BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

Andy Pliszka, the recently appointed director of international sales for Mongoose, said Pacific Cycle could react quickly whichever way the anti-dumping decision goes. He made his comments following the presentation of the gold award in Mongoose's annual Distributor of the Year Awards at the Taipei show. Go on, guess who won...

Cycling England is the new body between cycle organisations and the government. Significantly, it will be listened to by a multitude of government departments, not just Transport. Bike Hub is an industry initiative raising levy cash for, among other things, Bike It which is a national pilot cycling scheme which aims to encourage schoolchildren to take to two wheels. Bikeforall.net is a new web portal, paid for by Bike Hub and the Department for Transport

Yesterday the Department for Transport announced that its first commitment under the new structure, Cycling England, will be a grant to support CTC in setting up a cycle training helpline. This went live today (say hello to Greg) and will help potential trainers and trainees get the information and support they need to implement the new national standards for cycle training. There's also an online version of the hotline.

Cycling England is the body taking the place of the National Cycling Strategy Board. Charlotte Atkins MP, minister for local transport, today funded the new body with a pile of cash. A small pile: just £5m per year over the next three years. She also formally launched the National Standard for cycle training.

Dorel Industries Inc. of Canada today announced fourth quarter and year-end results for its fiscal year ended December 30, 2004. Revenues for the fourth quarter rose to $462m, up 42.7 percent from the $323.7m posted same period last year. "Our consumer brands helped propel sales, predominantly Schwinn's reborn Sting Ray bicycle, which generated unprecedented sales for a single Dorel product," said Martin Schwartz, Dorel president and CEO.