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An Unexpected eBike Boom that Begs Many Questions

2020 has been a hugely tumultuous year for the world and for e-bikes too. March 16th has been tagged as ‘the week the world shut down’ with what seemed at the time as dire consequences for the majority of industries. However, with many countries declaring bike shops as essential service and allowed to stay open, and city authorities soon putting place cycle-friendly measures in place to encourage cycling as a means of socially distanced transport and lockdown exercise things began to change as far as e-bikes were concerned. They represented just one small but vital tool in helping societies around the globe to keep healthy and keep functioning in dire and tragic circumstances.
[Read more…] about Looking Back at the 2020 eBike Year

In this week’s news:

• Racial Justice & the Bike Industry
• Covid-19 Bike Boom vs the Return of Motor Traffic
• Carbon Fiber Framed eBikes from LOOK and Kellys
• Fizik mtb Shoes
• eKickscooters for Virginia
• Cytronex Battery Guarantee

Headline News

People for Bikes – Putting Fighting Racial Injustice at the Heart of the Bike Industry

Bike and e-bike advocacy group People for Bikes say they are currently taking a number of steps to fight racial injustice both within the bike industry and at large. This webpage outlines their current programme and incudes steps such as:

• Initiating an internal equity audit
• Completing a staff survey
• Implementing new hiring guidelines following best practices with the goal of increasing staff diversity
• Identifying key areas for their research and data analysis programs to better support mobility justice
• Issuing an industry-wide survey to understand how we can best support a more just, representative and equitable bicycle industry. If you are involved in the bike industry you are invited to take the survey here.

Will the Bike Boom Continue as Motor Traffic Returns?

Marker website has a great piece that gives an insight into the bike and e-bike boom consequent on Covid-19, seen particularly through the eyes of one of the US’s premier bike and e-bike brands, Trek. At the start of lockdown Trek believed a best case scenario would be a 50% sales fall in April, 20% in May then levels remaining remain flat through the rest of the year. In fact in April Trek CEO John Burke was starting to think the company would need to be making many many more bikes than usual as the sales curve headed upwards at an incredible rate.

‘According to NPD Group, a market-research firm, U.S. bicycle sales (including indoor bikes, helmets, and other accessories) hit $1 billion in April, up 75% from the previous year — and the first time ever that sales had reached such a height. Sales of bikes under $200 grew more than 200% and front-suspension mountain bikes were up 150%. Kids’ bikes spiked 107%’ says the Marker article.

Such a boom, of course, meant empty shelves and, with a typical bike or e-bike needing parts from literally dozens of suppliers around the world and taking several months to produce from the start of the order process to arrival in a shop, a scramble from manufacturers to place more orders at the same time with global capacity and supply chains severely disrupted by Covid-19 caused huge shortages.

Will the boom last? Trek’s Burke and the Marker article certainly seem to think that will be the case in the US at least: ‘Trek, which is privately held, does not disclose sales numbers, though the company reportedly sells about a million bikes a year. A company spokesperson says that it expects 2020 sales to be more than double those of 2019, and is expecting sales of kids bikes and e-bikes to surge this holiday season.’

[Read more…] about eBike News: Bikes & Racial Justice, Bike Boom, LOOK and Kellys New eBikes, Virginia eKickscooters & Much More! [VIDEOS]

Welcome to the 2017 Eurobike show review, part Deux. If 2016 was the year the eBike reached parity with the traditional pedal bicycle industry in terms of floorspace at the major trade shows, 2017 is the year of refinement and validation.

Designs have become more polished and efficient, conveying a sense of trust to riders that was lacking in the past.

Some of the best traditional bike designers, formerly steadfast, traditional pedal bike maximalists, have been won over by the virtues of the eBike and are now entering the fray with designs of their own.

These land shift changes have altered the scope of the bicycle [Read more…] about The Latest Electric Bikes from Eurobike 2017 – Part Deux