YearBook 2026 - Manual / Resource - Page 12
ARE WE ENTERING ANOTHER
BIKE BOOM?
W
elcome to the 2026 Latz Report
Yearbook. Firstly, and most
importantly, my huge thanks to all of
you who make each year’s Yearbook
possible through your advertising, in
many cases going back for decades!
There’s clearly still a strong demand for useful bike trade
information. We just released our first and possibly only Latz
Report newsletter for the year and the open rate was our highest
ever! If you missed it, then you can still find all the articles, lead
by our Taipei Cycle report, at www.thelatzreport.com.au.
If you’re reading this in print format, then don’t forget
to bookmark our online version! You can find it at
www.thelatzreport.com.au/yearbook
If you’re reading this in online format, are you aware
of our print version? We’d love to send it to you, free of
charge, as we do every year for every bicycle retailer and
wholesaler that’s on our mailing list.
I’ve also been writing trade articles under “Stats With
Latz” that you can find at www.flowmountainbike.com
If you’re interested in bike advocacy, then please have a
listen to www.squeakywheelpodcast.com that I’m now
co-hosting with Sara Stace.
Hopefully I’ll be posting a Eurobike Show report later this year,
but there’s so much uncertainty due to the Iran war, airline
disruptions etc that I’m still not sure if I’m going to attend.
10
www.thelatzreport.com.au
Speaking of that uncertainty, as my headline asks, “Are
we headed for another bike boom?” I know that the
negative impacts of the “global oil crisis” will include
higher inflation, higher freight costs and possibly higher
interest rates, leading to a global recession.
But at the time of writing this, some wholesalers and
retailers are seeing a strong uptick in demand, particularly
in relation to lower-priced bikes, commuter and cargo
e-bikes and workshop repairs.
Half a century ago there was a huge bike boom when
the “Arab oil embargo” hit. For example, annual bike sales
in the USA doubled from about seven million to 14-15
million and stayed high for three years.
Who knows what’s going to happen this time
around? As I write this today, the Strait of Hormuz,
suddenly the world’s most famous piece of geography,
remains closed. Also seriously under-reported is the
increasing destruction of Russia’s refining and oil export
infrastructure… another significant source of global oil.
We could see a pivot to electrification, including e-bikes.
I can’t predict the future, but if I was a bike retailer, I’d be
keeping in very close contact with my key suppliers, just
in case early 2020 repeats itself…
Phil Latz
Editor, The Latz Report Yearbook
The Latz Report YearBook 2026
