The Business of Cycling

32:11

What Happened To Rapha? An Industry Expert & Brand...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/10/03

Rapha's CEO Fran Miller is out after two years, and the brand that once rewrote the rules of cycling apparel is facing a hard reckoning. In this episode, we talk with two guests about how Rapha got here and whether it can turn things around.First up is industry expert Juansi Vivo. He walks through the red flags: falling revenue, growing losses, CEO turnover and the £200M Walton acquisition. He argues that Rapha's real asset was never the product. It was the culture, and that culture faded as the

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43:03

Inside the Largest Cycling E-Commerce in the US:...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/09/28

Brett Sullivan is the VP of Merchandising at Backcountry and Competitive Cyclist, the largest cycling e-commerce business in the US. Brett started as a mechanic in their bike shop 14 years ago. We talk about what really drives demand today and why customers from paid ads are fragile. He explains how their Gearhead service turns first-time buyers into loyal ones, how they came through the post-COVID drop-off, and how the Amazon effect has changed what customers expect. We also discuss how he sees

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36:41

Mips’ Winning Formula: Structure, Focus, Discipline &...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/09/14

Max Strandvitz became CEO of Mips just months before COVID hit — inheriting a company that had come close to bankruptcy multiple times before finding its footing. In this episode, he unpacks the philosophy that took Mips from survival mode to 11 consecutive quarters of growth in bike: structure, focus, and discipline. Max explains why Mips turns down far more opportunities than it pursues — including repeated offers to launch its own helmet brand — and draws a sharp line between real innovation and

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29:56

Ingredient Branding Done Right: How German...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/08/31

Every time you snap a magnetic buckle on a bike helmet, a school backpack, or a water bottle cage, there's a good chance it's a Fidlock. What started as a teenager's scrapyard fix for a cello case has grown into a company with twelve hundred patents, a hundred and thirty employees, and products moving in the millions — from Nike gear to car interiors.Joachim Fiedler joined me at Eurobike 2026 to talk about how Fidlock built one of the most quietly ubiquitous ingredient brands around: the

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25:01

Strategy or Opportunity? Lessons in Cycling Branding...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/08/04

In this special "best-of" episode, we revisit some of the most compelling conversations on branding from the past year. Featuring clips from Claire Deschamps (Assos), Hugo Davidson (Knog), Greg Shapleigh (Giro/Highbar), and Nikki Hawes (Whyte Bikes), this roundup dives into what actually makes a cycling brand resonate — from turning community into your most authentic storyteller, to standing out in a commoditized category through bold positioning, to the discipline of knowing whether an idea is a

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30:45

Inside a $3.5B Company's Bicycle Ambitions with Gates...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/07/20

I sat down with Chris Sugai, General Manager of Gates Corporation's Mobility Unit — and the founder of Niner Bikes, where he championed 29" wheels back when they were less than 1% of the market. Now he's doing it again, this time with belt drives.We talked about:The uncanny parallel between the resistance he faced pushing 29ers in the early 2000s and the skepticism belt drives face today — almost all of it from people who've never actually riddenWhat it's like being an "ingredient brand" inside OEM

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36:37

Who Is Kenda? Inside the Taiwanese Tire Juggernaut...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/06/29

If you've ridden a mountain bike in the last 25 years, chances are you've rolled on Kenda — whether you knew it or not. The Taiwanese tire maker produces close to 70% of the aftermarket tubes sold in the US.This week I'm joined by Eric Yang, VP of Business Development at Kenda USA and grandson of the company's founder. Born and raised in Ohio after his father moved to open Kenda's US headquarters, Eric spent five years in the family business before walking away for a decade — Silicon Valley

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69:09

Crisis, Leverage, and the Death of the Hockey Stick:...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/06/15

Nikki Hawyes is one of the most private-equity-experienced executives in cycling. Across three PE-backed businesses—Fisher, Zyro Fisher, and now Whyte Bikes—she's lived through every phase of the cycle: rapid growth, near-administration crisis, secondary buyouts, and exits. In this episode she shares a refreshingly candid view of what actually works when private equity meets the bike business: why realistic growth beats hockey-stick projections, how focus drives turnarounds, and why she set the

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34:47

Behind the Curtain at QBP - America's Biggest Cycling...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/06/01

Joe Benedict, Vice President of Category Management at Quality Bicycle Products (QBP), pulls back the curtain on America's largest cycling distributor.With 5,500 retailers served nationwide and over 45,000 products in their portfolio, QBP sits at the center of the US cycling supply chain — yet remains largely invisible to the outside world. Joe breaks down how QBP actually operates, from their category-based business model to their four-warehouse logistics network, and explains why landing a

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49:10

Beyond the Hangtag: The Untapped Power of Ingredient...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/05/18

Recorded live at Performance Days 2026 in Munich, this panel brought together three of the most influential ingredient brands in performance apparel — Polartec (Eric Yung), Elastic Interface (Gianluca Pellicciari), and Polygiene (Eva Doll) — alongside the design leads at Albion (Graham Raeburn) and Santini (Fergus Niland) to unpack a relationship the cycling industry rarely talks about openly: the strategic relationship between ingredient partners and brands. The conversation moved past the

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43:33

The Unraveling of Accell: What Went Wrong and What's...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/05/11

In this episode, Sam Nicols returns to The Business of Cycling to break down one of the most consequential — and arguably under-reported — stories in the industry right now: the unraveling of Accell. Sam, who serves on the board of Propain Bikes and previously led YT Industries through the post-COVID downturn, brings a rare combination of operator experience and acquisition insight to the conversation.We trace Accell's path from a steady, publicly-traded European conglomerate of brands like Haibike,

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38:09

The Finnish Component Brand that Cracked the Code on...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/05/04

Herrmans Bike Components is a 67-year-old Finnish manufacturer most cyclists have never heard of — even though their grips, lights, and rim tape are quietly riding on bikes across Europe. Built on decades of OEM work for some of the biggest e-bike brands, Hermans operates a highly automated factory on Finland's west coast that competes head-on with Asian suppliers on price, lead time, and service.In this conversation, CEO Dan Liljeqvist walks me through the company's arc: from a privately-held

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51:07

How a Dot-Com Failure Accidentally Created One of...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/04/20

Hugo Davidson didn't set out to build a bike accessories brand. Trained as an industrial designer in Melbourne, he spent years contracting at London design firms before co-founding his own consultancy back in Australia.Then came the dot-com crash — a failed retail technology startup (one that held the iPod trademark before Apple), $2 million in debt, and a stark question: what now? The answer came from one of his last remaining designers, a former bike shop employee who saw an opening in cycling

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38:59

Humble, Steady, Fast: CEO Danny Segers on the Flemish...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/04/06

Danny Segers has spent 18 years quietly building Bioracer into one of Europe's largest custom cycling apparel manufacturers, growing the Belgian company from €7 million to €35 million in revenue, with 85% of the business focused on custom team wear. With a background in finance and auditing, Danny brings a distinctly analytical lens to the cycling industry, one that favors sustainable reinvestment over aggressive expansion and steady progress over flashy ambition.In this conversation, we dig into

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29:38

From 26 to 29 to 32 - Are We Doing This Again?

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/03/30

The bike world is arguing about 32-inch wheels. Is it a physics-backed leap forward, or is it the industry's latest attempt to move units during a tough cycle?Joshua Riddle has a unique vantage point. He's Marketing Director at Hayes Bicycle Group — Hayes Brakes, Manitou Suspension, Reynolds Wheels — and his team is already riding prototypes. Today we talk about what makes innovations stick, what the 29er era can teach us about what's coming, and why Joshua thinks the question was never really

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32:45

Deep, Not Wide: Polartec's 40-Year Case for Strategic...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/03/16

Eric Yung has spent nearly two decades at Polartec doing one thing exceptionally well — and that's exactly the point. As Managing Director and VP of Sales and Marketing at Polartec (a Milliken company), Eric pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to build a premium ingredient brand over the long haul.The answer isn't growth at all costs. It's ruthless focus, selective partnerships, and the discipline to walk away from opportunities that don't fit. In this episode, we dig into how Polartec

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31:48

Inside Eurobike's Strategic Overhaul with New...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/03/02

In this episode, we sit down with Philip Ferger, the newly appointed Managing Director of Fairnamic — the company behind Eurobike — just four weeks into his role. Philip brings over 20 years of experience at Messe Frankfurt, co-owner of FairNamic, and joins at a critical moment for the cycling industry's most important trade show. The conversation covers what's actually changing at Eurobike and why: a more budget-accessible format for 2026, a new industry advisory board, and a broader strategic

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41:09

Where the Money Flows: Cycling Sponsorships in 2026...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/02/23

The business of professional cycling has never been more complex — or more expensive. Team budgets are exploding, rider time is increasingly scarce, and brands are being asked to spend more while getting less access in return. Meanwhile, gravel is professionalizing fast, and Asian brands are quietly reshaping who supplies the peloton.In this episode, I sit down with sports marketing consultant Nicolò Ildos to take stock of where sponsorship dollars are flowing as we head into the 2026 season — and

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53:49

The Long Game Founder: Two MBAs, Two Failed Ventures,...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/02/09

HEXLOX founder Marcus Tonndorf spent years studying design in London and earning an MBA in Berlin, working at Pentagram on brands like Citibank, launching a failed publishing house in Japan, and even getting his illustrations into millions of Kinder Eggs.By 2015, he'd figured out what he didn't want to do—now he just needed the right product. So he walked into Eurobike with no company and no prototype, just a hypothesis that the cycling industry needed his skills. Within a year, he launched a

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54:00

Former YT CEO Sam Nicols and the Financial Mechanics...

The Business of Cycling ·

2026/01/26

Sam Nichols brings a rare perspective to the cycling industry—he's an outsider who became an insider during the most turbulent period in recent memory. After a decade at Amazon and strategic consulting at Bain, Sam took the CEO role at YT Industries in November 2020, just as private equity was flooding into cycling.In this conversation, we cut through the noise around private equity in our industry. Sam explains how PE actually works using straightforward analogies, why the timing of 2020-2021

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