rosy in the bike world. At the time the market was still a short stint away from what we may now reflect upon as the Covid high. Everyone, from retailers through suppliers, manufacturers and investors were bullish on bikes. Depending on who you speak to, most still are over the long-term, but what about those investors that shouted “buy, buy, buy” only to see the market stumble, as fairly have plenty of other consumer goods industries?

John Bastian has had a decade with Baird managing its micromobility interests. He formed part of the team that guided the Dorel Sports offload to PON Bike, helped Fox Factory go to IPO and has recently guided Wahoo.

He’s also a self-described ‘weekend warrior’ in San Francisco, so work and play go hand in hand.

From his well-studied perspective, what are the tailwinds for the bulls and headwinds that confirm a downturn for anyone bearish on the market?

“The mega-trends arguably have accelerated. There is now a range of Government support driving people’s attention to micromobility. People are becoming more comfortable outside of cars and the incentives are steadily growing to do just that. That’s one opportunity, but actually the high-end enthusiast has always held in recessions. Those folk are less impacted by the ups and downs of economies and have more free time. We see that in the skiing market, not much changes. Add to that people seeing the value of trading down from a car to use bikes as cheaper transport and we still have some major mega trends in play.”

That’s the transport trend addressed, but there exist other favourable movements in play. John reminds that the health and technology appeal remains high and that baby boomers appear increasingly attracted to using their money for accessible exercise and adventure, as potentially delivered by electric bikes. As an aside to that, younger folk are looking carefully at ways to save and major outgoings like car ownership are increasingly looking at odds with wages. John says “From the younger perspective they haven’t entered peak earnings and so it’s a lot cheaper to go for a sub $1,500 eBike than a car. We can see in urban spaces younger demographics taking to micromobility forms faster.”

Now for something a little less obvious and with a perhaps reserved stance from Baird’s analysts, what’s the view on the cargo bike market’s potential to revolutionise the logistics space?

With the Baird bankers

BEAR WITH US…

In March of 2021 market euphoria in the bike world was approaching a summit unseen in decades. Investors continued to pile in. In this interview CI.N revisits an earlier conversation with Baird’s ‘bike bankers’, John Bastian and Boris Partin, to see if there remains a bullish stance on bikes…

a lot of labels in those trial periods. From an investment standpoint it’s hard to pick a winner; nobody is standing out yet.”

John begins by rightly pointing out that, from very few participants in the market not so long ago, in FY23 catalogues there’s now very few companies not invested in trying to grab a share of that market. That’s a good sign, right? For the consumer, some businesses and the cycling culture, yes. Yet, as investors have clearly picked a horse or two in the eBike world with the likes of Canyon and Rad Power Bikes scooping millions, John is of the view that it’s difficult thus far to call a high probability winner in the eCargo space for now.

“If we think on it from a business perspective, what I think holds back investment is the current customer concentration. In business it is in general considered a risk if one customer makes up more than 20% of business. So, if your DHLs or Amazons are a large portion of revenue it’s interesting, but tough to underwrite. In the cargo for business category there are

It's fair to say that, in standards development terms, as well as legislative terms for their use on roads and cycle paths, the market may have some development internationally to come. The UK’s Department for Transport is taking a keen interest, but new technologies and the ideas developed around them make for turbulence and the breaking down of long-established norms. There’s little yet to guarantee what rules, standards and regulations are in place today will be the same next year and it’s fair to say that the bike industry increasingly has outside influences weighing in to our product design.

Echoing John’s thoughts on the cargo segment, Baird’s Boris Partin says “unit economics is also something worth thinking about. How much profit in cash do you turn per bike? If you’re a business you buy a bunch of bikes and have long-term contract whether monthly or yearly. The reality is you need a massive cash flow from the beginning to make it profitable over time. What’s the payment period and what happens if customer terminates the contract? That’s where questions remain.”

John has another point that, in the world of misfiring investment in bike product has a very real example. “Totally anecdotally, but some of the feedback we have heard is that the products can work very well residentially, but are challenging to extrapolate to a commercial use. The segment as it is reminds me of some connected fitness products. Great at home, but

when they put them into hotels and had them ridden all year round by multiple people per day, that was the real test and many failed. We need to see the engineering improved to cope with the fact that the vehicles will be thrashed in a commercial way.”

So, why was a brand like Canyon target number one for investors at Groupe Bruxelles Lambert when they began scouring the bicycle industry for a profitable but visionary company deemed capable of driving the category forwards?

Having worked on the deal, Baird’s representatives told us the formula is essentially consistently high gross margins with a proven and durable customer following. Revenue, it is thought, will recur with a brand identity as strong as Canyon’s. Undeniably, the reduced number of links in the supply chain is a draw for backers. How vital is that from an investment standpoint, we ask?

John says it’s always in consideration. “One of the reasons D2C is the most investible is that you are able to capture margin that would have gone through the IBD and pass that along as value to consumer. From an optics standpoint, bikes have lagged other consumer categories in this. Folks have looked at thesis and said it’s only a matter of time, so it’s a built-in tailwind.

It is, however, no guarantee of a functioning business. John adds: “That channel to market has been growing. Even if it takes no share of the pie I can likely expect some growth, so the lowered risk is attractive from an investment standpoint. All of this said, we do see companies realise that the model is not for everyone and has own

unique challenges. The pendulum tends to swing on this from time to time and there’s a reason why local channels will always exist.”

The climate of interest is not carrying the same enthusiasm today that it did two years ago, however. John says that deployment of capital is now more selective while interested parties reflect on the economic climate.

“Cycling is still top of the list, but over the medium term the bar has been raised for the investment community. Few want to step into anything that carries significant risk, or would be tough to call either way. Vittoria is another example of a brand with an incredibly watertight story, one that is likely to continue to perform even over the next 6 to 18 months,” he says.

How, then, can the industry lower the risk and warm sentiment that already exists toward the idea that cycling has a rightful place in all of Europe’s transport ecosystems? The bike industry, it’s fair to say, has little lobbying might. So, could the financial world move the needle with their investments?

“If the Governments of the world were to pass favourable legislation for cyclists and nail down the regulation on the electric side for all vehicle types then that would be gasoline on the fire.

Lobbying opportunities do exist, but it requires all working in tandem,” says John, pointing to PeopleForBiKes’ work in the USA as having been influential.

In Denver and Portland where there have been either rebates or tax breaks to push eBike and cycling uptake the results have been a runaway success. John adds “If these things happen at a federal level that’d be the next frontier, they did it for cars, so why not bikes? The more progressive places will do it anyway and accelerate the trend over time.”

It almost happened too with a 30% tax credit mooted in legislative proposals put to the US Senate in 2021, but as is too often the case subsidies were pulled at the last moment amid partisan wrangling.

That hasn’t deterred either John’s or Boris’s view on the long view, with the Baird duo agreeing that while 2023 will be a “year of reckoning where some don’t make it”, there is an expectation that 2024 will be fine.

In the instance rescues of attractive but distressed assets are required we are told the terms to receive capital would be very different to those offer to profitable businesses and with very different expectations to those held in 2021 taken into consideration. Stability is crucial and when asked if it’s consumer sentiment, inflation, the

oversupply situation or something else that may lead to temporarily reduced activity we’re told it’s a combination of all challenges giving lenders pause for thought.

“The bike business is not alone, the bullwhip effect is in motion across all consumer business landscapes, although this industry is a little more fragmented than some, so the challenges differ. Some of those who make it through the shake out will have an improved investment case,” adds John.

When pressed about the not-so-secret troubles of some household names with significant stockpiles and mid-winter sales the pair seem unmoved. “I don’t see bigger household players having lots of issues,” says Boris.

Institutional investors do tend to front run promising trends too, so there’s every opportunity for innovative and profitable businesses to make significant advances even while the market at large is recovering.

Boris says “I think our organisation remains extremely bullish on cycling going forward. It’s an attractive market that will rise from a wave of consolidation. There will be growth through acquisitions; that all spells good things for the industry. From Baird’s point of view, if you can see a pathway to doubling or tripling your business, we’d like to hear about you.”

”THE BIKE BUSINESS IS NOT ALONE, THE BULLWHIP EFFECT IS IN MOTION ACROSS ALL CONSUMER BUSINESS LANDSCAPES”

CALLING ALL DEALERS

MATE.BIKE UK DIVERSIFY THEIR RETAIL APPROACH WITH NEW PARTNERSHIPS

London, March 2023: MATE.BIKE UK recently announced their partnership with Electric Bike shop. The UK arm of the globally known lifestyle brand MATE has secured retail and B2B partnerships to strengthen the business that facilities a widespread need for e-biking.

At the beginning of a new age for e-mobility, we look at how MATE are fostering new partnerships with their boundary-pushing e-bikes, and how a plethora of social and economic tailwinds have combined to place MATE at the forefront of this new movement.

Since its inception, the sale of thousands of MATE’s iconic future-facing e-bikes has seen MATE continue to grow their engaged community. Flagships stores in Copenhagen, MATE’s home city, and Tokyo, a key capital in the booming Asia Pacific e-mobility market, further underpin the brands growing worldwide appeal. As well as brick-and-mortar stores, several key partnerships and product placements have been formed that further underline the brand’s rising prestige.

As a pioneering e-bike brand that truly bridges the gap between a lifestyle product and e-mobility, making partnerships and impactful collaborations has been key in placing the brand front-of-mind for new e-bike consumers. In creating affordable, foldable e-bikes that not only offer an exhilarating ride but with a sleek Danish design that can complement any aesthetic, the gap-filling brand is continuing to make waves both in e-mobility and fashion circles as a product that bridges both of these spheres.

From Maxfield LA, a luxury boutique in West Hollywood, to the famed London department store, Selfridges, MATE’s eye-catching aesthetic fits seamlessly into the carefully-curated product ranges of these two world-renowned retail spaces.

MATE’s standout designs, which come in a variety of personality-adaptive colours, has enabled the brand to redefine what an

e-bike can be as a lifestyle product. A steady roster of luxury brands has formed impactful collaborations with the brand which continue to showcase MATE to new audiences and represent a new vision for e-mobility. From the esteemed design studios of Palm Angels, to Evian, each strategic collaboration has been formed with brands that share a belief and ethos in two-way creative dialogue.

Within the e-mobility world, one of the new partnerships that MATE has fostered is with the UK-based Electric Bike Shop. In diversifying its approach to retail, MATE is hoping to open the e-bike market further and make cycling more accessible to the consumer.

Despite the UK currently suffering a post-pandemic slump in bike sales - with even e-bike sales plateauing in 2022 - product placement in The Electric Bike Shop, which has continued to open new stores across the country, is a key retail space in which MATE hopes to attract new consumers.

A cautious optimism abides that e-bike sales will continue their steep upward trajectory in the UK as more government restrictions are placed on the freedom of movement of fossil-fueled vehicles. It is believed that these financial restrictions, along with the rising cost of fuel during the cost of living crisis and people becoming more mindful of the impact carbonised travel has on the environment, will soon see healthy growth return.

It has always been a goal of MATE to encourage people who have never previously cycled to have their eyes opened to the numerous benefits of cycling following a test ride. The Sage Cruise partnership is another opportunity where

those potentially unfamiliar with the brand will be able to experience first-hand the many benefits, including the exhilarating thrill, of riding an e-bike for the first time.

It is precisely fostering these kinds of partnerships that are helping MATE to diversify their approaches to retail. With the MATE fleet still growing - each of the two e-bike models and the revolutionary e-cargo bike cater to the differing needs of the contemporary rider - it is important to make these options visible and front-ofwindow for the modern consumer.

Following the success of the original MATE City - a sleek, lightweight, agile e-bike designed to transverse the city streets and make mixed commutes easy - two additional models have been add-

ed to the MATE fleet. While each MATE is distinctly MATE in design, they each possess different unique selling points.

The robust MATE X was developed for those that wanted to reach further than the confines of the city limits. Offering robust durability and an extended range of 120KM off a single charge of the high voltage battery, the MATE X has expanded the playing field for the e-bike enthusiast.

As MATE continues to add to their fleet and foster further retail partnerships of value that place its pioneering e-bikes at eye level with new consumers, the year ahead promises to be a year of further growth for the trailblazing lifestyle brand.

LICENCE TO THRILL

A broad church of brands and product categories, The Tandem Group is has for a long while been so much more than Claud Butler. With house brands, licenced goods and even mobilty scooters, CEO Peter Kimberley says the stable has something for everyone…

By its own admission and as you’ll sometimes find with listed businesses, The Tandem Group has not shouted about itself much over the years. Folk in the cycle trade may have noticed that change slowly but surely in the past year or so, a period where cycle trade long termer Peter Kimberley has been first a nonexec director and, for the past nine months or so, the CEO of the business.

While at Pure Electric and before that Cycle Republic Peter had only to be worried about bikes and eMobility, now he has oversight of a business selling all sorts of outdoor gear, even gardening equipment. With a year under his belt and on approaching the eve of a massive warehousing consolidation bearing fruit, CI.N thought it a good time to drop in for a chat. What has the trade at large missed from the formerly quiet Tandem Group and why now have 80 new accounts quickly signed up with the distributor’s cycling division?

Let’s start with the warehousing overhaul and the efficiencies that the investment in a consolidated, state-ofthe-art, 160,000 square foot build offers the business.

“We have a pair of joined up warehouses, with currently leased land off the back that we can further build on in future, if the business ever needs it. They’re owned by Tandem too,” starts

Peter as we begin the tour. “There’s solar panels on roofs of both plots and as you’ll see the lighting switches off automatically after 90 seconds. The grids buys energy off us in summer. Out the back we have built in dock levellers that give us big unloading efficiencies. All of this combined gets Tandem tighter on efficiency, which in turn will help price points on our products right away. We now have no third party storage, as this build consolidates the former Felixstowe and Northampton operations into one location right on a main motorway here in the Midlands.”

It is an admittedly impressively sized operation, which considering CI.N was one of the first to visit, relies on us to rely in size terms; it feels comparable to Madison, or Oxford Products distribution spaces, perhaps larger. There’s some real investment and some real intent. Being a cycling business in large part, there’s changing rooms and showers to attract colleagues that are passionate about the product and if you’re more into your cars there’s an abundance of EV chargers out front, which have been feeding staff vehicles and further chipping into costs.

Size, of course, is not all that matters and in fact in the current climate can pull problems of its own. In the most recent trading update The Tandem Groups’ summary was a familiar story

of late; bike takings halved in FY22 versus the year prior when the market was peaking. What, then, is Peter’s view on the path ahead and with the warehouses on site looking empty down to construction work, is there somewhere out of site vast bike overstock needing to be shifted?

“We are in a good position, and not running into year overstocked. We are in a position of looking at new ranges and of course we don’t use model years. Instead we refresh or updating spec as needed. This provides stability for Tandem, taking away the rigidity some others feel. For people doing model years still they seem to have hit a barrier with oversupply of goods,” says Peter.

On the subject of new products that are bang on trend, but a slight departure for Tandem; we learn about a first foray into the cargo bike space.

“The dealers are talking about it, so we looked at the market data and the usage cases and we see a market coming. I get a sense that this market requires the nation to have a change of mind about what bikes can be used for and add to that to get the good weather driving varied usage again, but it's coming. In keeping with Tandem we are looking at entry-level cargo bikes for small business, some fleet opportunities and school run product too. I think personal use for cargo bikes isn’t

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“I’ve recommended it to anyone who will listen”

“The kit is great and really easy to fit.”

talked about enough. Congestion will drive this trend on and on once it is normalised, as increasingly it is in cities. We have MY24 possibilities on the drawing board.”

Also on the drawing board and likely of great interest to those who know the heritage of the supplier; a “watch this space” in reference to the iconic and best-selling Dawes Galaxy and pedal assistance.

Diversity a USP?

On the whole, the fact that the business has garden equipment stacked up alongside bikes is good for balancing the business as the seasons change, but there also now exists an ever greater range of mobility goods. We jokingly ask, when dealers talk about Tandem are they still just thinking Claud Butler? That perception lingers just a little, Peter suggests, but then again the business has never been on such a drive to be known for more. That much is evident in a product category that readers of this magazine will have thought little about, but perhaps should. Tucked into the newly fitted out Electric Life showroom on site is the firm’s mobility scooter products. It’s a category that needs an image change to remove the stigma, says Peter and from the imagery on the walls we can see that process is underway.

“Ultimately we want to provide

mobility for all, whatever form that takes and I think that conversation is ever-important for the bike shop too now that the electric bike and electric scooter markets exist. If you’re selling mobility and you have a Tandem account then you can access mobility scooters and why not? Almost definitely you’ll have customers who arrive optimistic about the electrification of bikes, but ultimately it might not be the right fit for whatever reason. The chap in our POS imagery here just wanted to access the beach, so here we have an

the legislation?”. Ultimately this concludes with laughing on the subject of how many Transport Ministers we’ve had in the past six months. If it’s your bag, the distributor has plenty to offer in the £200 to £500 bracket.

It is, as it stands at the time of writing, something that retailers are able to take stock of and monetise, but with the advisory to the end-user that the product is only for private land use. Tandem’s stance mirrors this, though there is hope that one day in the nottoo-distant future the marketplace will

off-road capable mobility aid. It’s not necessarily a product being sold, but access and adventure,” Peter says.

The same ethos applies to the electric scooter product that adorns part of the new showroom, though there is a non-plussed moment in discussion where the question is asked “have you heard anything, what’s going on with

unlock and that the vehicles will stake part of the transport ecosystem as it has in many parts of Mainland Europe.

“I am more than happy to share information with the Government on the subject and to help them to decide what should and shouldn’t be legal for our roads. In France, Spain and Germany it’s huge, so from a retailer’s

”TUCKED INTO THE NEWLY FITTED OUT ELECTRIC LIFE SHOWROOM ON SITE IS THE FIRM’S MOBILITY SCOOTER PRODUCTS. IT’S A CATEGORY THAT NEEDS AN IMAGE CHANGE TO REMOVE THE STIGMA.”

As part of the expanson of the premises, so also came a showroom and retail space, dubbed Electric Life

Peter Kimberley > The Tandem Group

point of view there remains a huge prospective window to be part of our country’s transport revolution. They are ideal for some journeys, particularly the first mile and last mile. We made things happen as a country when Covid, such as delaying MOTs on vehicles, so we can put things in place quickly if we need to. We need to take the subject seriously in the current climate where people are struggling to afford transport costs,” says Peter on the electric scooter’s future pathway.

There’s another strong piece of advocacy to come from our chat where Peter is similarly enthused about getting the Government’s ear and that’s both the subjects of the Cycle to Work scheme, plus VAT subsidies.

Starting with the latter, we learn in the showroom that the aforementioned mobility scooters are VAT free.

“So why not other mobility goods that are clean and practical,” peter asks, pointing to the rest of the showroom’s two-wheeled goods.

“A scheme needs to be looked at where it’s made fair across all sectors that offer clean and healthy mobility products, whether it’s a VAT change or otherwise; there feels like a gap on eBikes in particular,” he says on the subject of direct price intervention.

As for the Cycle to Work scheme, there is a shared frustration and call to reform from Peter. He asks “Why can’t the retired access the scheme? We can offer so much to them in the way of mobility and obviously the NHS can benefit from people staying active. There’s the Low-income earners too who really need this option to be as accessible as possible. Why are the Government not inclusive of retirees

and the lower paid? To keep us out of hospitals is in everyone’s interest, so again, I would be happy to advise Government.”

DOING IT FOR THE KIDS...

From areas of the business that are yet to mature, to a brand that has soared for Tandem; the kids’ bike label Squish, which looks increasingly competitive on price in the face of price rises with competitors. What’s more, the bikes are winning awards in key places, most notably gaining a Made for Mums gong just recently.

We’re told Squish has been “a big driver,” with Peter suggesting that the brand’s designers have achieved a price point keener than Frog’s and largely lighter weight bikes too. “There two things are key for parents. New dealers handling the bikes for the first time are quite surprised. Later on in the year we will invite shops up to

“WHY ARE THE GOVERNMENT NOT INCLUSIVE OF RETIREES AND THE LOWER PAID WHO MAY NEED C2W?”

Squish offers a premium kids’ bike to sit alongside the licenced goods

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showroom for an event where we’ll be flagging these perks.”

Add to that the brand has inked partnerships with organisations such as Bikeability that support the great work they’re doing training children. In doing this, parents see the brand and seek out the dealer network.

Children’s products are something of a speciality for Tandem and the group is in fact likely the largest carrier of licensed cycling goods in the UK. Got a child who won’t go for the Squish? You can bet they’ll go for a bike with brand image. In the catalogue there’s plenty that, unless you’re stranded watching kids TV to stop the screaming now and then, you may never have heard of, but you can bet your youthful customers will have. Among the licensed products carried there’s branding from Batman, Spiderman, Barbie, Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig,

Thomas and Friends, LOL Surprise and Frozen. Actually, that’s not even half the licensed names carried, something that means you can near guarantee to have something to offer when parents have no choice in the matter. Of course there’s all sorts of goods in the catalogue, spanning bikes, scooters, helmets, even roller blades.

“Now film releases are coming through again the demand for licensed goods is growing steadily and in fact there’s a new Barbie film due soon that we expect will lift the lines we have here,” says Peter, adding that “We know that independents go through waves of being quiet, so having the depth of range that Tandem can offer means there’s always options to try new things.”

To make that possible and to appeal to new accounts in a difficult trading environment the business has moved

to add new credit facilities, integrate with ePos systems like Citrus-Lime, promote next day deliveries and lower minimum orders right down where viable. What’s more, because demos are incredibly important on much of the product now coming through the pipelines at Tandem, the available demo fleet is now 20 bikes, including some from the newly added Quella brand.

Add to that the three national sales and three telesales staff contactable five days a week, plus a warranty department for support and shops should have some confidence to dip into the catalogue now and then.

These are some of the reasons that the business hopes to double the aforementioned opening of over 80 new accounts in the next few months. So, if that’s to be achieved in a broadly glum market, accounts will have to be

incredibly trusting that the retailer supplier relationship lines up in a mutually beneficial way. Again, benchmarking against a changing bike industry and noting that The Tandem Group does have some consumer direct sales in other departments, we ask on the behalf of shops whether such a thing will come online in the bike segment. This is an all the more pertinent question given the recent opening of the Electric Life show room, which does retail product. So, what’s the story?

“There is no intention to go consumer direct on cycling. Direct to consumer is in fact not the core of our business. As a group our objective is to showcase our brands across the portfolio and provide accessibility to these brands. The recent not insubstantial warehouse investment

bikes locally,” confirms Peter. He concludes: “I think the market conditions are pushing in our favour. We operate in the entry to moving up the scale price points. As a business we are firmly placed to command that area. The cost of living crisis, the strikes and congestion, among other things, will drive people to switch to bikes and require affordability in the purchasing process. Our pricing is holding quite stable and our product pipeline, including the house branded

”WE OPERATE IN THE ENTRY TO MOVING UP THE SCALE PRICE POINTS. AS A BUSINESS WE ARE FIRMLY PLACED TO COMMAND THAT AREA.”

Peter Kimberley

Peter Kimberley > The Tandem Group

THE CIRCLE

Tim Cross

“Cycling shouldn’t be congratulating itself on being green… cycling can hide behind the fact they’re not the worst [industry]; but it’s a pretty poor place to hide.”

With over 25 years of experience across a multitude of sectors and industries Tim Cross is a stalwart of the clothing manufacturing industry. He’s been involved in the design and production of clothing for some of the biggest brands across lifestyle, fashion, sport, and workwear, including the likes of Crew, Fat Face, and—from our own neck of the woods—Wiggle. More recently, over the last decade or so, his focus has been on large volume polyester workwear clothing, the likes of which worn by retail workers in B&Q and Asda.

However, Tim is not only involved in the production of these garments. He’s turned his attention to leading the way in developing new ways to produce clothing that is recyclable and sustainable. Tim is the Director of Project Plan B, which is on the precipice of launching its own clothing recycling technology. He is also a founder of the Circular Textiles Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that exists solely to guide clothing makers in producing recyclable textiles.

With all that in mind, we spoke to Tim on all things textiles, and what this might mean for the cycling industry in the coming years. You may think that a man whose focus is on workwear might not be well positioned to

advise on the production of cycling clothing. However, the types of fibres, clothing, and technology used to make garments for a B&Q sales assistant, are the exact same technologies as those used to make high-performance cycling clothing:

“There is very little difference between the technologies between one to the other,” says Tim, “even the top-performance cycling garments are fundamentally the same fibre technology. [The high-end cycling brands] might spend a lot more on producing their product but the fabrics still do the same thing: move air and moisture, and stop you from smelling.”

Can you tell us a bit about who you work with and what you do?

We design clothing that is recyclable, and we recycle clothing. We’re heavily involved with many of the major supermarkets and fast-fashion companies, and all outdoor eco-brands. We cover the full spectrum of clothing companies working on this. We make sure there are companies out there that can recycle the clothing we are making. We work with clients to help them redesign their clothing so it can be recycled. One of the ways we redesign clothing is by making clothing that is 100% polyester; a lot of clothing will say it is 100% polyester when actually

it isn’t quite; we make sure that everything is [polyester], right down to the buttons. This makes recycling that item much easier. For cycling clothing, it’s the zipper which tends to be nylon or metal, that can be tricky from a recycling perspective. But a metal zip doesn’t have to be too challenging to detect and remove.

Why is sustainability and circularity important in cycling clothing?

A tonne of clothing – which is about 3,000 polo shirts or 4,000 t-shirts

saved from being burnt at end-of-life, which is what happens to most cycling clothing, is about five-and-a-half tonnes of CO2 (equivalent to a return flight from London to San Francisco). That carbon cost is ridiculous. Think about a running event, every participant will get a free t-shirt, most of which won’t even be worn. Why are we doing this? We should be able to tick a box and say ‘no thank you’ rather than get another t-shirt I’m never going to wear. Instead, make stuff that is useful, can be used, and can be recycled.

Improving the recyclability of clothing will also help with cost too. Plasticbottle yarn is currently one of the most common recycled materials. But the plastic bottle industries are now wanting to keep these for themselves because they need to include 25%

Clothing manufacturing veteran Tim Cross shares with Sean Meager his take on designing cycling garments in a circular way…

Pierer New Mobility is defining and shaping the future of two-wheel mobility with powerful brands, cutting edge technology and striking designs to create exciting opportunities for your business. We are looking to partner with dealers that offer first class customer service and excellent rider backup.

Are you ready to ride with us?

If so, contact ash.clark@pmag.com

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husqvarna-bicycles.com

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recycled plastic in their bottles. It’s because of this that plastic bottle yarn, which used to be £700 per tonne, is now £2,500 per tonne. It’s bloody expensive. Virgin polyester is cheaper than recycled polyester. And why is that? Because we keep burning polyester clothing. It’s no wonder things are getting more expensive.

We’re hearing more about the circular economy these days; do you see the cycling industry heading this way? [The circular economy] is, without doubt, where everything is going. We’re in some really challenging times as far the economic climate goes for any retail business. But the one area of growth, and unstoppable growth, is in circularity; and getting your story straight with what the future is about. We’ve never seen anything like this. In my years in the business, I’ve never known anything as strong as this, where there’s such a big drive across all clothing companies, all industries, all sectors. There’s no escaping that this is where we’re going to be in five years’ time. It won’t be a discussion; it’ll be how much have you achieved in that sector.

There’s a lot of work to be done [to reach a circular economy]. This is one of the biggest growth sectors right now. As an industry, the cycling industry needs to get ahead of it, otherwise they’ll find they’re playing catch up.

What’s driving companies toward making a push for sustainability and circularity?

There’s EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) legislation coming along. Basically, the producer pays the cost of clearing up the waste that they’ve made. If the cycling industry thinks they’re going to be able to avoid that, they’re mistaken. It will cost them money to produce clothing that doesn’t have circularity designed in at manufacture. Europe are ahead of us on this. If you want to make clothing and sell into Europe, you will have to be EPR compliant. As well as that, the Green Deal is going through Europe

and the Triman regulations in France. All of these say you have to build in circularity. If you don’t do that, you won’t be able to sell in Europe.

But, more positively, the companies themselves are pushing it, but they come up against the problem of who’s going to pay for it. If you want to develop a product, it takes time, money, and drive. All that has to come from the top. If the top doesn’t see that as a priority, it doesn’t happen. If it’s about survival for a company, they won’t do it.

What is the UK Government doing about this?

When we last discussed this in a call with the EU, the UK government (including Defra), top-end brands, and major players in the circulatory movement. We all turned on Defra and asked, ‘Well, what are you doing?’ They responded, ‘We’ve had a lot of leadership changes in the last six months, and it’s been difficult to get a decision around here’. I believe the British government are two to three years behind Europe on this, meaning they will need to follow the EU on this. We’re going to be following Europe on this, but without any input on this. The US is even further behind.

Defra were invited to comment in response to Tim’s assertion that they were acting too slowly. It provided the below background briefing points...

> The Government’s 2018 Resources & Waste Strategy for England identified textiles as a priority sector for action, due to significant waste and environmental impacts.

> A key part of the strategy is working with industry to reduce their environmental impact. Our SCAP 2020 programme, delivered by our partner WRAP, helped signatories to reduce their water and carbon footprints per tonne of clothing by 18.2% and 21.6%, respectively (between 2012 and 2020).

> Our new programme, Textiles 2030, covers brand/retailer signatories representing more than 62% of all clothing placed on the UK market. Signatories commit to ambitious targets including a 50% reduction in carbon footprint of new products and 30% reduction in water footprint, both by 2030.

> Signatories include ASOS, Boohoo Group, Next, John Lewis, M&S, Primark, River Island, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda. This programme is driving industry collaboration on circular design, circular business models (resale, rental, subscription, repair, recycling) and closing the loop on materials (recycling).

> Complementing this, we are considering what framework of policy options could best help reduce textiles and fashion waste, potentially using a range of powers from our landmark Environment Act 2021.

EU EPR

> Through their new Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, the Commission announced they will propose harmonised EU Extended Producer Responsibility rules for textiles as part of the revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) in 2023. We look forward to seeing those final proposals and will consider how they might fit with our own independent regulatory framework soon.

How does cycle clothing rank for its sustainability, recyclability, and circularity?

The biggest difference between workwear and cycling clothing is that in cycling they put elastane in the product. In cycling, they keep deciding it needs lots of stretch and therefore it needs lots of elastane. Polyurethane, which is used to make elastane, is possibly one of the worst fibres you could possibly make. It’s completely unrecyclable and it is an absolute nightmare for anyone that has to clear up the waste afterwards.

Cycling is going to have to get its head around that fact that, as an industry, they produce a product that doesn’t last very long. Its customers are magpies, flipping from one shiny thing to another shiny thing. It’s by and large a luxury sport. If you’re doing it, you’ve probably got enough wealth to replace more often than you would do if it was a necessity.

We think of cycling as being environmentally friendly and that by cycling we are doing our part for the environment. But does cycling stand out as a problem industry in terms of sustainability and circularity?

To my mind, it does. I don’t think any industry or person—at any purchase level—should be saying ‘do you know what? I eat sustainable foods and I look after the environment this way or that way, so I’m not the problem.’ Unfortunately, the outdoor industries have a lot to answer for and they have a lot to fix. It is deeply

concerning to me that people can still think that because they like the outdoors, they are not the problem.

The cycling world has been so slow at picking up [circularity in its products]. There are so many things in the cycling world where we need to say let’s make that change and recognise that that’s where the market is going. If they don’t do that, they’ll be left behind. The marketplace is going to move on. Young people today want things that are sustainable. They’ll shop second hand, in charity shops.

Why have cycling clothing manufacturers been slow to react?

There are lots of different brands, small brands, small players, and people trying to do different things in the cycling industry. There is no doubt there needs to be decision on how they can change and how quickly they can change.

The typical cycling clothing is a jersey and bib shorts. Those two things are difficult to recycle because of the elastane content. There are polyester alternatives to elastane, but you need to invest the time and the money to create that product and change. I don’t think the cycling industry has got their head around that problem. I don’t think they’ve got their head around the fact they’ve got to invest their time, money, and effort on making that change.

If you look at the bibs, the pad has mixed fibres and fabrics, which make it very difficult to recycle. It's also bound to the garment.

So, [to recycle it] either you need to be able to remove [the pad] or make it from all the same fibres. It can be done, but I don’t think there’s a company yet that’s really put effort into getting on and doing it. There’s no reason big companies, like Wiggle and Rapha, can’t do this, and [the Circular Textiles Foundation] can help them solve this problem. The question is, does the cycling industry care enough?

Would it be difficult to make cycling clothing more sustainable?

If you think about the range of clothing that the average cyclist owns, most of it could quite easily be made recyclable. There are a few more items that could be fixed with the right attitude. We’re working with various cycling brands on how to tackle this issue, but we’re only in the early stages at the moment.

There’s a lot of similarity between how you recycle polyester and how you recycle cotton and wool. Basically, if you design it to be recycled it can be. If you don’t, it won’t be. So, you then look at what the cotton recyclers want, you look at their parameters, and you design clothing to that standard.

One of the challenges is that the industry is made up of a lot of small players, that tend to buy fabrics that have been made by other people. They need to demand recyclable fabrics.

And if they do demand circularity in their product, then they stand a chance of making meaningful change.

What is the Circular Textiles Foundation?

The Circular Textiles Foundation (CTF) is what I’m really trying to shout about at the moment. It’s a not for profit, whose main aim is to guide clothing brands towards existing recycling technology. We want to make sure all of the design knowledge we’ve acquired on circularity is pushed back out to the clothing makers and brands, so they can see exactly how to design clothing that is recyclable. So, if you want to make your clothing recyclable, the CTF will show you how.

The Foundation is really important as a way of talking about where the industry is going. It’s all well and good saying something is sustainable because it’s made from plastic bottles. But if plastic bottles, which are infinitely recyclable as plastic bottles, are turned into something that isn’t recyclable, it’s not sustainable.

Under the auspices of the CTF, we developed the “infinite” mark of circularity. To display the mark, clothing must have been designed to be recycled. This means, when you collect an item of clothing back in, you know it is designed to be recycled and it can be sent to the right person to do it.

What do you say to the typical cycling enthusiast, that thinks simply by cycling they’re doing ‘enough’?

We’re all guilty of thinking we live sustainably. We’ll buy a veg box, have an electric car, carry a water bottle, and do all those sorts of thing. But the carbon footprint of such households is still much higher than those on low incomes, simply because of the amount of things being consumed. The likelihood is those people buying the water bottles don’t just buy one; they’ve got about 15. Unfortunately, the amount of dogooding they do is what makes them high consumers. We just need to consume less and get more use out of what we do consume.

I do it myself though. I don’t know how many times I’ve got to my drawer of bib shorts and thought I haven’t worn that one, I’ve never worn that one, but still thinking the next pair will last longer.

That’s consumerism though, we want to be seen wearing the relevant brands to show off where we are in our tribe. It’s a mental attitude that we need to change. We need to persuade people to buy once, buy better. But then, even if we look at a quality company like Rapha, that designs very good clothing that probably lasts longer than average, the problem is that if you can afford to

buy something from Rapha you can probably afford to buy it twice.

We need to be thinking what we can do in cycling and cycling certainly shouldn’t be congratulating itself on being green… I’m absolutely certain that cycling can hide behind the fact they’re not the worst; but it’s a pretty poor place to hide.

There are solutions to circularity. There is absolutely no reason why you should ever make something that isn’t recyclable. It’s just design choice. Fifty years ago, we did do that because we didn’t make stuff that wasn’t recyclable.

If you’re a cycling clothing maker, looking to introduce recyclability to your products you can make contact at tim.cross@projectplanb.co.uk

”THERE ARE SOLUTIONS TO CIRCULARITY. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHY YOU SHOULD EVER MAKE SOMETHING THAT ISN’T RECYCLABLE.”

GOING THE DISTANCE

Enduo™ Cargo, the world’s highest-efficiency drivetrain, shapes the future for fleet operators

The The buzz surrounding New Motion Labs’ revolutionary drivetrain, Enduo™, is continuing to fuel the eMobility sector’s interest in next-generation technologies that will shape the future for fleet operators.

When New Motion Labs re-engineered the drivetrain for the first time in over 100 years, the potential for our industry could not be understated. Today, it’s a reality that’s, quite literally, miles ahead.

Enduo™ Cargo has been meticulously tested in all conditions and proven to be the world’s longest lasting drivetrain, giving an unparalleled 3.5 times longer ride without replacing a single drivetrain. Rated for 15,000km on eCargo bikes and 30,000km on eBikes, with a maximum payload of 450kg, this really is matchless reliability.

Considering that Enduo™ can now save up to £500 in maintenance per year, per bike, and it’s little wonder the world’s leading fleet operators are turning to Enduo™ to exploit the benefits it promises.

Enduo™ Cargo is the ultimate drivetrain package for eCargo and eBikes. It’s guaranteed to deliver faster last-mile efficiencies and, crucially, confidence for fleet customers who continue to flock to the sector in increasing numbers.

As for the rider experience, Enduo™ has that covered too. With its patented tooth profile that’s precision engineered to the tightest of tolerances, every ride is smoother, more enjoyable and safer.

Enduo™ Cargo also delivers a new era of eMobility sustainability. Every component is manufactured in Europe from the world’s most technically advanced materials. The fully recyclable steel is a welcome eco-friendly alternative to the traditional plastic and rubber belts that simply aren’t kind to the environment. There’s always another way – and Enduo™ Cargo has delivered it.

The game-changing Enduo™ Cargo set

Perfectly packaged to suit the demands and scale of every fleet, the Enduo™ Cargo set comprises the pioneering Enduo™ Cargo chainring, sprocket and cycling chain. It’s all designed for seamless, instant plug and play and is available in black or silver for an aesthetically pleasing touch.

Here’s what you get with every game-changing Enduo™ Cargo set:

The Enduo™ Cargo chainring

The world’s most reliable, high performance and weather-resistant drivetrain is manufactured from industrialstrength steel and coated with an ultradurable zinc-aluminium finish for long-lasting, ultra-reliable service. Designed to be used in conjunction with Enduo’s tooth profile, sprocket and chain, a great riding experience and outstanding last mile delivery performance is assured – every time. (Available in 54, 64 or 70-teeth options.)

The Enduo™ Cargo sprocket

The Enduo™ Cargo sprocket relies on the same impeccable quality materials as its chainring partner. It guarantees unparalleled weather resistance and dependable wear in the most challenging conditions and under constant use. (Available in 22, 24 or 26-teeth options.)

The Enduo™ Cargo chain

Enduo’s wider chain promises incredible performance and can be serviced and maintained just like any traditional bike chain. Again, delivering efficiently in even the harshest of elements is key to

keeping fleet customers happy. It’s even guaranteed to withstand the acid rain that’s so common and damaging within urban settings. (Available in 138 or 168link options.)

The Enduo™ Cargo chainbreaker

The Enduo™ Cargo chainbreaker is the ultimate pro tool for a pro drivetrain. Its intelligent two-pin mechanism makes for quick and easy pin removal.

A solution to ride with

Just as reassuring as the quality of these components is this ingenious technology’s price point. The Enduo™ Cargo package is surprisingly inexpensive and, with bespoke prices for fleet operators, this could be one of the most cost-effective calls you make this year.

If you’d like to find out more about Enduo™ Cargo’s revolutionary drivetrain for your fleet, get in touch today at hello@newmotionlabs.com and we’ll help you shape the future of your fleet.

CI.N speaks with Luke Frixou, owner of Velo Bavarian, in the hope of understanding how his ambitious bike shop is building a community and, as a result, driving growth...

INFLUENCE MATTERS

We meet with the owner of Velo Bavarian (VB), having seen YouTube content created by adventure and ultra-cyclist, allround cycling content producer, and Cervelo brand ambassador, Chris Hall. Based in Duffield, just outside of Derby, Luke has transformed Velo Bavarian over the past three years, shifting the focus toward becoming a community hub for cyclists. For him, influence matters.

Actively making a difference to the local cycling community is a substantial part of what motivates Luke. A particular focus has been encouraging and supporting female cyclists, offering ‘ladies only’ rides.

Following the success of VBCC social rides, Luke saw the desire and talent of riders turning up and decided to create the platform aimed at local cyclists wanting to push themselves further, going as far as to represent their local bike shop with friends. This led to the 2022 creation of a race team

– VBRT – specifically for female and male riders with little or no previous competitive cycling background, offering the support and encouragement which enables riders to experience pinning numbers on and racing a bike for the first time.

VBRT is overseen by none other than John Vicars (ex-Raleigh GAC Pro Cycling and Derby County Football Club). John brings experience and passion to achieving the teams’ goals of creating opportunity, helping every rider to perform to the best of their ability. The men and women race under the same VBRT name, highlighting the ‘one team’, equal opportunities for all, ethos.

In its debut season VBRT became the highest ranked regional team in the East Midlands, something Luke attributes partly to the camaraderie the team have built.

Plans for 2023 are already advanced, with Contiki onboard as sponsor of a now 34 riders strong (23 men and 11

women) team – Contiki VBRT – with Santini continuing their partnership, supplying team kit. Here Luke highlights that there are still open spots on the roster for women riders, be they experienced racers or looking to get into the sport.

Luke’s enthusiasm for enabling others comes from his own background in team sports, where the sense of togetherness is an integral part of personal and professional growth. Having played professional rugby and competing for Team GB, as part of the bobsleigh squad, his background in strength and explosive power-based sports also means Luke is very aware of the challenges other body shapes and sizes frequently come up against in the cycling world. This plays a major part in his drive for inclusion, and underpins the warm welcome everyone receives when interacting with VB.

Building a community around the business means today VB has a Strava

VELO BAVARIAN

PROFILE

following of 550, who’ve clocked up 13,604 Total Club Kilometres. This makes more sense when you add that, over the last three years, shop rides have grown from a handful of riders to over 100 (not all one on one, we should point out), with a similar number of active members of the VB WhatsApp groups, including over 40 women in a ‘Ladies Only’ chat group. Luke and long serving mechanic Paul are understandably extremely proud, even more so that is has happened organically, through word of mouth and people coming into the shop.

VELO BAVARIAN

“It goes without saying, a lot of work goes into organising rides, events, and socials, but the community contribution and support from our riders is what it makes it all possible,” says Luke.

VB now have more than 10 dedicated ‘Ride Leaders’ regularly leading social rides, with even more offering advice and encouragement on how to get involved in racing.

Here Luke is keen to point out that the premise of the VBCC is a rider-led initiative, where anyone can turn up to one of the VBCC social or training rides and have a chat to the person next to them about anything from their coffee order to the next hill climb event. Clear emphasis is placed on the social nature, irrespective of the ride pace. The environment is extremely encouraging, regardless of ability.

Riders are invited into the WhatsApp group – the hub of VB community, outside of Strava – where ride details are posted.

Another key point; It’s free to enter the VBCC on British Cycling. There are no membership fees and, if you’re new to racing, you can ask anyone at the shop, or on any of the VB rides, for advice on where to start. The main aim of the VBCC is to get more people into the sport of competitive cycling, whatever the discipline, and build a community of like-minded people to come together on regular rides and get together at races.

Back in the shop it’s clear that commercial partnerships are carefully thought through, just as the customer experience has been. As the top-selling Santini custom stockist in the UK, VB are offering team and shop kits, as well as a focused selection of bibs, and other ride essential such as arm and knee warmers, toe covers and gilet.

“IT’S FREE TO ENTER THE VBCC ON BRITISH CYCLING... JUST ASK ONE OF US ON A SHOP RIDE HOW TO GET STARTED.”

There remain open spots on the women’s team to be filled

The grassroots rides are organised by a shop Whatsapp group

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PROFILE

Footwear is offered with Quoc, the UK designed cycling shoe specialist offering a product that compliments the premium bike brands – Cervelo, Pinarello, Colnago, BMC and Cannondale – VB sell.

Earlier in the ar ticle I briefly mentioned Paul, the VB mechanic. He’s a 30-year veteran of the tools. Someone with a local customer following. His attention to detail makes sense when you know he’s a former Pro/Elite level racer himself. That reputation is priceless for the VB business. Something which Luke is understandably proud to talk about. When you’re selling premium bike brands you want a premium service experience. Paul delivers this in spades. Customer interaction is just as you’d expect in a premium retail environment; friendly and engaging. The compact workshop space Paul works in looks as clean as an F1 garage on race weekend. Just the kind of place you feel confident and comfortable bringing your custom build Pinarello or custom painted Cervelo. With Paul, you’re in safe hands.

You’ll see a consistent theme here: Passion, partnered with capability.

VELO BAVARIAN

The VB team have plans, and no shortage of ambition. Luke has already identified a new location which will support future growth as the business branches out further. A community hub for the 550-plus Strava members to visit for coffee, serving food for preand post-ride fuelling, an expanded workshop facility, and space to host events, also serving as a base for cyclists keen to experience what Derbados riding is all about. Plenty of off-street parking space also makes this new location the ideal ride hub. Luke is also looking to offer sports massage and bike fitting using the space to its maximum, making the offering for both public and VBCC team as strong as possible, drawing in more customers from the local area. A community hub in every sense.

As we chat, I mention that having multiple streams of revenue is a strong move. Here Luke is keen emphasise he’s looking to create something which isn’t confined to, and solely seen as, retail. The transactional element is there, and done extremely well, but it’s not the reason why VB has grown such a dedicated community following. There’s a balance to be struck, a

dynamic process to be worked with. The business must be self-sustaining, profit making, but just as short-term gain can’t come at the costs of longterm success, so is also true of building something bigger, and more valuable. A tribe who call your hub a second home. A place to share that passion for riding. A place to meet people who share the passion, who encourage and support others on their journey. A social space where the coffee aficionados feel at home, just as the cyclist does. A place where locals who don’t ride find a café, because it’s that good, and they to become regulars. Part of the wider local community.

Just as we started by talking influence, and a meeting which happens as a result of seeing a Cervelo brand ambassador talking with his local shop owner, so it seems right to end with an acknowledgement that Luke and Paul have remodelled a business which is still growing, increasing its influence on the local cycling scene. Chatting with Luke the enthusiasm is clear. VB is just getting started. Watch this space.

“LUKE HAS IDENTIFIED A NEW LOCATION TO SUPPORT GROWTH; A COMMUNITY HUB FOR 550+ STRAVA MEMBERS... ”

As an edge of the Lake District based workshop the Mapdec business has customers travelling from London for service work, and has even built a bike for an American Football player who shipped a frame and components from America. Welcome to what’s possible when you create insight and knowledge rich social media content.

Discussing content creation, Paul Vousden highlights how cross generational learning plays a major role in developing business capabilities which directly impact current and future revenue generation.

Mapdec Cycle Works has 45K followers on TikTok, and 7K followers on YouTube. How did this happen?

We started doing TikTok for fun. Jake, one of my apprentices, he’s a dirt jumper, however he’s not (yet) a ‘camera confident’ communicator. He’s built this massive following,

NEW

approaching 500,000 followers on TikTok. If you’ve watched our Mapdec content, you’ve probably seen him a few times on our channel.

Jake was the inspiration for Mapdec starting on TikTok. I just said ‘go for it’ to our apprentices. It was a time when they were, after a full day of learning, a bit fried. They’d just go out in the car park and create TikTok content. It showed the sort of the personality of the business.

We were nervous when we first did it, and they’ve definitely done some things which have raised an eyebrow if you’ve seen the TikTok channel. I’ve gone ‘okay, this is you. You do it. This is the personality’. Other times I’ve just gone ‘that crossed the line a little bit’ and then we’ve reviewed that. It’s part of their growing and developing. Generally speaking, it was for fun. It just took off. We went viral on a couple of videos.

Do you think there’s still a social media content creator fear factor for some?

Yeah, but the apprentices, they’re okay with all that, putting themselves out there, but they’re still a little bit scared hearing the sound of their own voice. We’re working on that, developing and improving their communication skills and confidence.

The thing I’ve learned from them; they’ve got a very mature attitude to trolls, and being trolled. More so than I had. They’ve educated me as to how they deal with some of the noise that just comes in the comments.

You’ve kept Mapdec social media focused on the workshop. What else is going on at Mapdec Cycle Works?

As a business, we are a number of things. We do everything for cycling apart from sell bikes and accessories, which definitely causes some confusion when reps come to visit.

We’re a training provider, with a classroom workshop space, teaching

SCHOOL SKILLS

In the fourth and final part of our ‘guide to Marketing that makes a difference’ series, Simon Cox chats with Paul Vousden from Mapdec Cycle Works.

teenage mechanics. We’re also a fully functioning bike service centre for customers, a cycle coaching practice, as well as offering bike fitting, with a strength and conditioning emphasis. We’re in a shared location which also has a sports massage therapist, and a yoga studio too.

In one of the most recent videos, you mentioned getting an Enduro bottom bracket early, not because you’re trade, but because – as a content creator –you’re also a journalist.

When the rep came round and showed it to me I said I wanted one for the YouTube channel. That effectively gave us priority access. We still paid for it, we just ended up front of the queue. It’s a pretty simple thing for the distributors of brands to do really; assess your audience size, review your content

engagement levels, and decide who gets early access.

That content, combined with early access to product, helps generate new business, with people traveling far beyond your local area for service work. Yeah, it’s blown my mind a little bit, I wasn’t expecting it. You build trust when people come into the shop, and you have a conversation and a brew. YouTube’s given us that element of trust, but on a national, and international level.

I’ve had customers from London tell me they’re planning their bike service as part of their holiday to the Lake District. Then there’s a couple of customers that travel through Scotland with work. They drop the bike off with us and then pick up on the way back through. Nothing shows the power of content like having international

customers. Doing a build for an American Football player would not have happened without social media.

Tell us more about YouTube. What advice would you give others considering the platform for content creation?

The YouTube channel is something l really wanted to do. I think that’s really important to say I don’t think everyone should do it. You have to want to do it.

As a business, we don’t sell bikes. I don’t want to. With the business we have, I do want to create content.

The upshot of that is I’m astonished by people discovering our content and calling me saying, ‘I’ve seen you work; I want you to do my bike for me. When can you book me in?’ Booking them in for service work I then find out they live in London, so the date quite important. It’s eye-opening.

”WHEN THE REP CAME ROUND AND SHOWED IT TO ME, I SAID I WANTED ONE FOR THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL. THAT EFFECTIVELY GAVE US PRIORITY ACCESS...”

The critically important point here; you’ve two elements working in tandem. Really engaging content, paired with high level workshop capability. Is your success is because you do both seamlessly?

I wouldn’t call it success yet, but it’s definitely given me the enthusiasm to double down on it.

I’ve played around with it. We got our first 1,000 YouTube subscribers (now 7k +). We got monetised. We got some positive engagement and feedback. We did a deal with RockShox, and got bumped onto the list for having first access to product. We’re not getting free stuff yet, but the momentum is there.

What does your content creation process look like?

For context, when I started content creation took up a massive part of my day, and a video might take four days from start to finish.

I’ve increasingly dedicated time to getting better at it. I started to listen to podcasts, watch other videos about how to be a YouTube content creator. The podcast that really resonated with

me was actually from a guy called Gary Vee, who encouraged content creators to record and upload without edit, to see what happens. It just struck a chord with me. So, I just went for it. I had the most minimal script. It was just, ‘here’s a subject’; one take, and now I’m just going to upload it. It stops you doing all the umms when you’re 100% focused on getting what you’re trying to say into a YouTube style video.

That was the whole reason behind doing the World Cup run of videos (one video every day for the duration of the Football World Cup). Practicing creating is all part of getting better.

How do you measure progress as a content creator?

I look back at the first World Cup video, then compare it to the last one. The fact I could just sit here and talk to camera for ten minutes, press stop, upload it, and the whole video probably take me one hour, from sitting down in front of the camera to uploading it. That skill is so valuable. It’s hard to get to that point. Now I have the capability to upload

say four times a week and keep the momentum going.

You become less conscious about how you sound, and how you look. You know if you get something a little bit wrong in the video it’s okay. Your audience come to forgive you, accepting that you’re human and you’re presenting an interesting discussion. It’s not meant to be a ‘you know everything’, perfect production. Sharing opinions and thoughts gives you a forum for feedback.

The fear initially was ‘I’ve got to make sure that everything I say in the video is absolutely accurate. I’m gonna get criticised and pulled up’, and then there’s a reflection point; that’s not how I work with customers. There’s definitely a point where I don’t know, so I’m going to go and look that up, or I don’t know someone has used this, or done it that way. You naturally ask, ‘What do you think?’

That two-way communication, and the comments section, is often way more educational than what I say in my video, and a prime source of future content inspiration. I love that.

Paul says that, with publishing content comes translatable confidence and learning

If what I’ve done is spark an idea with content that says ‘here’s a cool thing’ and shared ‘this is what I think about it’, then I’ve done my job, and done it well. There’s 4,000 of you who’re going to watch this by the end of the week. What do you guys think? The learning from that is incredible. You see all these different perspectives.

Like you said, it’s about engage, educate, entertain. It’s not about, sell, sell, sell.

Plenty of businesses still struggle with that, posting product and service images paired with promo focused messaging. Problem is, there’s no twoway conversation happening here, mostly because there’s little or no value for the audience.

I’ve turned off from Facebook and Instagram because it’s just full of adverts. We scroll straight past that stuff.

I can see why some bike shops are now exploring content creation. I think what many are missing with that is that they’re tied to a brand, and I think the audience on social media is really savvy

to when they’re being sold versus when they’re being educated or entertained. If you ever try and put out YouTube or TikTok content that’s focused on selling, the engagement just falls off a cliff.

It’s clear the apprenticeships you run are more than just a workshop skills qualification. You’re invested in helping young adults find their way, giving them confidence and capabilities. Social media plays an invaluable roll here. Tell us more. When Jake first came to me, he didn’t know how to turn up to work on time. Now he’s got half a million TikTok followers, is flying around the world riding with Sam Pilgrim, gets invited to big events, and getting sponsorship on the back of things. Just from a bit of help we’ve given him; the confidence that he does actually have skills that are worth something, and how to communicate those to people. It’s so great to see.

Being able to provide that to the next generation is so pleasing. TikTok is one, valuable, part of that. It’s something that young adults understand, something that directly helps me, and the business. They become more confident because of it. They can see their value to, and impact on, the business. It’s a language (social media) that they understand (and speak fluently, as digital natives).

I’ve said before, ‘Record something. You’ve got an hour and a half left of your day. Make some content together’. Then it’s ‘Dare you; upload it’. They come in the next day. ‘God, it’s had 10’000 views’. That encourages them to try it again. Sometimes they might only get 1,000 views, or they might get a negative comment, but by then they’re into the whole process, and the learning drives the confidence.

Take the workshop skills we teach. They’ve now got the confidence to make a TikTok about it and launch it to the world. That solidifies their learning like you would never believe. There’s no way better way to learn than do it, communicate it to a massive audience, then reply to comments.

It’s been terrifying for me sometimes. They don’t run things past me. They’ve taken over the TikTok account, and that level of trust is rewarded. I won’t say I recommend this to every business owner. You need nerves of steel, but if you have faith in young people, they’ll normally surprise you.

They feed into the YouTube channel as well, coming with ideas. I also get feedback from them on the content I’m creating. Jake edited a couple of the videos, working with content that I’ve filmed which I wasn’t really that happy with. He edited the footage; I got upload quality content. Suddenly, they’ve got another skill set. More than just a bike mechanic.

There is still a little bit of negativity when they speak to their friends; they’ve obviously decided at some point, ‘I’m not going to university’. Being a bike mechanic may not seem all that when they’re talking to people who are at university doing a degree. There’s challenges with feelings of worth, of value, of pride. But when they say ‘ohh, I create content for TikTok and YouTube. I’m paid to create and edit video’, and with that comes a Mac and an iPhone, now their self-belief is solid. They know they make an impact that is valued. Then we add customer service skills, so they’re confident picking up the phone to a customer. They can explain a technical issue to the customer, and sell services.

This makes me proud.

The studio where the content is refined

A strength and conditoning session with a customer

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ONE GIANT LEAP

With Giant since giving up a career in the flooring business in 1991 Ian Beasant has been part of the woodwork almost as long as the Taiwanese bike maker has had presence in the UK. He joined at a time when it was mountain bikes driving the domestic cycle market, while over on mainland Europe infrastructure was being created meaning city and trekking bikes were flying, creating a culture where cycling was steadily embedding as part of the transport mix.

Fast forward to today and some of us may well have traded the mountain bike boom of the time with a cycle culture with some longevity and purpose. The greatest barrier to generating new cyclists and thus customers is safety concerns attributed to lack of infrastructure. Germany, Holland and others are decades ahead, while the UK starting gun misfires over and over. Would the

boss of the one of the UK’s largest bike businesses have traded a reasonably easy off road ride at the start of his career for an embedded cycling for transport culture?

“There are areas we can find growth, but the seismic shift seen elsewhere may still be a way off, Government support is required to drive meaningful change, whereas for the Dutch or German markets, when the eBike really landed it was already a natural progression for people and an easier sale; though of course Government interventions turned the dial there too. Boris Johnson, bless him, tried to shift dial on cycling, while he was London’s Mayor, but the Government has since dropped the ball and we are left with just some concerted regional efforts. I was in Germany, experiencing our store platform over there just weeks ago and I learned that over 50% of bikes are now leased. I visited a

store with an over 70% rate. This happens in Belgium and Holland too. Alongside infrastructure, that’s down to a Government initiative to firmly drive uptake of cycling for transport; we do not yet have such triggers here. The culture around a vehicle is very important and there’s a generational difference country to country now.”

Ian says that as brands and businesses we all have responsibility to wave the flag for our customers, but that moving mountains does very often require either a coordinated and combined effort, or some intervention in policy and spend. “The BA is our vehicle to lobby,” he says, congratulating the trade body’s work at the time Covid hit as lifting the market into its euphoric summer of 2020 into 2021.

There is a sense that a coordinated marketing effort like BikeIsBest’s work can move the dial too, but at the time of

Winter marked an adaptation of Giant’s service to the market whereby customers searching the brand online could fulfil orders in the same space, with the retail partners closest by radius latterly completing the transaction. CI.N sat down with long-term UK MD Ian Beasant to find out more about the change…

writing the euphoria and marketing spend have both subsided drastically. Storm clouds in the market have most gripped in the fearful phase of a market cycle.

On the bottleneck currently gripping the supply chain Ian has both a short and a long-term view.

“The stock glut is largely core product - the first purchase and commuter bike - as well as full suspension mountain bikes that seem to have softened against rising off road eBike demand. As and when businesses can release the capital tied up in stock then I think those coming out of the next six months with a balanced inventory will be in a good position. The threat is what happens in the very short term; in July I think we will know a bit more of the beast we are dealing with.”

For Giant we are told revenues are stable and that the ordering patterns

were arguably more realistic than some witnessed in the big brand sphere. That said, revenues in line with last year’s figures is again roughly where Ian expects 2023’s market to settle, perhaps a little up in some segments. Glancing quickly at the company accounts that should mean revenues of around the £60 million mark, factoring in that there have been significant price changes from 2019 to today. Down to the strength of the performance segment, network loyalty and eBike demand Ian expects that many of Giant’s retail partners will possibly grow revenues slightly on last year. The number of units in the overall Giant network at present is similar to pre-Covid levels, though at the time of writing consumer demand is notably weak in the non-performance segments. Spending at least two days of his working week with retailers, as well as being in regular communication with the

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brand’s only long-term owned store in Bristol, Ian has a real time insight into the retail market’s perspective and is regularly engaging in discussions on how to weather the short term headwinds. This practice is helping Ian personally gauge consumer sentiment, which he says feels akin to the months just before Covid landed.

He says: “We have too much of wrong stock of course, but the key here is we have a plan to manage out stock over time. We no longer have model years and only introduce new lines when they’re new product developments, or when the stock in market is at level that needs adjustment. There’s always some scope to take action on sales, which are always driven in conjunction with retailers. In line with our retailers, we will share the margin reduction.”

There’s no doubting the who blinks first mindset is in play and being monitored, however. Everybody will need to make money to survive despite there being a tsunami of discounting in the marketplace. All things considered, Giant has dialled back its forward orders to better control the pace of the incoming supply, but it is “what’s already on the water” with competitor’s that is an uncontrollable variable that could determine the market’s fate in the near term, we’re told.

Understandably, Ian will only be drawn so far on what the competition is up to and, despite its effect on cancelling out a big account for Giant, he’s surprisingly complementary of Specialized’s Rutland Cycling buyout, offering “honestly speaking, their stepping in meant one of the UK’s best retailers, plus some excellent staff were saved,” before revealing that Giant worked with them on a handover that has since meant some stores were indeed lost, but others retained.

Ian adds “while it was tough parting after 30 years as a personal partner with Rutland, as a brand we have to reset in the region to support our riders with new stores, run by new partners.”

Rutland Cycling’s near demise is no unfamiliar story in the present climate and arguably phrase ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’ is particularly apt. Size can cause problems when a business needs agility and nobody will know that better than the world’s largest bike maker by value. Value rather than volume could prove decisive and with around 30% of Giant UK’s revenue stemming from eBikes, a figure that’s getting progressively more year-to-year, there are opportunities for dealers to hold their own on bike sales, believes Ian.

“Even mechanical is holding its own and strong in certain areas, despite the increase in eBike sales. The eBike sales

we are seeing appear to be incremental extra revenue rather than cannibalising another sale. The businesses that are struggling, I think, may be struggling for some obvious reasons and it’s fair to say I’ve seen the trend of enthusiasts come into the business and not bringing much business acumen to match. You have to be fully invested in the products, brands and segments you are targeting with a strong partner. It’s frightening sometimes that dealers don’t seem to know their margins, so when we work with accounts go above and beyond to help them understand where the profitability is and where others are doing better. It’s in our interests to work closely with everyone.”

There is optimism when taking a zoomed-out view. The trend over the long view is upward and projections leading toward the end of the decade remain rosy for the industry at large. The market moves in cycles and occasionally ‘black swan’ events like Covid’s arrival do shake out either weaker hands or those caught off guard by the rarity of such disruptive events. Ian adds that “when I look at accounts most aren’t in bad shape. A lot need to release the money tied up in stock to get back on track, but most can and will. It’s worth bearing in mind that average values are rising sharply, so with that so does the value of the shop floor’s stock and cash tied up within.”

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Consumer direct via dealer

That brings us neatly to the conversation of the moment; Giant’s announcement of a direct-to-consumer offering that is channelled via retail partners. There is very quickly a concession that the bike industry is lagging many other consumer goods industries in its supply chain consolidation and the way big brands engage the customer directly. That said, there is no single circumstance, says Ian, where Giant will ship a bike from its own warehouses to the consumer, something which does separate it from some close competitors who have recently made multi-channel adaptations.

“For the majority of retailers they’re going to struggle to obtain and maintain a front-page Google presence, so customers looking for our brand end up with us. In most other industries the brand owns the transaction and goes direct, that’s common now. Yet bikes are more complicated items, they do require service and support. I get why others going direct, but we wish to facilitate the transaction using the network of experts we have.”

That network is now made up of 220 retail partners across the UK and Ireland. 33 of these stores are the firm’s branded stores. With the first additions in Scotland just launched, the latter network has been steadily growing and

has grown to include partnerships with the likes of J E James and the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, among others.

“75% of that network have been with us for over 10 years,” says Ian. “If you went to our dealers they would say we have their back as much as we possibly can. With the online strategy going forwards we have a D2C method that retains a shop’s full margin, less the box and shipping cost. With a stock feed of the majority of our retailer’s units we potentially have 40,000 bikes to be made available nationally at any time with Giant UK the hub for stock and availability.”

So, how does it work? The Consumer makes their payment online, then inputs their postcode to determine a 50-mile radius where stock exists. That consumer is passed on to the closest retailer whether they have stock or not, in order that they gain the ongoing service and suppor t relationship. If nobody has that bike in stock the request goes to Giant’s warehouse stock, which is then sold to the nearest retailer. If Giant does not have the line in stock the request goes out to national search, enabling the customer to be connected further afield. Once the transaction is lined up and the retailer takes stock the bike is checked, put into a provided box, Giant’s courier collects and ships the

A snapshot of the home delivery service and a bike almost ready to ride

Inside the headquarters the latest product is presented as the brand would like to see it in stores

“75% OF OUR NETWORK HAS BEEN WITH US OVER TEN YEARS. OUR DEALERS WOULD TEND TO SAY WE HAVE THEIR BACK AS MUCH AS WE POSSIBLY CAN...”

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bike with the wheels on. Inside the box are instructions for attaching pedals and saddles, plus further detail on servicing.

It was 13 years ago now that Giant opened its first branded store in Liverpool and in that time Ian says his team have taken plenty in the way of learnings from partners. So, why are certain partners chosen to have the Giant and Liv logos above the door?

“What we learned is that it’s as much about the partner as the business’s cost base; though of course that’s of primary importance, you don’t open with a risk right off the bat. What’s the reasons we are with the retailers we are? They are just impressive in their approach, invested and I’d say protective of our brand. The Cadence Performance environment, for example; they can right off the bat provide countless services without selling a single item. We can of course help deliver a great retail environment, but on the other side the partners’ expertise is critical to the success,” explains Ian.

With a fully brand-owned store in Bristol the learnings are shared and sympathised with in a way that accounts for both the challenges to retailers and on the supply side. Likewise, having worked quite closely with the firm’s partners in both York and Camden best practice ideas were taken away on engagement of women. These store’s outreach efforts have ultimately meant more female customers in store and a higher percentage of sales to women via the website than those to

men. Successes like these have driven the brand perception of Liv, which Ian says is the UK’s eighth largest brand, according to data from the BA. He comments that Liv is the jewel in Giant’s crown, stating “Liv is a movement of its own, with dedicated following of women who are committed to cycling and a community that brings riders together”.”

The aforementioned leasing of bikes in Germany could be an avenue to more sales, but we will continue to wait for the seismic event that really turns the dial. In speaking about such market drivers Ian points to the launch

remained cyclists, then became MAMILs, so I guess there must now be a percentage of Covid buyers who become cyclists and who have become our audience. All those people who bought we have an opportunity to create brand loyalty or to encourage to cycle more. The difficulty we have is that it was a dream to ride a bike during Covid and now it’s fair to say it can be an adrenaline rush. I hope that we will emulate progress made in places like Paris in time. We have to get to a point where all people feel safe on the roads, or are connected to cycle paths,” says Ian on the ripple effects that meaningful events, infrastructure development or legislative tweaks can have on the trade.

of the Cycle to Work scheme time ago as something that drove up demand sharply. Could subsidies for bikes, or a reduction in VAT on bike goods and servicing be the next dial? The Mayor of London’s office has just announced subsidy for bike, eBike and cargo bike purchases and subscriptions by way of scrappage scheme benefits to those trading in dirty vehicles.

“The Cycle to Work lift was very pronounced all those years ago. A percentage of those buying in

That the Giant Group essentially remains a family business, driven by Young Liu and Bonnie Tu, means that the brand has its global strategy, but executed with a local touch. This, concludes Ian, should give the market confidence that the indie bike retailer will always be on the frontline of its business and that the broad ethos of getting as many people as possible on bikes over the long-term remains, despite adjustments to better align the online customer to its brand.

He concludes “Giant has a family view of not only its employees, but its retailers and its riders. It believes it has a long-term responsibility to all and this is something I have always tried to install in the way we operate.”

www.giant-bicycles.com