The summer holidays are over again. Last year, I wrote about my adventures with our car on the way to France. This time, we had the pleasure of spending our holiday in Curaçao, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles. Because you can simply speak Dutch there - my native language - the Netherlands can feel surprisingly close. In reality, of course, it is very far away. Despite all the Dutch products on supermarket shelves, Curaçao is much more oriented towards the Americas. And from a product compliance perspective, that makes for some interesting discoveries.

Taiwan's third-largest bicycle manufacturer, Ideal Bike Corporation, is seeing signs of a recovery in business conditions, following similar developments reported by Taiwanese rivals Giant Group and Merida Industry. The improvement was particularly visible in the second quarter of 2026.

In 2024, BEIC launched its platform and enabled OEM companies in the cycling industry to easily sell and buy batches of surplus parts. Two turbulent years for the industry and a redesign of the platform later, the trading system seems more relevant than ever.

Unlike the three largest Taiwanese manufacturers - Giant Group, Merida, Ideal Bike - bicycle manufacturer Axman Enterprise Co. Ltd., which is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TPEX), was able to increase its revenue in the first but not in the second quarter of its 2026 fiscal year. Nevertheless, the outlook is positive as e-bikes become an increasingly important growth driver for the manufacturer.

Gilles Lapierre, former managing director of Cycles Lapierre, has broken his silence following the Dijon-based company's placement under judicial reorganisation. In a statement, he addresses the current situation of the brand, defends the record of his years at its helm and says he is prepared to contribute to a solution aimed at preserving both the company's activities and jobs.

Where is the shifter? Riders getting on the new Amflow TL for the first time at Eurobike 2026 might well ask that question. The cockpit looks clean and uncluttered, yet the familiar shifter of a conventional derailleur system is nowhere to be seen.

Accell Group破產引起產業動盪，未來動向充滿變數，供應鏈上下游都在密切關注後續收購發展。每年9月是歐洲零售商敲定明年度合作品牌及預訂2027年式車款的最佳月份，但面對目前的變局，業者時間緊迫卻無法動作。

Accell Group的破產事件凸顯，充分資訊對有效採購規劃相當重要。2020年至2022年間缺乏供應鏈資訊，導致訂單量過大。過剩庫存連年侵蝕Accell Group的財務狀況，最終導致這家昔日全球最大的自行車製造商走向破產。如今，全球自行車採購指數（GBPI）透過業界提供的實際數據，將能協助企業掌握供應鏈動態。

面對持續上漲的原物料、能源及物流成本，全球最大自行車零件供應商Shimano宣布，凡交貨日期介於2026年8月1日至11月30日的所有訂單，將暫時加收3%的附加費。在消費者物價已面臨壓力的情況下，業界要如何消化這些成本？產業在替代採購來源、零件規格調整及效率提升空間是否還有餘裕？還是最終只能像Giant Bicycles在上半年財報中那樣犧牲利潤？

Movestro董事總經理暨International Bike Festival（IBF）創辦人之一Fabrizio Ravasio在今年展會期間接受本社採訪時表示：「我們的目標，是在保留原有特色的同時，逐步成為歐洲的重要產業指標。」義大利雖然在公路賽事、高性能自行車及義式工藝方面擁有深厚底蘊，但電動移動工具的發展程度仍不及北邊鄰國。今年的IBF展現出，義大利並非只是依賴過去累積的自行車產業底蘊，而是正積極尋求進一步成長。