BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

100 million Chinese families are likely to buy private cars in the coming 10-15 years, says auto boss, making China the world's biggest market for gas-guzzlers. Along with the growth in car ownership, Chinese cities - built for bicycles, buses and just a few government vehicles - will likely clog with traffic.

As of late Sunday night, the Kryptonite vs Bic posting on Bikeforums.net had been read 340 000 times, and the movies, hosted elsewhere, downloaded by half a million unique users. Forum owner Joe Gardner, who holds down a full-time job and runs the site in his spare time, is now out of pocket because he had to lease extra gigabytes of server space to cope with the rush on his site following reports on CNN.com, Wired.com, 370+ news-sites, and a front page splash in the New York Times.

The group that owns the Falcon and Dawes brands tripled its profits, despite losing nearly £1m in sales thanks to the shortage of Shimano parts, said a company statement. Tandem is the only major UK bicycle supplier that does not pay into Bike Hub, a cycle-promoting, market-boosting levy scheme run by the Bicycle Association.

16 696 sign online petitition to make OLN, the Canadian cable network that broadcasts the Tour de France in the US, to show more than just a one-hour highlights programme of the Tour of Spain. The Vuelta finishes next week, and OLN refuses to buckle, with the company CEO saying "The fact is that people that like to watch logrolling turn out in greater numbers [than those who will watch the Vuelta.]"

The Italian bicycle builder, exhibiting at the EICMA cycle show in Milan, is displaying a star machine, the limited edition President LdV, named after Leonardo Da Vinci. Colnago said Da Vinci was the "inventor of the bicycle," which will tickle those folks who know this particular version of history has long been revealed as a hoax.