Society

LEVA-EU wrote to the Dutch infrastructure minister on 11 September asking him to withdraw his plan for national type-approval of electric bikes.

Both British retailers' web addresses now point to Evans Cycles, two years after Frasers Group relaunched them following a £3 million takeover.

Network Rail has removed a sign saying e-bikes were banned on its property, and confirms that no nationwide ban applies across the British rail network.

Founders Rich and Marc Moore announce the liquidation of Source BMX Ltd and the restart of the business under a new, substantially leaner company.

London operator Forest is fitting numbered plates to the back of around 500 dockless e-bikes, so that members of the public can report the riders using them.

British company VividQ is trialling bike holograms in Cambridge shops, letting customers pick a model and walk around it to examine it closely.

A three-year study at a London hospital measures a 41% higher risk of head or neck injury among electric bike riders than among other cyclists.

Daforza, the new owner of Wisper, details the inherited supply dispute with manufacturer Cycleman and announces an entirely new range for 2027.

A Ford Focus hit three cyclists on Sunday morning at Cobham in Kent. Two of them died at the scene and Kent Police have since made three arrests.

European Cycling Industries turns the Residence Palace forecourt into a test track on 30 September, with twelve bikes and an opening by MEP François Kalfon.

Germany's draft federal budget brings cycling funding down to €544 million for 2027, with not a single euro for new bike parking at railway stations.

hGears, which makes the gears fitted to electric bike drive units, is placing its German Schramberg plant into insolvency proceedings for want of e-Bike orders.

Germany's two-wheeler federation has published its first-half 2026 report: production and sales up, excess stocks cleared, exports back up by more than 6%.

Specialized founder Mike Sinyard becomes chief executive again on 1 November 2026, at 76. He succeeds Armin Landgraf, the third leadership change in four years.

The UCI calls it urgent to track riders and vehicles in real time at pro races, and wants finish-line barriers standardised from 2027. Decision late September.

Five months after arriving in Birmingham and Coventry, Lime claims more than one million e-bike and e-scooter trips, with no public subsidy behind the scheme.

Transport for London has suspended more than two million pounds earmarked for Croydon until the borough repays the cycle lane its mayor had dismantled.

The ADFC opened its twelfth survey on cycle-friendliness in German cities on 1 September, with a first-ever questionnaire for children and teenagers.

The company that builds Simplon bikes has applied for restructuring proceedings in Feldkirch: €33.4 million in liabilities, 54 employees and 150 creditors.

The National Park Service proposes wider bike and e-bike access in America's national parks. Nothing is settled: a 60-day comment period now opens.

Providers in the Cycle to Work Alliance issued 89,599 certificates in the first half of 2026, up 2.77%, for an average transaction value of £1,812.

Germany's bicycle industry is shrinking for a second year: 74,300 direct jobs against 76,700 a year earlier, and around €25 billion in revenue.

Three of Accell's four German companies, which filed for self-administration on 5 August, say they are close to financing deals to resume their shipments.

Swiss holding company SPAC, through which Ivan Glasenberg owns Pinarello, takes a minority stake in Campagnolo. The family keeps the majority and control.

Eurobike drops September: the 35th edition runs from 30 June to 2 July 2027 in Frankfurt, and the German trade show goes back to an annual rhythm.

Rad Life Mobility, born from the purchase of Rad Power Bikes' assets, is launching a crowdfunding campaign and publishing its first audited accounts.

The Chinese folding bike specialist reports half-year revenue of 489.7 million yuan, up 53.7%, and a profit up 72.3%, filed with the Hong Kong exchange.

A Florida resident is suing Walmart after a minor's crash on a Ridstar electric bike in November 2025, months before the CPSC front wheel warning.

Bike Profi, SPG and dynaMot are adding two two-day modules to their Swiss introductory course for career changers, already taken by more than 130 people.

London's Met Police is raising its Sur-Ron electric motorbike fleet to 25, machines its statement and the mayor both call “e-bikes”. Bike shops pay for the blur.

Giant Group is buying around 36% of the capital of D.Mag, its aluminium-magnesium alloy maker, for 597 million yuan, taking its stake to 96.63%.

Antwerp-based start-up Sumura has raised €143,000 to develop its smart charging points for electric bikes, aimed at businesses, car parks and buildings.

Suffolk County Council has halted the e-bike hire scheme that was due to start in Ipswich in January 2027, citing safety, road.cc reports.

A concept for a cycle path roofed with solar panels has been presented in Thuringia, with a 400-metre test section planned at Bad Blankenburg.

British Cycling, Scottish Cycling and Beicio Cymru are asking for £30m for more than 250 cycling facilities, citing £13.1m of savings for the NHS.

Taiwan's second-largest bicycle maker reports a first half down 15.9%, but a near-flat second quarter and European subsidiaries up 14% over the period.

Cycling Ireland's president describes a generational collapse in children's independent mobility, and points to parents' fear of the journey itself.

From 1 January 2027, Merseyrail will ban non-folding e-bikes from its trains, stations and car parks. Campaign groups are challenging the decision.

Sun Race Sturmey-Archer's board appoints Sandy Hsu as president. The founder's daughter has worked at the Taiwanese group for more than thirty years.

Riese & Müller has appointed Richard Bohl chief financial officer, two weeks after co-founder Heiko Müller left the company's operational management.

The Dijon commercial court placed Cycles Lapierre in receivership on 25 August, with an initial observation period of six months to find an investor.

Lime has blocked hire of its bikes in the London borough of Bromley after a blind resident described having to walk in the road to get around them.

Giant Group has published its 2025 ESG report: scope 1 and 2 emissions down 40.03%, and its 2030 renewable electricity target beaten five years early.

Bristol has unveiled the first of three planned consolidation hubs and is telling traders that cargo bike deliveries are more predictable and cheaper than vans.

South Yorkshire will launch a monthly e-bike subscription in spring 2027, with the bikes kept at home. First 275 bikes, £1.3 million of investment.

ALSO, born out of Rivian, closed a $150 million Series D led by Prysm Capital on 19 August, earmarked first for its autonomous vehicle platform.

Reported bike thefts at British railway stations fell by 11% in the first half of 2026, the six months that followed the transport police's U-turn.

British police confiscated 7,049 bikes deemed illegal in twelve months, against 3,858 the year before. London accounts for a third of all seizures.

British Cycling hands its top job to Professor Pete Bonfield, vice-chancellor of the University of Westminster and a former national-level racer.

After the death of Briton Finlay Tarling at the Volta a Portugal, CPA president Adam Hansen calls for an overhaul of helmet standards tested to 19.5 km/h.

German online retailer Bike24 posted sales of €96.1 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 20.1%, driven by parts and accessories rather than bikes.

Manx police arrested “several people” cycling on the Mountain Road during the TT. The ban is back for the Manx Grand Prix, until 31 August.

Britain's Department for Transport admits that derestricted e-bikes cannot be identified in its road casualty statistics, even as crackdowns multiply.

Cycles Lapierre has filed for court-supervised restructuring with the commercial court of Dijon. Hearing set for 25 August, with 106 jobs at stake.

Transport for London announces 450 km of Cycleways, up from 90 km in 2016. The cycle network is now longer than the entire London Underground.

The Amsterdam court declared Accell Group bankrupt on 11 August, a week after granting it a suspension of payments. Six companies are covered by the ruling.

Giant approved its accounts on 7 August: second-quarter net profit jumps 234%, but half-year profit slips to NT$435 million, down on a year earlier.

The New York City Council has announced seventeen bills on e-bikes and e-scooters. Nothing is adopted yet: a public hearing is set for 30 September.

London extends its anti-dumping duties of 19.2% to 48.5% on Chinese bicycles until 30 August 2029, a scheme inherited from the European Union.

Orbea launches the Orbea Foundation, a body dedicated to its social work: sustainable mobility, trails, education and social justice, across five areas.

Since 30 July, London operator Forest has rolled out 900 shared e-bikes in Ealing and now covers 20 of the capital's boroughs, with £1 launch trips.

The American brand hit a billion dollars in online sales and its 750,000th e-bike sold on the same day, 30 July. Without a dollar of venture capital.

The German equipment maker reports a 51% drop in greenhouse gas emissions since 2019, reaching its SBTi-validated 2030 target five years early.

German Cycling handed A.S.O. the German bid for the 2029 Grand Départ, in Berlin and central Germany, on 29 July — forty years after the fall of the Wall.

Royal Mail is deploying twenty Minimal Pedal 4 electric cargo cycles in London, Brighton and Cambridge. The Pedal 4 needs no driving licence.

Shimano is raising component prices from August to absorb 4 billion yen in extra costs. Its bike division's operating profit fell 15% over the half year.

Trek is voluntarily capping its whole electric range in the US: Class 1 mountain bikes limited to 20 mph with no throttle, and an appeal to the industry.

Portable rolling road dynamometers now settle it on the spot: 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters seized in London in 2026, past the whole of 2025.

New US tariffs of 10% and 12.5% have applied to bicycles since 24 July 2026. Not a single product exclusion was granted to the cycling industry.

Reims has made helmets and hi-vis vests mandatory on electric bikes and scooters. But the badly drafted decree ends up sparing electric bikes.

Tyred, which already services Lime's shared-bike fleet in London, has raised £2.5 million for an AI-driven bike maintenance and ownership platform.

PeopleForBikes launches America Builds Bikes: a bipartisan bill targets 2 million bicycles assembled each year in the United States within five years.

From 19 July 2026, New Jersey requires a licence and a plate for nearly every electric bike, even slow ones — a law cyclists call the country's most restrictive.

VOI replaces Bicloo in Nantes: 2400 electric bikes and 658 stations will be rolled out across the 24 municipalities of the metro area from October 2026.

The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the takeover of Dutch manufacturer Accell by Singapore group Dutech, finding no competition risk in the merger.

The UESC and the WEEE producer responsibility organisations are funding training for BonusRépar-labelled bike repairers through the Fonds Formation 3E.

Founded near Lille in 2009, O2Feel is now hunting for a buyer to avoid liquidation, undone by the e-bike slump that left it with unsold stock.

Barcelona start, a reinvented team time trial, two Alpe d'Huez finishes and a Montmartre finale: what sets the 2026 Tour de France apart from the rest.

Lime made its Nasdaq debut on 1 July 2026 under the ticker LIME, raising $167 million for a valuation of around $1.66 billion. The stock rose 9%.

At an average import price of €329, Chinese e-bikes have seen their share of European imports jump from 17% to 47% in two years, ahead of Taiwan.

America's CPSC proposes a mandatory rule on e-bike batteries, published 29 June 2026. Comments open until 24 August. At stake: UL certification and tamper-proof enclosures.

Decathlon PULSE takes 10% of Brompton and BA Capital 5%, for around £18 million. The folding bike maker keeps its London factory and its independence.

Eurobike 2026 drew 15,130 trade visitors to Frankfurt, half as many as in 2025. The show goes biennial, with its next edition in September 2027.

DeSantis vetoed SB 382, the bill regulating e-bikes on Florida's shared-use paths. His argument: the risk of increased surveillance of citizens.

Cannondale is ending its official World Cup XC programme after more than 30 years. From January 2027, the Cannondale Rogues collective will take over.

Eurobike moves to a biennial rhythm after 2027 and will skip 2028. Behind it: a collapse in exhibitor numbers and the arrival of a rival show in Cologne.

German association ZIV and Koelnmesse are launching “towards tomorrow – European Bike Show”, a new bike trade show in Cologne from September 2027.

Lael Wilcox abandoned her round-the-world cycling record attempt on 21 June, after 14 days and 4,948 kilometres from Chicago, beaten by Europe's heatwave.

A year after opening, the J&G factory in Tianjin — a Joykie/Golden Wheel joint venture — runs at full capacity: carbon weaving, paint and QC across 100,000 m².

SRAM is building a plant in Coimbra, Portugal, able to manufacture its entire component range — more than 500 jobs and a start-up planned for 2028.

Pon.Bike will close the Cannondale factory in Almelo (Netherlands) by the end of 2027 and shift production to Germany and Lithuania. 120 jobs are affected.

The World Naked Bike Ride returns this summer in more than 70 cities. Behind the nudity, a simple message: how exposed a cyclist really is in traffic.

From 12 to 14 June 2026, the Vélorution universelle stopped in Lyon: rides, a festive parade and a call to give cycling more room in the city.

New Jersey becomes the first US state to require a licence, registration and insurance for electric bikes. Three weeks from the deadline, anger is rising.

Eurobike 2026 (24-27 June, Frankfurt) is fighting for survival: Bosch and the German federations have walked out, Avinox stars, Shimano returns low-key.

The UK unveils its third cycling and walking strategy: £4.5 billion for local authorities, and a 2035 target of 55% of short urban trips on foot or by bike.

Barcelona will not renew the licences of seven private bike-share operators such as Lime, accused of causing parking chaos. Their bikes go in 2027.

Electric bike maker VOLT Bikes, founded in 2011 in Buckinghamshire, has been named family business of the year at the Small Business Growth Awards 2026.

E-bikes are taking over bikepacking: real-world range, charging logistics and the French routes best suited to a multi-day trip this summer.

115 minutes, 46 km at 24 km/h and 353 m of climbing: Garmin's ride data puts Sunday and August on top, with Italy leading on distance per outing.

Decree 2024-1074 bans flashing rear lights on bikes in France, adopted without consultation — while Germany has just legalised direction indicators.

The global electric cargo bike market hit $4.1 billion in 2025 and keeps climbing while the rest of the bike industry stalls. Zero-emission zones explain why.

China has dropped below 50% of US bicycle imports for the first time, at 48.5%, while Cambodia climbs to around 20% and becomes the second source.

A look at the right to repair for electric bikes, where proprietary batteries are the central issue: current practices and what new regulation will change.

Seven new gravel routes open in the Grands Causses park, focused on the Lodévois-Larzac, with a multi-day bikepacking route due this summer.

Wrap-up of the 6th edition of Mai à vélo: 19.8 million kilometres ridden and more than 5,500 cycling events organised right across France in May.

British distributor Saddleback has been placed into administration, cutting 42 jobs, after losing the Cannondale UK contract to Pon.Bike in March 2026.

Litelok launches Theft Intelligence, a world map of bike thefts. The free tool flags at-risk areas in real time across six countries, including France.

Ampler Bikes has filed for insolvency: how a Berlin office lease, and not its sales, brought down this pioneer of the USB-C rechargeable electric bike.

Barcelona and Sarajevo are testing new technology to improve the safety of their cycle lanes. A pilot project led by EIT Urban Mobility and its partners.

The Netherlands is trialling a 20 km/h limit on selected cycle paths to cut crashes. Houten goes first in 2026, with Amsterdam following a few months later.

The Cotentin region has put France's first longtail cargo bike into public hire in Cherbourg, turning bike sharing into a family mobility option.

Cyclist safety in Europe has stalled: deaths are down just 8% in ten years. The ETSC report calls for urgent measures to close the safety gap.

Bike couriers embody the uberisation of work, with falling pay and precarious working conditions. A European directive promises new rules in 2026.