BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Velo-City, the cycle advocacy conference, takes place every two years. In 2005, it's to be held in Dublin, May 31st-3rd June. The most prominent speaker is Jacques Barrot, the recently appointed EU Commissioner for Transport. Fittingly, he's a cyclist.

ExpoCycle has been awarded its highest ranking to date by Tradeshow Week.

...but is happy for 48.5 percent duty to be imposed on bikes made in China.

The Association of Cycle Traders has been asked to provide input to a new Channel 4 series called Reclaiming The High Street, from the producers of The Apprentice and Jamie’s Kitchen, and is seeking nominations from IBDs on which town should host the programme.

The commercial arm of the BBC has signed a deal with Fast Track on behalf of Paralympic World Cup Limited to distribute the Visa Paralympic World Cup. The deal commences with a BBC produced one-hour highlight package of this year's Paralympic World Cup, which begins on May 12 in Manchester. The programme, which will cover the four disciplines of athletics, swimming, track cycling and wheelchair basketball, has already been pre-sold, by BBC Worldwide, to 146 territories for broadcast across Europe, Africa and Asia.