BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The London Bike Show is favourably looked upon in the trade as a chance to benefit from the curiosity of the neighbouring Triathlon and Outdoor exhibitions. From a visitor’s point of view, plenty more can be taken from the show if you look in the right places. BikeBiz rounds up some of the show’s product news:
Ison
As far as carbon mountain bike wheels go, Halo could be onto a winner with what is certainly one of the cheaper options on the market and now, the Vapour wheels are sold in 26, 27.5 and 29-inch sizes.
At £420 for a front wheel and £480 for the rear, customers will have plenty of change from a grand and will take home 29mm wide UD carbon rims, which weigh just 460 grams. Hub wise, there’s a choice of Halo’s Supadrive or SixDrive with a minor price difference depending on which hub is chosen. The wheels are disc and tubeless ready and stock will land with Ison this April.
The London show also saw the debut of the Banshee Darkside prototype, set to retail at £1,950, initially as a frame only option, but later bike builds are expected. Using the proprietary Keith Scott designed KS link, the bike has no linkage rotation on its 180mm travel, resulting in a super smooth absorption of bumps. The Banshee Darkside will be hitting the UK in June.
Jungle
Jungle now has stock of Niner’s RLT cross bike – available in a rival or 105 build – as well as the ROS 9 hardtail.
The RLT’s frame and fork package, retailing at £999, offers quite incredible value to the customer, especially given that the disc-ready fork alone retails for £490 when it is sold separately.
The ROS9 29er will be available as a frame and fork, or as part of two bike builds.
Jungle is actively seeking fresh accounts for both Isaac and Niner, with 30 mile territories and a low stock commitment of just three frames available. There’s even the opportunity to get a five per cent trade discount if one of the three bikes is used for demo purposes.
Schwalbe
If you needed to release a bit of pressure at the end of the day, Schwalbe’s stand was the place to be, with the new road-going tubeless One the highlight. With multiple screwdriver stab holes, the One tyre on show seemed unphased, quickly sealing between demos thanks to some Stans fluid built in.
Stock of the One will land in March, with a tubeless version costing £56.99 and coming in 23,25 and 28c widths. A clincher style One will cost £44.99.
On the gravity side, the Magic Mary replaces the Muddy Mary, spanning all three sizes and in two versions – a standard and snakeskin – retailing £49 to £54.99.
The popular Marathon Plus remains at £34.99 despite an upgrade to anti-age sidewalls and a revised tread pattern that offers less rolling resistance thanks to an improved rubber compound.
On the touring front there’s now a fully tubeless tyre in the Marathon Almotion, said to be the first of its kind available and due in stock by April.
Albedo 100
Our curiosity was caught by Albedo 100, who are bringing to the cycle market a ‘reflective spray’, with versions catering to spraying cycles or even clothing.
Reflecting light directly back at the source, the clothing product is said to be invisible during the day and highly reflective at night.
Albedo 100 will sell the product direct to retailers and are contactable on 0113 3955266. Countertop point of salestands can be supplied.
Ginger and French
Another eyecatcher, Ginger and French specialises in wrapping paper, greetings cards and gifts for cyclists.
The card range is extensive and even goes into sectors such as triathlon and BMX, as well as Yorkshire Tour de France inspired cards. These retail for £2.50 each, or five for £10. A roll of colourful bike wallpaper costs £40 and covers ten metres of your cycling-mad customer’s walls.
With ‘20 to 30’ bike retailers already carrying the product, owner Jenny French is open to hearing from many more in the business. Ginger and French is contactable on 07786 031521.
Hardnutz
Now in its third year of business, Hardnutz is another firm looking to grow its independent customer base.
As far as product goes, the Stealth range is one to watch, with coloured 3M reflective material worked into helmets sporting black, red, yellow and blue in their design. There are eight variants in the Stealth line, each retailing at £54.99 and decked out with 19 individual panels of reflective 3M.
A minimum order of just ten helmets in any size or design is required to become a Hardnutz stockist.
Splash Maps
With fresh investment in the business, Splash Maps has a number of exciting projects in the works, most notably a proposed link up with the Yorkshire Grand Depart organisers.
Produced alongside Steer Davies Gleeve, The waterproof material map of the tour route and surroundings is set to feature a number of great viewpoints from which to see the race pass by, as well as all the usual hot spots and food stops.
In another interesting twist for bike shops, Splash Maps are now also able to offer customised product for individuals and shop owners, featuring logos and web addresses, if desired. For enquiries, contact david@splashmaps.net.
Blaze
Emily Brook’s Blaze light continues to gain momentum. Having enjoyed a successful start to life as a Kickstarter funded project, those who originally backed the innovative light will have now received their unit with a discount off the £125 retail price now attached. Offering both a 500 lumen white light and a projected green bicycle laser image, which can run side by side, the unique light is soon to be found exclusively in Evans.
Brooks told BikeBiz to expect more from Blaze in future, with projects already based around the GPS and bike security markets in the pipeline.
Bickerton
Launched to the public at ExCeL, the 2014 Bickerton folding portable line spans £400 to £900, with even the entry model sporting Schwalbe tyres.
Company owner Mark Bickerton told BikeBiz:”We looked briefly at the viability of going below £400, but the quality really dips, so it’s not currently part of our plans to go down to the entry-level. There’s five bikes in the range, one sporting a hub-gear and all using a proven hinge design on the frame. There’s our own label saddlebags on all, bar the entry level model, that unfold to become a functionable bike carry bag.”
The £900 range topper utilises a nine-speed Sora groupset, puncture resistant Schwalbe tyres, a Brooks leather saddle, ergonomic grips and SKS mudguards.
Roux
Following on from the first trade showing at the Bike Place Show, Roux were back introducing its value for money range to the consumers.
We talked a little about the £699.99 entry-level tri bike – the Vercors T7 – in the last issue, but if you’ve yet to have a look, this is about as cheap as they come for your customer who doesn’t want to drop several grand on a tri-suited bike.
That’s one of many highlights from Roux, who also now have a carbon build at £1,500 that’s Di2 ready.
Then there’s the Vercors R8, a road build retailing at £699.99, specced with Claris gear, a carbon fork and Lyra cable discs.
USE
There were a few prototypes kicking around the USE stand, with both a new carbon seatpost and TR2 aerobar shown. Before we talk about those, USE’s wheel range now covers 27.5 and a new 24mm clincher joins the catalogue. Expect both to be in stock in the very near future.
The TR2 aerobar, derived from the R1 bar, has 46mm of stack and some versatile padding that can be moved via a series of bolt holes tucked under the Velcro pads. The TR2 is set to retail at around £225.
Pelago Cycles
With a plan to sell directly to UK cycle shops, Pelago Cycles of Finland offer a line of commuting, trekking and leisure bikes, some of which you’ll already see in London’s Velorution.
With eight models spanning €600 to €2,395, two of which are hand built in Helsinki, the line sorts Schwalbe tyres throughout, boosting the city-riding credentials of some already robust looking steel bikes. At the upper end of the line you’ll find heat-treated Colombus tubing.
For more information on stocking up, contact sales@pelagobicycles.com.
Intrepid
Claiming to have “started the trend for long socks”, Intrepid has introduced a £13 Sock Guy made trail sock that will almost keep your knees warm.
New trends aside, there’s fresh introductions in the form of the technical Recon downhill short at £69 and accompanying jersey at £42. The jersey’s armpit venting extends down the sleeve for much improved airflow.
For dealers Intrepid can offer 40 per cent margins with no minimum order quantity.
Extra
One we missed at Core Bike, Brooks has introduced a non-leather saddle to its range in the form of the Cambium C17.
Made from waterproof vulcanized natural rubber and organic cotton for the canvas, the body is enhcnaced by a thin layer of structural textile. There’s no breaking in period as you may find with the brand’s other saddles and the C17 has a similar shape to the tried and tested B17. Test saddles are available to Extra UK accounts.
Roswheel
A newcomer to The London Bike Show, Roswheel drew interest largely because of a sleek series of waterproof phone cases capable of housing all the latest models. These are available from as little as £12.50 and mount to the handlebar or stem via Velcro straps.
There’s more to the firm, however, which also has an off-shoot tooling label called Sahoo, which has a nice range of multitools, pumps, repair kits and much more. Worth a look if you need a value for money tools label to satisfy your customer’s home DIY jobs. Trade accounts are welcomed, just contact the sales team on 0208 300 0429.
Boardman Elite
As you may have read last month, Boardman’s Elite division is forecasting 500 per cent growth in 2014, much thanks to current dealers doubling their stocks, as well as US business surging.
With a stock of 20 bikes and six framesets available to the handpicked dealerbase, customers have a broad range of bikes to choose from, ranging from £1,600 to £9,000. Framesets retail £1,299 through £3,500.
Having performed extremely well in consumer magazine reviews, the Elite series is available to dealers as a minimum four bike commitment, though most choose the ‘Yellow Jersey’ package, which offers up to a 40 per cent margin. Dealers who do sign up are invited to training and demo days and will have point of sale and select custom fit equipment supplied.
Fresh accounts are sought in Scotland, Wales and Ireland in particular and large territories are available.
The Elite Series doesn’t feature in Halfords Boardman stocks and a separate website is to be delivered shortly to better differentiate the product.
