Steve Frothingham

Steve is in his second stint at BRAIN. He was here at the beginning in 1992 while still working for a bike shop in Santa Fe, N.M. He wrote several articles for BRAIN's first issue and later joined the staff, eventually becoming managing editor and then executive editor.

After leaving BRAIN in 1997 he worked for several news organizations including The Associated Press and VeloNews before rejoining BRAIN as web editor in 2011.

He is based in Longmont, Colorado, and is an enthusiastic (and slow) road, mountain bike and cyclocross rider.

sfrothingham@bicycleretailer.com
/twitter.com/#!/stevefroth

All articles by Steve Frothingham

Broken Chain: Why not build more factories? Here's why.

March 9, 2021
It may happen — AFTER the boom.
Photo by Daisy Chen on Unsplash.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Three years ago, social media feeds filled with colorful, striking images of abandoned share bikes in China, piled into teetering mountains. They shocked the world, or at least inspired use of "shocked" emojis for a few hours.

Posted in International

Broken Chain: Small and new brands hard hit by component shortage

March 7, 2021
The heart of Taichung.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — By now, most BRAIN readers have heard stories about extended delivery times for bikes and components from Asia. What's been less obvious is how those delays are harming some of the industry's smaller and newer brands.

Posted in International

Broken Chain: Specialized and Accell executives urge Taiwan to increase capacity

March 7, 2021
"You are either at the table or you are on the menu," Specialized's Bob Margevicius tells Taiwan industry.
Bob Margevicius

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — For the remainder of this decade, Taiwan's component makers will leave millions of dollars on the table  — and risk having other nations pick up the slack — unless its component manufacturers increase capacity as soon as possible, two global industry leaders say.

Posted in International

Police recover a container of charity bikes stolen from Mike's Bikes

March 2, 2021
UPDATED: "Even in a bike drought, you have to keep doing the good work," CEO Ken Martin says.
Security video footage showed the thieves drive up, attach the trailer and drive off.

NOVATO, Calif. (BRAIN) — Police have recovered a 40-foot container full of donated used bikes that were stolen from Mike's Bikes' headquarters over a week ago. The bikes were collected by the Mike's Bikes Foundation and were to be shipped to Botswana, Africa. 

Posted in Retail News

Fox wins critical round in long-running patent fight with SRAM

March 1, 2021

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office board has sided with Fox Factory and invalidated parts of a key SRAM patent on its X-Sync wide-narrow chainrings.

Posted in Industry News

SRAM buys Time's pedal business from Rossignol Group

February 22, 2021
The announcement comes after Cardinal Cycling Group acquired Time's bike and frame business. The two businesses will operate separately.
Time introduced the Cyclo gravel pedal in 2019.

CHICAGO (BRAIN) — SRAM has completed the purchase of the Time Sport pedal business from Rossignol Group.

Posted in Industry News

Pocket Outdoor Media acquires Outside magazine, Outside TV, Gaia GPS, athleteReg, and Peloton magazine; Rebrands as Outside

February 22, 2021

BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Pocket Outdoor Media, the parent company to BRAIN, VeloNews, and nearly 30 other active living brands has purchased Outside magazine, Outside TV, Gaia GPS, Peloton magazine, and athleteReg.

Posted in Industry News

Dorel cancels going-private transaction and shareholder vote

February 15, 2021

MONTREAL (BRAIN) —  Dorel Industries Inc. has terminated a proposed transaction that would have taken the company off the stock exchange. The termination comes just a day before shareholders were set to vote on accepting the deal.

Posted in Industry News

Industry veteran Tony Karklins and partner buy Time Sport from Rossignol

February 9, 2021

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BRAIN) — The Rossignol Group has sold Time Sport's frame and bike business to the Cardinal Cycling Group, whose partners include French engineer Martial Trigeaud and American Tony Karklins, who is the founder of Allied Cycle Works and the former managing director of Orbea USA.

Posted in Industry News

Take a hike: Bike prices will go up again

February 8, 2021

(BRAIN) — A C-student in whatever class comes before Economics 101 could predict price increases in the industry in 2020, given the imbalance between supply and demand. And 2021 will likely see retail prices go up another 10-25%, experts say.

Posted in International

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