At Eurobike 2024 I did some short interviews with managers that I know in the industry. The idea was to take the temperature of the market for feedback on how things are looking in July 2024. My conversations included Jayu Yang (HARO), Gaspare Licata (Crank Brothers), Samuele Bressan (Pirelli), Martin Banke (Ceramic Speed), and Gary Fisher. Read th…

The following is my conversation with ENVE CEO, Michael Stimola. Michael is a long-time entrepreneur who started out in the early eighties, founding Carbonite, an R&D materials company that supplied carbon fiber tubes for use in manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace. Michael then went on to found Sandvik Design-Build, a general contracting compa…

Stijn Vriends is the chairman and CEO of Vittoria group. Vittoria is based in Bergamo Italy and is among the top producers of bicycle tires in the world. In our conversation we talk about how he has helped Vittoria grow and flourish since taking over in 2020. We also discuss his experience in the private equity sector and how, when managed well, pr…

Stefan Reisinger is the Managing Director of FAIRNAMIC GmbH, which is the company that runs the EUROBIKE fair. I reached out to Stephen because I wanted to give the listeners a better look inside the largest bicycle specific trade show in the world. We dive into the reasoning behind the move from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt and why the trade show …

When I started the Business of Cycling podcast there was definitely one person that I had in mind that I was hoping to interview, and it was Simon Mottram. I've worked in cycling for over 10 years. And what Rapha did in the cycling business is nothing short of incredible. They truly disrupted the industry, and found totally new ways to look at prod…

Joshua Riddle is originally from North Carolina and and has been working in the cycling industry in Italy for 15 years. He started his career at Trek Italy 2010 which recently closed their doors due to consolidation of their European offices to Madrid. Joshua has worked in Marketing for Trek, Pinarello, Campagnolo, Basso Bikes, and is currently the…

This conversation was recorded at a live panel at the 2024 cycling world event in Dusseldorf on March 15th. The topic of the panel was COVID overstocks and the state of the industry and the aftermath. My guests were ROSE Bikes Anatol Sostmann, Old Man Mountain Products Erik Fenner Schicke Mütze Carsten Wien and provided three unique viewpoints on t…

Jayu Yang is one of the most experienced entrepreneurs in the Taiwanese bike industry. Her grandfather started Kenda tire in 1962. And she carried on the family tradition by taking over her father's business Kendstone In 2001. Kendstone is among the top premium bicycle assemblers in Taiwan. In Taiwanese culture, women were not typically considered …

David Trimble is best known for founding the Red Hook Criterium fixed gear championship series. David also founded the Midnight Half, both internationally renowned sporting competitions. The Red Hook Crit grew to become such an important cultural event that it was archived at the Smithsonian's national museum of American history. It this episode yo…

Claudio Marra is the General Manager of the European division at FSA Full Speed Ahead Vision. Claudio started working in the cycling industry at the age of 14 when for Milan based bicycle builder Rosin, where he learned frame building and welding. during his time at Rossin and then eventually Columbus, he witnessed the transition from steel to alum…

UK native Matt Stevens had an extensive road cycling career starting in the late eighties through the nineties and into the two thousands. He holds the title of 1998 UK national road race champion. Matthew is most well known for his work at the global cycling network, as he was part of the core team that started the channel in 2015. in 2018, he lef…

Guy Kesteven is a professional bike tester and journalist in the cycling industry. He's been testing bikes and kit for over 25 years for UK magazines and global websites. Guy came on my radar when i read his piece on BikePerfect.com titled 'The Mountain Bike industry is Dying, Long Live Mountain Biking. You can read it here. His take on the cycling…

Martin Banke is the Managing Director of Ceramic Speed. Ceramic Speed is a manufacturer of high-performance bearing technology. They also produce high-performance bottom brackets, pulley systems, pulley wheels, and headsets. Martin has worked in the cycling industry for over 20 years. Initially on the distributor side with EnergySport in Denmark an…

Alessandro Basso is the Chief Executive Officer at StarDue Group. StarDue is the parent company of the brands Basso Bikes and Lee Cougan Mountain Bikes. Alessandro comes from a family of bike enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in the industry. Alessandro's Father and Uncle founded Basso Bikes in 1977 and his Mother's family is responsible for creating t…

To end the year I put together a collection of interesting moments from 2023 conversations focused around COVID and the after effects of the pandemic. I thought it would be an interesting take a look back at some of these anecdotes and experiences these cycling professionals went through to take a look closer to that moment. In the recap provide cl…

Simon Summerscales is the VP of Marketing at Canyon Bicycles. Before joining Canyon in 2018, Simon was the Head of communication strategy at the prestigious Wieden+Kennedy agency in London. Simon was also Director of communication strategy at 72andSunny in Amsterdam. During his tenure in the agency realm, Simon was responsible for creating numerous…

Marco Galli is the marketing manager for the cycling division at Kask Helmets in Italy. Marco started his career at Red Bull, where he spent time coordinating sports events, motor sports events, as well as athletes. He then worked for Scott Sports in Switzerland where he was the marketing coordinator for their motor sport division. Marco has been t…

Samuele Bressan is the head of Global Marketing of the cycling division at Pirelli tires. Samuele got his start in cycling as the product manager for Vittoria Tires. He also worked as the product manager for Bianvhi Bicycles, as well as line builder and product manager for clothing brand RH+. In our conversation, we really explore how closely relat…

Jacob Dudek was until recently the VP of commercial operations at SIGNA Sports United for the USA entity. Jacob came onto my radar recently when I saw his article on LinkedIn titled 'A Postmortem of the Collapse of SIGNA Sports United'. It's a deep look at what happened from an insider's look as a VP. I highly recommend it as it goes deep into the …

On October 27th online cycling retailer behemoth Wiggle has entered into administration due to financial turmoil at its parent company Signa Sports United. This news sent shockwaves through the cycling industry as Wiggle is essentially the 500 pound gorilla of online cycling retail. I spoke with industry veteran Jonathan Sherwood to try to make sen…

Rocket Espresso is a darling of the cycling world and the coffee machines could be found in every pro cycling team bus starting in the 2010s. In the podcast I speak with Rocket Espresso founder and New Zealand native Andrew Meo about how he captured the imagination of cycling. We also discuss Andrew's early career as an auto repair and restoration …

Mark Hopkins is an expert in carbon fiber production and design. He spent much of his career working as a composites engineer at DuPont. In our conversation, we talk about how he came to design the three spoke bicycle wheel in 1989, which was sold by Specialized. The wheel was a huge innovation at the time and was the first composite bicycle wheel …

Jacob Kennison is the Communications Manager for Trek-Lidl Cycling Team. He previously held the position of press officer and had some time in the agency world for Fusion Media Services. We dove deep into the specifics of how a pro team communicates, the technical aspects of channel strategy, social media campaigns, and an all around look at the in…

John Watson aka John Prolly aka The Radavist is a pioneer of online cycling content creation. His blog prollyisnotprobably.com was one of the most visited cycling blogs in the early 2010s. The site morphed into The Radavist in 2015 and sits among the top cycling blogs worldwide. We discuss the origin of his blog and the reasons he made the transiti…

Gary Fisher is a living legend. He is widely considered one of the inventors of the modern mountain bike. He played a large part in popularizing the first ever downhill mountain bike race, the repack race. He founded Gary Fisher Bicycles and eventually sold to TREK where he stayed on as a consultant for several years. His passion for cycling is dee…

SIDI CEO Davide Rossetti is among the most experienced managers in the cycling industry. He has worked in Sales and Marketing in multiple multinational Italian brands such as Safilo(eyewear), COIN, Cisalfa(Intersport), Invicta, AlpineStars and Northwave. In this wide-ranging discussion, we dove into topics around career growth, distribution, collec…

Bastian Dietz is the Director for Global Business Development for SQLab part of Boards and More GMBH. We discuss the bankruptcy of e-bike brand VanMoof and aim to understand the reasons behind the downfall of one of the darlings of the cycling startup universe. We talk about how their proprietary parts strategy and lack of a strong service network …

Fergus Niland is the creative director at Santini Cycling Wear. Fergus is among the most experienced cycling clothing designers in the industry. We dive deep into the current state of cycling clothing, how clothing for professional teams is made, and what makes a great piece of kit. We also dive into the details of Santini’s collaboration with ASO …

Slate Olson held some of the most important marketing roles in cycling thoughout the 2010s. He started the US office of Rapha in 2010 and then he moved to the role of CMO in 2015. He took over as CMO of Specialized in 2015, reporting directly to Mike Sinyard until 2017 when he decided to be closer to family in Portland. Other notable roles included…

Jonathan Sherwood is one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met in the cycling business. Jon is currently is Director of Sales for Power Sports EMEA at Bell Helmets. He previously held the role of Marketing Director at Zyro Fisher, as well as Global Brand Marketing Director for Bell Helmets. Jon has worked for Mizuno, Fox Racing and he start…

"It's better to stalk a few people than just kind of please everyone." Crank Brothers CEO Gaspare Licata is as sharp as they come. The Italian native started his career with Fizik of the Selle Royal group. He moved up the ranks and eventually took on the challenge of running the Crank Brothers brand in Laguna Beach, CA. In our conversation you can …

In three short years cycling industry veteran Francesco Sergio and his partners have taken the cycling shoe brand Nimbl from an zero to being worn by 122 cyclists in the Pro Peloton, including powerhouse Jumbo Visma. We speak with co-founder and owner of the brand about his journey, how he earned his stripes in international sales with Cinelli and …

Juliet Elliot is a pioneer in online cycling content creation. She started with the blog 'Bikes 'N' Stuff' then shifted to Instagram and now her focus is mainly on Youtube where she has over 100 thousand subscribers. She posts new videos weekly and her style and enthusiasm are infectious. We talk about how she got started in cycling through love of…

The British clothing brand Milltag went into liquidation earlier this year. In my conversation with Pete Kelsey, co-founder of the brand, we talk about the headwinds that the brand faced after Brexit and the challenges of running a niche clothing brand in Europe. Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' Blog Sign up for 'The Business of Cycling' N…

If cycling is anything, it's insular. There is a real reason for this. To be successful in the cycling business, a genuine passion for the sport is required. Nowhere is this more true than in cycling media. Cyclists that consume this media can smell if you are coming from a place of honesty or not. Cycling, especially road cycling, is really a nich…

David Van Orsdel is an ex-professional cyclist and has a content marketing agency that specializes in cycling. David is originally from Minnesota and lives in Lucca, Italy. In our conversation we talk about how he ended up in Italy riding bikes. We also discuss the state of content creation in the cycling industry and the challenges of creating uni…