Cycling News & Blog Articles

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (BRAIN) — A federal judge has dismissed a defamation suit that Olympic medalist Marty Nothstein had filed against USA Cycling.

Nothstein, a three-time world champion an Olympic medalist, sued after a report of a sexual misconduct investigation arose while he was running for a U.S. House seat in 2018. Nothstein, a Republican, lost the race in Pennsylvania's 7th District to Democrat Susan Wild. Wild was elected to a second term this month.

Nothstein had charged that USA Cycling damaged his reputation and invaded his privacy by placing him on a list of cyclists suspended for misconduct and then revealing the investigation to a local newspaper reporter.

Local police investigated the claims and found them to be “meritless” and closed the matter, which the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office announced before the election. Two alleged victims also told the Center for SafeSport that the misconduct never took place.

Judge Edward G. Smith closed Nothstein's case on Nov. 5, agreeing with USA Cycling that the governing body had complied with the Safe Sport Authorization Act. The SSAA, which President Donald Trump signed into law in February 2018, was passed in response to the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal. It requires amateur sports organizations to report sexual abuse allegations to the newly formed Center for SafeSport and to take actions that include letting some members of its community know the identity of accused abusers.

NEW YORK (BRAIN) — Major stock indexes soared Monday, apparently on Pfizer's announcement before markets opened in New York that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was achieving 90% effectiveness in trials.  

However, some bike-related stocks that have been booming during the pandemic were trading down on the news. Peloton, Fox Factory, Dorel, GoPro, Vista Outdoor and Garmin — all of which have released strong quarterly earnings results as recently as Friday — were all trading down as of Monday noon Eastern time. Investors apparently were betting that recreational activities that have boomed during the pandemic would become less popular after a vaccine becomes available. Besides the bike-related stocks, Netflix's stock price took a hit Monday. 

At the same time, the stock prices for airlines, and companies in the cruise ship, commercial property, and concert promotion businesses were trading sharply up. 

Some resolution to the U.S. presidential race over the weekend, as news organizations called the win for Joe Biden Saturday, also contributed to generally higher stock prices. The S&P 500 was up 3% in early trading Monday. European and Asian stock market indexes were also up.

The Pfizer news came at 6:30 a.m. Eastern, after Asian stock exchanges had closed. So bike-related stocks traded on Asian exchanges, such as Shimano, Merida, and Giant, did not immediately show a response to the news.

BOSTON (BRAIN) — Whoop, which sells a wrist-based heart rate monitor and services through a monthly subscription, has closed a $100 million Series E financing round. The new funding, led by IVP, values Whoop at $1.2 billion.

Participating investors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Accomplice, Two Sigma Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Thursday Ventures, Nextview Ventures, Promus Ventures, Cavu Ventures, D20 Capital, and LionTree Partners.

Whoop said the investment "follows a period of tremendous growth for the WHOOP membership and overall business, and it will unlock new opportunities for the company. WHOOP will primarily invest these new funds in product and software development, global expansion, and membership services."

Whoop has more than 330 employees, including over 200 new hires in 2020, and has raised more than $200 million to date. 

Whoop sponsors dozens of athletes, including cyclists, triathletes and athletes from the NBA, MLB, NFL and more. Whoop is the official wearable of the EF Pro Cycling team.

STOCKHOLM (BRAIN) — Thule Group's third-quarter net sales rebounded with a 44.9% increase year-over-year following two previous quarters of decline.

Sales for the third quarter ending in September were SEK 2,436 million ($278 million), up from SEK 1,682 million ($192.1 million) from the third quarter 2019. Adjusted for exchange rate fluctuations, sales increased 52.4%.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused Thule's sales to decrease 4.9% in the first quarter and 11.6% in the second quarter.

"As I communicated in connection with the second-quarter report, we hoped to be able to recover the lost spring season during the summer, and to continue to ride the strong global bike trend that commenced during June," said Magnus Welander, Thule CEO and president. "This was precisely what happened during the third quarter."

Third-quarter operating income was SEK 596 million ($68 million), 140% increase year-over-year. Net income was SEK 449 million ($51.3 million), a 149% year-over-year increase. Earnings per share were SEK 4.32 ($0.49) compared to SEK 1.75 ($0.20) a year ago.

BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — A group of publishers and editors who oversee consumer and business-to-business outdoor media titles has formed a working group, Outdoor Media 4 Inclusion, which will work to provide more opportunities for journalists and contributors who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, and members of other marginalized communities. 

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News has committed to OM4I's goals.

OM4I is creating an opt-in database of writers, reporters, photographers, videographers, designers, models, athletes, and artists who are seeking work with outdoor media outlets. The group, which plans to launch a website in the coming weeks, aims to share this database with outdoor publishers who want to elevate diverse voices and build professional relationships.

BRAIN's editor in chief, Steve Frothingham, said the bicycle trade title is committed to providing more opportunities for members of marginalized communities. "I'm increasingly aware that members of these groups are under-represented within cycling, in the industry, in retail stores, and within the pages of BRAIN. 

"I'm excited about adding new, diverse voices and talents to BRAIN and I'm looking forward to using the contributor database. We know it's not enough to, for example, post a story on BicycleRetailer.com encouraging potential contributors to apply. We need to actively recruit outside of our regular channels and we have started doing that. The OM4I database will be another valuable resource in our recruiting."

Outride recognizes Indigenous People's Day, and Native peoples as the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America. We acknowledge that there are disparities in opportunities in these Indigenous Communities created by occupying the ancestral lands of their people, as well as the brutal history of the colonization of our country.

We believe in the power of bicycles to bring opportunity, agency, and freedom. We are proud to share news about the grant from the Catena Foundation to initiate 5 new Riding for Focus programs in the Four Corners Region. This represents a continued investment in these resilient communities, in addition to the 4 Riding for Focus programs and NICA teams Outride has supported in the Arizona, New Mexico, and Diné (Navajo) communities. This is an important step towards supporting more diverse student populations and communities.

Through these, we strive to learn more, deepen our partnership, and cultivate meaningful connections that support and advance these youth and communities, now and in the future.

The Riding for Focus program will include a fleet of up to 30 Specialized mountain bikes for each school. The bikes (donated by Specialized Bicycle Components) are easy to build and maintain due to their customized and durable design. Additionally, helmets, maintenance equipment, teacher training, and cycling curriculum will be provided to the schools for implementation.

“We are excited to partner with the Catena Foundation to bring cycling to five new schools and communities. This project represents a continued investment in these resilient communities, beyond the 4 Riding for Focus programs and NICA teams Outride has already supported in the Arizona, New Mexico, and Diné (Navajo) communities, and is an important step towards our goal of supporting more diverse student populations,” says Andrew Cunningham, Outride Program Manager.

CARLSBAD, Calif. (BRAIN) — A360 Media, which acquired Bike magazine last year, is “pausing” the mountain bike magazine and its digital publications indefinitely. A360 Media (called Active Media Inc. until last week) notified Bike editorial and sales staffers Friday afternoon that they were being furloughed.

On Friday A360 Media also furloughed staff at its Snowboarder and Surfer magazines, as well as support staff at Adventure Sports Network, the California-based division that contains the action sports titles. ASN's remaining Powder magazine staff will be furloughed Nov. 20. The Bike, Powder, and Surfer titles are being paused, while ASN's Snowboarder and Transworld Skateboarding titles will continue as digital properties to support the Dew Tour, an ASN-owned skate and surf competition series. 

Sources said Bike operations are being shut down immediately and it was unlikely any of the "paused" titles will resume. They also said the company is not interested in selling the titles. The initial furloughs announced last Friday are effective this Friday, Oct. 9. The company is covering furloughed employees' health insurance through the end of the year, sources said.

Bike had three full-time editors and one full-time sale representative, in addition to contract and freelance writers and photographers. The magazine planned to publish four print issues in 2021, including its popular “Bible of Bike” special edition. The editorial staff was set to begin production of the next Bible this week in Nevada when the furloughs were announced.

A360 has not commented on the closure and employees told BRAIN they are not authorized to talk about it. 

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (BRAIN) — In its new Black Reparations Program, Rivendell Bicycle Works is offering Black customers a 45% discount on bikes and frames bought through its website or its warehouse store.

The 26-year-old company, which offers custom steel road, touring and casual-use bikes and related parts and accessories, began the discount on an ad hoc basis at its store about two years ago, said John Bennett, Rivendell's social media and press liaison.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, Rivendell no longer serves walk-in customers, so the company decided to formalize the program for online shoppers.

"Reparations acknowledge that in America, white wealth — recent or generational, earned or inherited — has come by the labor of Black people, who, even after slavery, were never given a leg up," the company said in a release.

Rivendell is setting aside 10% of each bike model shipment this year to be available for the discount. The company is also giving all customers an opportunity to donate to the program, which would expand the number of bikes available in the discount program. Customers have already donated several thousand dollars since the program was announced last week.

Rivendell is still working out exactly how to determine eligibility for the discount.

BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Tamika Butler gave fair warning early to the 300-plus attendees of her Virtual Bicycle Leadership Conference address Wednesday morning.

"If you are timid about hearing about blackness and about hearing about race, this probably wasn't the morning session for you," said Butler, an avid cyclist and former executive director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

Indeed, Butler, the principal and founder of Tamika L. Butler Consulting, offered frank opinions about racial inequity despite what she frequently hears in rebuttal.

Just shut up and bike.

"You see folks in businesses, saying that Black women are just too emotional," Butler said during her 30-minute speech on The Role of Bikes in Mobility Justice during the conference presented by PeopleForBikes. "And in the bike world, I think there are a lot of Black folks who have heard just shut up and bike. Whenever I write something about bikes, the number of white folks who take the time to send me emails on social media that biking has nothing to do with race ... And that I should just shut up and focus on biking."

SAN FRANCISCO (BRAIN) — Strava has announced that its Strava Metro data, which compiles anonymous ride data from Strava users for transportation planners, is now free of charge for urban planners, city governments and safe infrastructure advocates. 

Strava launched Strava Metro in 2014.

"We always believed there were special ways in which the Strava community could contribute to the world-at-large. Strava Metro was one such way. And given the growing need for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, we felt Strava Metro was too valuable and important not to make available to any organization attempting to make a difference in designing the cities of the future," said Mark Gainey, co-founder of Strava.

The company said transportation shifts during the COVID-19 shutdowns helped inspire the move.

Strava Metro data shows that New York City recorded a "monumental rise in active transportation" in the last year. For example, 81% more people completed at least one bike trip in July this year, compared to last year. When the city opened more streets to human powered transportatino exclusively, Strava Metro recorded up to 181% more bike trips on those streets.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (BRAIN) — Zwift has raised a $450 million minority investment from a group led by the investment firm KKR, bringing the virtual cycling brand to a valuation of over $1 billion. The company said that among other things it will use the investment to bring out its own hardware, such as an indoor bike. 

Specialized Bicycle's venture capital fund, Zone 5 Ventures, is also part of the investment, along with the Amazon Alexa Fund and existing investors including True, Highland Europe, Novator and Causeway Media.  

Since launching in 2015, Zwift has seen over 2.5 million accounts registered across 190 countries. Usage increased significantly in 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns in many areas; Zwift has seen a three-time increase in uploaded activities this year.

Stephen Shanley, the director at KKR, said: "Zwift is the preeminent digital brand for the global cycling community with a best-in-class product that sits at the intersection of digital health, gaming and at-home fitness. We see tremendous potential ahead as Zwift invests further in its digital and physical products to enhance the experience for its global community of enthusiastic users. This investment fits perfectly with our growth equity strategy of backing leading tech entrepreneurs as they scale globally."

Eric Min, Zwift's CEO and co-founder, said: "With this investment, Zwift is primed to operate in a broader fitness market and deliver on our ambition to provide gamified fitness through integrated software and hardware, to anyone who wants to have fun while getting fit at home. We will be accelerating our investment in the core business, improving the overall product experience, and bringing forward new features, more content and Zwift designed hardware, all with the support of KKR and our new outside investors who can help drive our growth. To make this happen, we will be increasing headcount within our core product teams, investing in the very best people. We begin by welcoming Ilkka Paananen to Zwift both as an investor and independent board member."

SEATTLE (BRAIN) — REI Co-op completed the sale of its new corporate office complex to Facebook for $390 million on Monday.

The 400,000-square-foot complex is located in Bellevue, Washington, on about six acres. Site developer Wright Runstad & Company and Shorenstein Properties also purchased an undeveloped two-acre portion of the property.

Plans were announced for the new headquarters in 2016 in the developing Spring District neighborhood. Construction began two years ago with planned occupancy this summer.

But REI announced last month its intention to sell the complex as it continues to transition to regional locations and give employees more remote working options during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the announcement, REI and Facebook said each will donate $1 million to the Eastrail, a 42-mile trail  that the co-op has been helping bring to life the last four  years. When complete, the trail system will connect the communities and businesses of King County's Eastside through access to transit alternatives, employee hubs, and greenspace.

BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — SNEWS, a Pocket Outdoor Media title that covers the outdoor industry, is conducting its annual survey of outdoor sports retailers, including bike retailers.

Participants in the online survey are eligible to win a $500 gift card.

In this short survey, retailers have an opportunity to comment anonymously on the best and worst companies to do business with, what gear is selling and what simply won't move, which brands have been the most and least supportive throughout the pandemic, and anything else you'd like the industry to know.

A few things to know:

The survey closes at 5 p.m. MST on Sept. 16, so please submit your responses before then.

SEATTLE (BRAIN) — REI Co-op will sell its newly completed corporate office in Bellevue, Washington, and intends to transition to regional locations while giving employees more remote working options.

REI made the announcement Wednesday as it enters its fifth month of its entire headquarter's staff working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans were announced for the new headquarters in 2016 on an eight-acre site in the developing Spring District neighborhood. Construction began two years ago with planned occupancy this summer.

"The dramatic events of 2020 have challenged us to re-examine and rethink every aspect of our business and many of the assumptions of the past," said REI President and CEO Eric Artz, in a video call with employees Wednesday. "That includes where and how we work. As a result, our new experience of 'headquarters' will be very different than the one we imagined more than four years ago."

REI was among the first retailers to close all of its retail stores in early March and one of the last to fully reopen, under health and safety guidelines. It undertook a number of cash preservation measures throughout the spring — including tighter inventory management, elective pay cuts by Artz and the board of directors, and layoffs.

This year "we learned that the more distributed way of working we previously thought untenable will instead unlock incredible potential," Artz said. "This will have immediate, positive impacts on our ability to attract and retain a diverse and highly skilled workforce, as we continue to navigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond."

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The Trump administration has extended tariff exclusions it earlier granted to importers of most kids bikes and a few other bike products from China. The importers had been granted a break from a 25% tariff that was due to expire Friday night. That exclusion will be extended through the end of the calendar year. 

The extended exclusions also apply to some adult single-speed and 3-speed coaster brake bikes, some folding bikes, some carbon fiber frames, some saddles, and some bike trailers.

However, some exclusions are expiring Friday (and some other major bike products never received exclusions). And there's a fourth category: importers of some products that currently enjoying tariff exclusions — including e-bikes, helmets and lights — will find out next month if their exclusions will be extended. 

The 25% tariffs were imposed in several rounds in 2018 and 2019 as part of the administration's trade war with China. The largest round including bike products with annual import value totaling about $1 billion. Many importers were successful in petitioning for exclusions, which refunded previously paid tariffs but expired eventually. Many importers and trade groups \ filed petitions with the U.S. Trade Representative to extended the exclusions, but the USTR had not ruled on any of those requests until Thursday. 

The tariffs applied only to Chinese goods and were in addition to any existing tariffs. For examples, most bikes had existing tariffs of either 5.5% or 11%, and those rates were still imposed after the exclusions were granted. 

AUSTIN, Texas (BRAIN) — Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop Austin announced on social media Wednesday that it no longer will sell bicycles to the Austin Police Department because of concerns over officers using them to control Black Lives Matter protesters.

The Austin Police Department has for months used bicycles to block protesters from roadways, according to WTBC-TV Fox 7 in Austin. The television station also reported the downtown area command has more than 150 bicycle patrol officers and the department purchases about 50 bikes a year from Mellow Johnny’s.

“In the context of the current evaluation of community policing in Austin, we have decided to no longer purchase, resell, and service police-issue Trek bikes and accessories under a city of Austin RFP the shop was previously awarded,” the post began. It was shared on Facebook and Twitter.

The post concluded with, “We are not anti-police. We do believe our local police force will protect us from the very threats we are receiving right now. We wish this entire community peace and progress and togetherness at the conclusion of these trying times. And we intend to be a part of the discourse, struggle, and growth for Austin, as we have since we opened our doors in 2008.”

WTBC said Mellow Johnny’s canceled its contract four years ahead of schedule and that an Austin officer said a sales manager said the decision was made because three employees didn’t like the way bikes were being utilized for crowd control.

BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Bike imports are up significantly in recent months, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures released Wednesday. But importers are still struggling to make up for reduced shipments earlier in the year combined with unprecedented demand from retailers and consumers.

The upshot is that suppliers and retailers are living shipment-to-shipment; even as bikes arrive at levels a bit higher than in recent years, no one has real inventory to pull from.

"Now it's once a week — or sometimes, if we get lucky, twice a week — it's like Christmas. The truck pulls up and we're like, 'OK, it's going to be a good day, or a good weekend,'" said Michael Gacki, manager of the Bicycle Plus location in Coppell, Texas. "If I get 24 or 25 bikes, 21 of them are already spoken for. The others have a life expectancy of maybe three hours," he said.

Gacki said the four-store chain began ordering aggressively early this year, and at one point his location had over 100 bikes in boxes, as well as a packed showroom with about 50 bikes on the ceiling. But most of the store's inventory has been depleted since early May. The store is now taking $50 refundable deposits on bikes on order. "I'm telling people it will be 2-14 weeks, but it won't be any quicker. That's all we can say."

The import figures released Wednesday show year-to-date imports through June, the latest figures available, were up just 3.1% over the same period last year, in units.