The Business of Cycling

Hosted by Wyatt Wees

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Jun 2026

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The Business of Cycling podcast takes you inside the cycling world from the perspective of those that work in the sector. Hear from passionate entrepreneurs and professionals from brands, teams, and bike shops. Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' Blog Sign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

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60 recent

June 15, 2026Episode 881 hr 9 min

Crisis, Leverage, and the Death of the Hockey Stick: Whyte CEO Nikki Hawyes on Surviving the PE Cycle

Nikki Hawyes is one of the most private-equity-experienced executives in cycling. Across three PE-backed businesses—Fisher, Zyro Fisher, and now Whyte Bikes—she's lived through every phase of the cycle: rapid growth, near-administration crisis, secondary buyouts, and exits. In this episode she shares a refreshingly candid view of what actually works when private equity meets the bike business: why realistic growth beats hockey-stick projections, how focus drives turnarounds, and why she set the terms before signing on.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

June 1, 2026Episode 8734 min

Behind the Curtain at QBP - America's Biggest Cycling Distributor

Joe Benedict, Vice President of Category Management at Quality Bicycle Products (QBP), pulls back the curtain on America's largest cycling distributor.With 5,500 retailers served nationwide and over 45,000 products in their portfolio, QBP sits at the center of the US cycling supply chain — yet remains largely invisible to the outside world. Joe breaks down how QBP actually operates, from their category-based business model to their four-warehouse logistics network, and explains why landing a distribution deal with QBP is just the starting line, not the finish.For European brands eyeing the US market, this one is essential listening. We also get into the current state of the aftermarket parts business, what the industry looks like post-pandemic inventory crisis, and why QBP sees 2026 as a year to take control and move forward.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

May 18, 2026Episode 8649 min

Beyond the Hangtag: The Untapped Power of Ingredient Branding

Recorded live at Performance Days 2026 in Munich, this panel brought together three of the most influential ingredient brands in performance apparel — Polartec (Eric Yung), Elastic Interface (Gianluca Pellicciari), and Polygiene (Eva Doll) — alongside the design leads at Albion (Graham Raeburn) and Santini (Fergus Niland) to unpack a relationship the cycling industry rarely talks about openly: the strategic relationship between ingredient partners and brands. The conversation moved past the hangtag.The panel dug into what real co-development looks like (hint: it starts with trust and a shared problem, not a logo), why so many brands fail to communicate the value their ingredient partners create, and how cycling still lags behind the outdoor industry in maturing this conversation.The throughline: ingredient brands are an under-leveraged R&D arm sitting right there, waiting to be used better.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

May 11, 2026Episode 8543 min

The Unraveling of Accell: What Went Wrong and What's Next

In this episode, Sam Nicols returns to The Business of Cycling to break down one of the most consequential — and arguably under-reported — stories in the industry right now: the unraveling of Accell. Sam, who serves on the board of Propain Bikes and previously led YT Industries through the post-COVID downturn, brings a rare combination of operator experience and acquisition insight to the conversation.We trace Accell's path from a steady, publicly-traded European conglomerate of brands like Haibike, Raleigh, and Lapierre, to its 2022 take-private deal by KKR at a $1.4 billion valuation — closed at the absolute peak of the post-COVID cycling boom. From there, we unpack the perfect storm that followed: collapsing demand in the entry-to-mid segment where Accell was strongest, the Babboe cargo bike recall, a hollowing-out of the middle of the market, and the brutal mechanics of a leveraged buyout when revenue drops 40%.We also get into KKR walking away from roughly $1.1 billion in equity earlier this year, what restructuring is underway, and what it would actually take for Accell to find stable ground again. A candid, sober look at how a company can go from looking like the perfect investment target to a cautionary tale in less than three years.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

May 4, 2026Episode 8438 min

The Finnish Component Brand that Cracked the Code on European Cycling Manufacturing

Herrmans Bike Components is a 67-year-old Finnish manufacturer most cyclists have never heard of — even though their grips, lights, and rim tape are quietly riding on bikes across Europe. Built on decades of OEM work for some of the biggest e-bike brands, Hermans operates a highly automated factory on Finland's west coast that competes head-on with Asian suppliers on price, lead time, and service.In this conversation, CEO Dan Liljeqvist walks me through the company's arc: from a privately-held family business, through a 2019 private equity transition that split off its industrial lighting arm, into the post-COVID correction that forced the cycling industry to reckon with itself. And now, the hardest move of all — stepping out of the shadows to build a consumer-facing brand in the European aftermarket.We talk about why automation only works when you have the volume to justify it, what the Nordic entrepreneurial spirit has to do with surviving as a European manufacturer, and why going from anonymous supplier to recognized brand might be the toughest leap a company in this industry can make.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

April 20, 2026Episode 8351 min

How a Dot-Com Failure Accidentally Created One of Cycling's Most Unique Accessory Brands

Hugo Davidson didn't set out to build a bike accessories brand. Trained as an industrial designer in Melbourne, he spent years contracting at London design firms before co-founding his own consultancy back in Australia.Then came the dot-com crash — a failed retail technology startup (one that held the iPod trademark before Apple), $2 million in debt, and a stark question: what now? The answer came from one of his last remaining designers, a former bike shop employee who saw an opening in cycling accessories. Armed with frequent flyer points and a portfolio of quirky, design-forward prototypes, Hugo showed up at the 2002 Taipei Bike Show and walked away with 16 distributors in 16 countries. Twenty-five years later, KNOG has sold over 7 million of its iconic frog lights, navigated the rise of Chinese competition and e-commerce, and remains stubbornly optimistic about the future of cycling. In this conversation, Hugo and I talk about entrepreneurial resilience, the evolution of bike retail, and why — as his German distributor likes to remind him — people will always ride bikes.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

April 6, 2026Episode 8238 min

Humble, Steady, Fast: CEO Danny Segers on the Flemish Mindset that grew Bioracer from €7M to €35M

Danny Segers has spent 18 years quietly building Bioracer into one of Europe's largest custom cycling apparel manufacturers, growing the Belgian company from €7 million to €35 million in revenue, with 85% of the business focused on custom team wear. With a background in finance and auditing, Danny brings a distinctly analytical lens to the cycling industry, one that favors sustainable reinvestment over aggressive expansion and steady progress over flashy ambition.In this conversation, we dig into how Bio Racer mastered the incredibly complex world of custom clothing, processing 15,000 unique designs annually across factories in Czech Republic, Romania, Macedonia, and Colombia. Danny also shares the moment that changed everything — when World Champion Tony Martin crossed the finish line in a competitor's skin suit — and how that painful wake-up call pushed Bio Racer to embrace wind tunnel testing and redefine themselves as the most tested brand in cycling.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' NewsletterRead the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

March 30, 2026Episode 8129 min

From 26 to 29 to 32 - Are We Doing This Again?

The bike world is arguing about 32-inch wheels. Is it a physics-backed leap forward, or is it the industry's latest attempt to move units during a tough cycle?Joshua Riddle has a unique vantage point. He's Marketing Director at Hayes Bicycle Group — Hayes Brakes, Manitou Suspension, Reynolds Wheels — and his team is already riding prototypes. Today we talk about what makes innovations stick, what the 29er era can teach us about what's coming, and why Joshua thinks the question was never really *if*.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' NewsletterRead the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

March 16, 2026Episode 8032 min

Deep, Not Wide: Polartec's 40-Year Case for Strategic Focus with MD Eric Yung

Eric Yung has spent nearly two decades at Polartec doing one thing exceptionally well — and that's exactly the point. As Managing Director and VP of Sales and Marketing at Polartec (a Milliken company), Eric pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to build a premium ingredient brand over the long haul.The answer isn't growth at all costs. It's ruthless focus, selective partnerships, and the discipline to walk away from opportunities that don't fit. In this episode, we dig into how Polartec invented modern synthetic fleece alongside Patagonia, why they deliberately stepped back from a commoditizing outdoor market to bet on cycling, and what it really means to "win with winners."Eric also breaks down the PFAS transition, the three pillars of Polartec's product universe — insulation, base layer, and weather protection — and why cycling brands are now among the most innovation-hungry partners they work with.If you're building a brand in cycling and wondering how to differentiate in a world getting more competitive by the day, Eric's philosophy is a blueprint worth studying.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' NewsletterRead the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

March 2, 2026Episode 7931 min

Inside Eurobike's Strategic Overhaul with New Managing Director Philip Ferger

In this episode, we sit down with Philip Ferger, the newly appointed Managing Director of Fairnamic — the company behind Eurobike — just four weeks into his role. Philip brings over 20 years of experience at Messe Frankfurt, co-owner of FairNamic, and joins at a critical moment for the cycling industry's most important trade show. The conversation covers what's actually changing at Eurobike and why: a more budget-accessible format for 2026, a new industry advisory board, and a broader strategic repositioning aimed at 2027. Philip also addresses the hard questions head-on — the B2B vs. B2C debate, whether Eurobike has drifted too far from its cycling roots, and what it takes to keep a trade show relevant when the industry is under pressure.If you're wondering what's next for Eurobike, this episode is essential listening.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' NewsletterRead the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter