TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The global cycling industry convened for the opening ceremony of the 35th Taipei Cycle at Nangang Exhibition Center on Wednesday (March 6), with industry leaders calling for innovation, solving oversupply, and retail overstock.
Lin urged domestic companies to pursue innovation as a means of increasing competitiveness, with an eye toward AI and new technology. He also reminded bicycle companies to follow ESG principles and seek out sustainability while maintaining a low-carbon footprint.
“The bicycle industry had difficulty digesting inventory in 2023, but we expect exports to improve in the second half of the year,” said Vice Economic Affairs Minister Lin Chuan-neng (林全能) at the Tapei Cycle opening ceremony. Lin was hopeful the bike industry could overcome stagnant sales after employees returned to work following the COVID pandemic.
Vice Economic Affairs Minister Lin Chuan-neng at the opening of Taipei Cycle. (CNA photo)
Lin said the strong turnout at this year’s Taipei Cycle — 950 foreign and domestic exhibitors,15% annual growth — bodes well for the cycle industry, indicating momentum has returned. Many exhibitors are betting innovations in electric bikes (e-bikes) will spur consumers to open their pocketbooks, though this segment has experienced slowing sales.
“Back in 2022, orders simply stopped coming, and we cannot see the end of this slowdown," said Hyena Sales Director Roy Huang (黃暉文). Huang said the typical lead time in the cycle industry is two years, with many suppliers having difficulty scaling down after 20% growth in 2021 and 2022.
Taichung-based Hyena has been an e-bike maker for 10 years and employs 150 people, including technicians and designers. The pause in orders led the company to plot new product offerings like bulky battery packs streamlined into bike frames, clunky powertrains shifting from the front tire to the back tire, and recently, mid-frame.
Huang said some of the most exciting innovations in e-bikes are in the field of powertrains, the electronic component that powers bicycle wheels. At the top of the market are German companies Pinion and Bosch, with Japan’s Shimano dominating the mid-end of e-bike powertrains.
Taiwan manufacturer of e-bikes, Hyena. (Taiwan News, Sean Scanlan photo)
Taiwan’s expertise in electronics makes it a likely candidate to produce e-bike powertrains, though financially speaking, it is more cost-effective to import these components from overseas suppliers. “Taiwan can make powertrains, but for cost purposes, it makes more sense to import,” said Huang.
Two Taiwanese companies — Giant and Merida — are at the heart of Taipei Cycle. Both companies are powerhouses in OEM production as well as branded business, and both companies celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2022.
In the mid-1980s, Giant and Merida led Taiwan to export upwards of 10 million bicycles annually, however, both understood that rising domestic wages would lead many cycle companies to offshore production to China. Taiwan's annual export of bicycles dropped to just 1 million bicycles a decade later.
“These two companies saw the danger of going to China and abandoning production in Taiwan. For this reason, they formed the A-team with other industry partners to ensure high-end innovation remained in Taiwan," said Elisa Chiu (邱懷萱), founder of Anchor Asia and initiator of Bike Venture.
Giant and Merida worked to ensure that leading-edge technology and competitive advantage would remain in Taiwan. This decision was prescient, allowing Taiwan’s cycling industry to retain its world-leading position even as global production of bikes and components moved offshore.
“Taiwan will continue to be the center of the cycling industry. It always has been, and it will always continue to be,” said Retyre Event Manager, Trym Fagerhaug. He believes Taiwan’s proximity to low-cost Asian production and an efficient, business-friendly environment, will continue to attract visits from international cycling companies.
Unveiling new collaborative innovations at Taipei Cycle. (Taiwan News, Sean Scanlan photo)
“A big part of our supply chain is in Taiwan. The business ethics in Taiwan are among the best in the world. Everyone wants your company to succeed, and they are very polite and easy to work with,” said Fagerhaug.
A post-COVID downturn in the biking industry led the leadership of Taiwan’s cycling industry to put more emphasis on innovation and technology. This was evident in the inaugural launch of Bike Venture at Taipei Cycle, a program reserved for start-up companies.
“We had the goal of infusing Taipei Cycle with the same start-up energy that other trade exhibitions utilize. For example, Computex created Innovex, which was part of the trade exhibition given over to new start-ups,” said Chiu.
Chiu brought up the idea of launching Bike Venture with the Taiwan Bike Association one year ago and later convinced the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), which funded an international pitch competition that would be jointly managed by Startup Island Taiwan.
The idea was to encourage aspiring domestic and international entrepreneurs to present their ideas before leaders of Taiwan’s cycling industry. An initial applicant field would be whittled down to a dozen top prospects who would have the opportunity to pitch their business proposals.
Norway's Retyre offers sustainable bike tires. (Taiwan News, Sean Scanlan photo)
“Giant Chairperson Bonnie Tu (杜綉珍) was very open-minded and curious about these start-ups. She encouraged us to become the conduit to spark innovation and offered help selecting the finalists in the pitch competition,” said Chiu.
Chiu describes the finalists in the pitch competition as a range of entrepreneurs offering everything from smart locks to one-click e-bike conversion kits, fintech innovations such as insurance on demand, and a Swiss company introducing 3D printing for carbon bike frames.
Chiu even scouted other cycling events such as the Eurobike exhibition in Germany in 2023. “One of the big lessons I learned from this was a shift from cycling to mobility, as many new products are entering the market, leading to more fragmentation."
Another change in the cycling industry, according to Chiu, is the development of “smart cities,” where IoT can enable data sharing. Chiu said that EU countries continue to emphasize sustainability and ESG, reducing carbon footprints for all vehicles, including bicycles.