BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Business is booming. If you're an installer of Sheffield stands and other cycle-parking devices. June is the month hundreds of schools around the UK are awarded cash for their successful School Travel Plans (£5k per school to spend on upscale bike sheds...) and politicos such as London mayor Ken Livingstone are urging companies and organisations to build infrastructure to encourage more cyclists.

Business is booming. If you're an installer of Sheffield stands and other cycle-parking devices. June is the month hundreds of schools around the UK are awarded cash for their successful School Travel Plans (£5k per school to spend on upscale bike sheds...) and politicos such as London mayor Ken Livingstone are urging companies and organisations to build infrastructure to encourage more cyclists.

Echoing the health campaign that urges Brits to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, the organiser of Bike Week says people should cycle five miles a day, five times a week. Bike Week starts tomorrow. PLUS: For those who are already dead fit, a new study shows that six minutes of McEwen-type sprinting can be as effective as six hours of moderate cycling.

The yellow and red clown - a McDonald's icon since 1963 - has had a sporty make-over. In TV ads to air in the US on Friday, the fitter, slimmer Ronald is seen snowboarding down a yoghurt mountain and riding his bike. The ad also features the clown juggling fruit and veg, with not a burger in sight. The campaign goes global after the summer.

It's not likely to be made official policy until July 15th but China Daily reports that Chinese bicycle makers are now bracing themselves for the expected increase in anti-dumping duties. Chinese manufacturers have been levied a 30.6 percent duty since 2000 and the European Bicycle Manufacturer's Association has lobbied for the duty to be reimposed when it expires in July, and for it to be increased. The EU is also likely to impose duties on bicycles originating in Vietnam, the chief market for which is the UK.