Industry News

SAN FRANCISCO (BRAIN) — Lyft is listening to purchase and investor offers for its e-bike and e-scooter bikeshare division, according to a blog post on its website on Monday.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — A 60-day comment period ended Monday, giving interested people an opportunity to weigh in on whether federal bicycle safety requirements – in particular a requirement that sidewalk bikes have coaster brakes — are outdated.

OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN) — Shimano says interest in bicycles globally continues as a long-term trend, but that macro-economic conditions and industry inventory levels contributed to a 17.7% decline in sales in its bike business in the second quarter this year, compared to the same period last year.

WASHINGTON — The last time the Consumer Product Safety Commission took an in-depth look at its bicycle safety regulations, it was the mid-1970s and the industry was just emerging from that decade's bike boom. The agency had only been launched in 1972.

DERBYSHIRE, U.K. (BRAIN) — British apparel brand Rab, which entered the bike apparel market earlier this year, is introducing a new hangtag for its apparel and sleeping bags showing the product's recycled content, fluorocarbon status and production information.

SEATTLE (BRAIN) — Outdoor brand Outdoor Reseach plans to enter the mountain bike apparel market next spring with an eight-piece line called the Freewheel MTB Collection.
Ahead of that launch, OR is a "Principle-Level" sponsor of Crankworx Whistler 2023, the mountain bike festival opening Friday.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (BRAIN) — A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for kids under 12 to operate an e-bike. It also would require e-bike riders who don't have driver's licenses to take an online test and have state-issued identification.

BERLIN (BRAIN) — Former Accell Group CEO Anthonie "Ton" Anbeek will join the board of Signa Sports United next April.

ANOKA, Minn. (BRAIN) — Vista Outdoor has appointed former Hasbro COO Eric Nyman as CEO of its Outdoor Products segment, a business unit that includes the cycling brands Bell, Giro, Fox Racing and QuietKat, as well as CamelBak.

STOCKHOLM (BRAIN) — Helmet technology company MIPS was fined SEK 1.7 million ($163,660) after CEO Max Strandwitz disclosed insider information regarding the bike market during an interview in a financial publication.

STOCKHOLM (BRAIN) — Continuing decreased bike helmet demand contributed to MIPS' net sales declining 51% year-over-year in the second quarter.

DENVER (BRAIN) — A U.S. District Court denied Fox Factory a preliminary injunction that would have forced SRAM to immediately take some RockShox forks off the market. Fox sued SRAM last July, claiming that the air bleed valves on some RockShox forks infringe on its patents.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (BRAIN) — Quality Bicycle Products has been named the new exclusive distributor of Sidi cycling shoes and accessories starting in October.

BERGAMO, Italy (BRAIN) — A few days before Eurobike commenced, 3T announced a new program to give select dealers the option to reserve production capacity for the next year. No longer needing to pre-order bikes and estimate specs' and colors, dealers attending Eurobike welcomed the news, 3T CEO Rene Wiertz said.

STOCKHOLM (BRAIN) — Thule Group's second-quarter net sales decreased 8.6% year-over-year with the company seeing a sales decline in bike-related products in its Americas region. Net sales for the quarter ending in June were SEK 3,029 million ($296 million) compared with SEK 3,314 million at the same time last year.

AMSTERDAM (BRAIN) — E-bike brand VanMoof officially has been declared bankrupt by the court of Amsterdam, which withdrew suspension of payment proceedings on Monday and cleared the way to a possible asset sale.

CHICAGO (BRAIN) — After 14 years as SRAM's full-time director of advocacy, Randy Neufeld will retire next month. Long-term SRAM employee Rob Cappucci will take over a redefined position as the company's director of advocacy and industry partnerships.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (BRAIN) — Distributor Quality Bicycle Products and retailer The Pro's Closet each announced workforce reductions this week. Each cited the industry's inventory challenges as a cause.

AMSTERDAM (BRAIN) — Dutch e-bike brand VanMoof has been granted temporary court protection from creditors.

BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — For our July magazine edition, we asked our State of Retail panel members: What are your expectations of sales representatives? Are they being met?