"Establishing production facilities within key markets has become increasingly important due to the growing volatility of global trade," says Tony Karklins, CEO of Cardinal Cycling Group, which also owns Time and Detroit Bike. In a Bike Europe interview, Karklins outlines his vision for carbon product production and explains why the company is now offering OEM manufacturing at its Carboprax factory in Slovakia.

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.

A repurposed automotive tyre factory on the outskirts of Milan was Pirelli's vision when it strategically decided to re-enter the bicycle tyre market in 2017. Operational since 2022, the factory prides itself on 'Made In Italy' premium quality bicycle tyres. Supported by "the broad shoulders" of the multi-billion-euro turnover of the Pirelli Group, the factory has a maximum capacity of 1.5 million FSC-certified natural rubber tyres annually — with plenty of opportunity for growth. What more reason to visit the factory floor at… Pirelli.

Compact and urban e-bikes are experiencing strong expansion, driven by the growing demand for practical urban mobility solutions that integrate easily with public transport and adapt to increasingly dense city environments. It is precisely within this context that OLI eBike Systems' PICO system has found its place.

Steel lies at the heart of vanRaam's production history. This has since been expanded to encompass a unique set of in-house production competencies in its bicycle factory in the Netherlands. The 13,500-square-metre facility features in-house frame production, robotic welding, 3D laser cutting, CNC machining and wheel production. All the reasons for Bike Europe to take a look at 'The Factory Floor' of adaptive bike manufacturer… vanRaam.

Dahon is responding to the growth of the e-bike market worldwide with a new alliance and factory. The company is forming an alliance with Golden Wheel Group to establish the new company Dagold Technology. Its new Dagold Factory in Tianjin, China, was officially opened on October 16th.

WARSAW, Poland - With the opening of a new, state-of-the-art production facility near Warsaw, bike-sharing pioneer Nextbike GmbH says it is strengthening its position as Europe's leading bike-sharing provider. The new plant in Poland can produce up to 200 bicycles per day and will support the existing Nextbike network, which spans over 400 cities and 23 countries.

Today, Poland is a European manufacturing hub for bicycles and e-bikes — not a niche player but one of the continent's top producers. Polish factories produced around one million bicycles annually in the early 2020s, putting the country among the EU's five largest producers and giving it a meaningful share of regional supply chains.

WARSAW, Poland - Today, Poland is a European manufacturing hub for bicycles and e-bikes — not a niche player but one of the continent's top producers. Polish factories produced around 1 million bicycles annually in the early 2020s, putting the country among the EU's five largest producers and giving it a meaningful share of regional supply chains.

VEENENDAAL, the Netherlands - The introduction of the next-generation bicycle ring lock by AXA required an all-new production line. Initially, for both Axa Bike and its owner Allegion, the Netherlands was not the most obvious choice to establish the new facility. Still, the fully automatic production line, capable of manufacturing a lock every 5 seconds, was opened in early December.

SHENZHEN, China - Zhaowei may not be a household name, but there is a good chance its gears power nearby moving products, from car components to office or household appliances. Every day, millions of gears in any possible size are pumped out of its Dongguan, Suzhou and Shenzhen-based factories. Marking a first for the Chinese ODM, it has now entered the e-bike drive market with its own brand identity, Preeto.

INNING, Germany - With a focus on European manufacturing from its base in Southern Germany, TQ is quietly building its profile in the e-bike industry. Counting on Trek as a leading partner through its initial engineering phase, the e-bike component manufacturer's products are now specified on 18 brands across several categories.

GLIWICE, Poland - Lithium-ion battery manufacturer BMZ Group has been establishing a foothold within the e-bike market since 2011. To solidify this position, the German company has expanded its e-bike operations in Poland, which has become a very important centre for the BMZ Group's global e-bike business. Considered its e-bike 'excellence centre,' Bike Europe visited the vast 77,000-square-metre location to find out more.

The China Cycle Show 2026 can count on more international interest than before. Driven by the sports market and the country's fifteenth five-year plan (2026-2030), local manufacturers have recognised the value of brand building, a trend quickly being adopted by other categories. The nation's shop window to the rest of the world showcases the progress of its bicycle industry.

British bicycle manufacturer and industry barometer Halfords Group UK reports strong performance in its bicycle segment for FY26 (April 2025 - April 2026). The Group says sales have increased across its core industries of automotive, retail and leisure, but none have seen as much progress as its cycling division, which climbed 6.4%.

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.

Taiwan is future-focused, that much was apparent to attendees of the Taipei Cycle Show 2026. But beneath the optimism, export declines and changing production chains show the nation's bicycle sector is in transition. Production value is increasingly generated beyond Taiwan's borders, as manufacturing shifts to neighbouring markets such as China, Vietnam and Europe through Taiwanese-led supply chains.

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.

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.

When it comes to migrant workers in Taiwan, a core issue is how the country's domestic labour laws don't align with international standards, but measures are being taken to adjust this. "As an exporting nation, meeting international standards is our mission and our obligation," said Giant Group and Bicycle Alliance for Sustainability (BAS) Chairman Young Liu during his opening statement at the ESG Forum during Taipei Cycle Show.