Pragma Industries, known for its pioneering technology in hydrogen-powered bicycles, has filed for liquidation. This move, while not entirely unpredictable given the company's admitted difficulties last year, brings an abrupt end to more than two decades of work in the fuel-cell mobility sector.

Three years of declining business performance has not left the Taiwanese industry unscathed. After the sales peak in 2022, the industry waited for better days, citing excess inventory as the reason for the downturn. The Taipei Cycle Show 2026 made clear that many companies cannot wait any longer. "Nobody is able to wait any longer after three years of standstill," said Astro-Tech president Samuel Hu.

Riese & Müller, German premium e-bike manufacturer, has announced its withdrawal from the United States market, choosing to "reconcentrate its resources" on developing its European sales and dealer network. Despite the recent positive policy developments for the US bicycle industry, the overall volatility of the nation's import market appears to have claimed another victim.

Sea Otter Classic 2026 caught the e-bike vibe that Europe experienced some years ago. The United States had always lagged in this market, but at the Sea Otter Classic this weekend, it looks like the US market has finally awoken and stepped on board with all things electric.

Ask ten people in a bike brand how profitable their assortment is, and you will get ten different answers. Ask the product manager and she will point to margin per unit. Ask the supply chain lead and he will talk about complexity cost. Ask the retailer, and the conversation shifts entirely to sell-through and floor turns. Everyone is right. Everyone is also looking at a different piece of the value chain. And because no one has agreed on a shared picture, the product line keeps growing — SKU by SKU, season by season — until it takes an AI chatbot to explain the difference between two models to a confused customer at home.

Following well-documented financial struggles over the last few years, Accell today has stated that the last debt reduction has further stabilised the company, "while additional funding enabled Accell to accelerate the execution of the final steps of its transformation." As it prepares for this season with a sharpened portfolio of new models and a significantly leaner build after divesting non-core brands, is the once mighty Accell Group now out of the woods?

Decathlon S.A. reported steady growth in 2025, even as market development across the sporting goods and bicycle sectors remained uneven. The French retailer reports increased revenue and profitability. At the same time, limited disclosure around category-level performance, especially in cycling, leaves open questions about where that growth is coming from and how sustainable it may be.

The slowdown in consumer spending and market uncertainty due to the geopolitical situation is starting to surface in the financial results in the e-bike and bicycle industry. Except for the Oceanian market, Shimano reports weak retail sales worldwide. As a result, net sales in bicycle and e-bike components in the first quarter of 2026 decreased 0.7% year-on-year to 87,361 million yen, and operating income decreased 46.3% to 7,792 million yen.

Following approval by the antitrust authorities, BMZ has been cleared to make a fresh start under new ownership and management. The battery manufacturer is now fully in the hands of SKion GmbH and founder Sven Bauer has made way for a new CEO to steer the company as it looks to expand internationally.

The worldwide bike market experienced another turbulent year in 2025. Under these circumstances, "Pon.Bike stabilised its turnover at around €2 billion and remained a profitable business with positive operating earnings," owner Pon Holdings announced yesterday. One of the industry's largest bicycle manufacturers states that business again proved to be resilient thanks to its diversified portfolio and market position.

The Bulgarian bike sector is steadily developing these days despite the existing challenges and a serious overstocking in the local market. In fact, the industry and major local manufacturers have gone through an extremely dynamic and challenging period. After the euphoria of pandemic sales, the sector has faced supply chain disruptions, overstocking and macroeconomic headwinds. Despite the decline in sales volumes, the trend toward electric bicycles and micromobility offers some optimism, with the European market expected to double by 2030.

Taiwan's bicycle industry signalled that it was entering a bold new era at this year's Taipei Cycle Show. Under the guidance of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Cycling & Health Tech Industry R&D Centre (CHC) unveiled a suite of R&D achievements, highlighting the strategic integration of Taiwan's bicycle manufacturing with advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT). A key feature was the Cycling Common Protocol Alliance (CCPA), launched to enhance system interoperability and strengthen collaboration across the bicycle and ICT industries.

On 1 May, 2026, there will be a new CEO at Canyon. The German bicycle manufacturer has appointed Matthias Meier to take the lead as chief executive officer at Canyon Bicycles, alongside founder and Executive Chairman Roman Arnold.

The debate around Eurobike has entered a new phase since German industry organisations announced they will organise "a leading international trade show" in 2027. This decision stems from a dispute between the Eurobike organiser, Fairnamic, and the German industry organisations ZIV, Zukunft Fahrrad and VSF. This latest strategic move suggests a potential return to a dual-tradeshow landscape for Europe, reminiscent of the pre-2008 era when IFMA Cologne and Eurobike operated alongside each other.

After several challenging years for the bicycle industry, the Austrian industry and market proved remarkably stable in 2025. It went back to normal. In 2025, Austria's bicycle and sporting goods retail sector sold approximately 389,000 units.

Taiwan exported fewer than 77,000 e-bike units in the first quarter of 2026. This marks a 15% year-on-year drop from 2025 and the lowest Q1 e-bike exports since 2018. This also signals that the world's bicycle manufacturer is still struggling to get a firm grip on the electrified bike market post-Covid. The export value of regular bicycles also continues to drop 17% in Q1, but little is heard about consolidations or bankruptcies in the Taiwanese bicycle industry. As the total export value dips under $10 billion for the last two consecutive quarters, could the value shift be taking place outside of Taiwan's borders?

The Italian bicycle market closed 2025 in negative territory, confirming what now appears to be a structural downturn. Data released by Confindustria ANCMA and presented at Pirelli's advanced bike tyre manufacturing facility in Bollate near Milan, show total sales of 1.3 million units, down 4% year on year.

Although the number of bicycles delivered in Switzerland fell again by around 25,000 units in 2025, the trend in sports bicycles and e-bikes provided a ray of hope, as sales in these categories started to rise again. Looking solely at specialist retailers, excluding major distributors, rising figures were recorded in almost all sectors. However, the Swiss bicycle suppliers' association, Velosuisse, still refers to being in a 'consolidation phase.'

Price dumping, retail distress, safety and cycling culture were frequently cited as key factors behind the current downturn in the Italian e-bike and bicycle market. But what is really holding back the Italian bicycle market? Massimo Panzeri, Atala CEO, former president of CONEBI and now a board member of European Cycling Industries, shared his shocking perspective with Bike Europe.

Cycling can still attract interest from both institutional buyers and non-institutional investors, as the heavily oversubscribed Dahon IPO at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed last September. Amidst all the excitement on the exhibition floor of the Taipei Cycle Show, Bike Europe had the opportunity to speak with Dahon's owner, Dr David Hon, about his company's strategy.

Long associated with self-balancing devices and shared micromobility, Segway is accelerating its move into the global e-bike market. Speaking at CES, which took place this month in Las Vegas, Nick Howe, head of e-bike worldwide at Segway, made it clear that the company's ambition goes well beyond launching new models. Segway wants to transplant proven automotive and powered two-wheeler technologies into cycling.

HEERENVEEN, The Netherlands - The final Batavus bicycles have rolled off the assembly line in the Netherlands, marking the end of an era for the Accell Group as it opts for centralised production in Hungary. It also marks the end of 45 years in the bicycle industry for Accell stalwart Menno Visser, who is now retiring. Having started at Batavus on the assembly line, he worked his way up to commercial director and spent the past years as a project manager at Accell. In an exclusive interview, he reflects on industry changes and his vision for the future.