The Business of Cycling

Mark Hopkins is an expert in carbon fiber production and design. He spent much of his career working as a composites engineer at DuPont. In our conversation, we talk about how he came to design the three spoke bicycle wheel in 1989, which was sold by Specialized. The wheel was a huge innovation at the time and was the first composite bicycle wheel to be commercially available. We talk about how Du...

Jacob Kennison is the Communications Manager for Trek-Lidl Cycling Team. He previously held the position of press officer and had some time in the agency world for Fusion Media Services. We dove deep into the specifics of how a pro team communicates, the technical aspects of channel strategy, social media campaigns, and an all around look at the inner workings of the marketing and communications o...

John Watson aka John Prolly aka The Radavist is a pioneer of online cycling content creation. His blog prollyisnotprobably.com was one of the most visited cycling blogs in the early 2010s. The site morphed into The Radavist in 2015 and sits among the top cycling blogs worldwide. We discuss the origin of his blog and the reasons he made the transition to The Radavist. We also discuss his decision t...

Gary Fisher is a living legend. He is widely considered one of the inventors of the modern mountain bike. He played a large part in popularizing the first ever downhill mountain bike race, the repack race. He founded Gary Fisher Bicycles and eventually sold to TREK where he stayed on as a consultant for several years. His passion for cycling is deep and his mind is as sharp as they come. He curren...

SIDI CEO Davide Rossetti is among the most experienced managers in the cycling industry. He has worked in Sales and Marketing in multiple multinational Italian brands such as Safilo(eyewear), COIN, Cisalfa(Intersport), Invicta, AlpineStars and Northwave. In this wide-ranging discussion, we dove into topics around career growth, distribution, collections, and his leadership strategy. We also discus...

Bastian Dietz is the Director for Global Business Development for SQLab part of Boards and More GMBH. We discuss the bankruptcy of e-bike brand VanMoof and aim to understand the reasons behind the downfall of one of the darlings of the cycling startup universe. We talk about how their proprietary parts strategy and lack of a strong service network led to cashflow issues. We also discuss how the pr...

Fergus Niland is the creative director at Santini Cycling Wear. Fergus is among the most experienced cycling clothing designers in the industry. We dive deep into the current state of cycling clothing, how clothing for professional teams is made, and what makes a great piece of kit. We also dive into the details of Santini’s collaboration with ASO and the Tour de France. Santini has been making pr...

Slate Olson held some of the most important marketing roles in cycling thoughout the 2010s. He started the US office of Rapha in 2010 and then he moved to the role of CMO in 2015. He took over as CMO of Specialized in 2015, reporting directly to Mike Sinyard until 2017 when he decided to be closer to family in Portland. Other notable roles included Sr. Brand Director at Nike and President of Chrom...

Jonathan Sherwood is one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met in the cycling business. Jon is currently is Director of Sales for Power Sports EMEA at Bell Helmets. He previously held the role of Marketing Director at Zyro Fisher, as well as Global Brand Marketing Director for Bell Helmets. Jon has worked for Mizuno, Fox Racing and he started his own distribution company in South Africa at...

"It's better to stalk a few people than just kind of please everyone." Crank Brothers CEO Gaspare Licata is as sharp as they come. The Italian native started his career with Fizik of the Selle Royal group. He moved up the ranks and eventually took on the challenge of running the Crank Brothers brand in Laguna Beach, CA. In our conversation you can hear insights into how product drives innovation a...

In three short years cycling industry veteran Francesco Sergio and his partners have taken the cycling shoe brand Nimbl from an zero to being worn by 122 cyclists in the Pro Peloton, including powerhouse Jumbo Visma. We speak with co-founder and owner of the brand about his journey, how he earned his stripes in international sales with Cinelli and Cervelo, and how by chance he came to start one of...

Juliet Elliot is a pioneer in online cycling content creation. She started with the blog 'Bikes 'N' Stuff' then shifted to Instagram and now her focus is mainly on Youtube where she has over 100 thousand subscribers. She posts new videos weekly and her style and enthusiasm are infectious. We talk about how she got started in cycling through love of fixed gear bikes, and how she has made a career o...

The British clothing brand Milltag went into liquidation earlier this year. In my conversation with Pete Kelsey, co-founder of the brand, we talk about the headwinds that the brand faced after Brexit and the challenges of running a niche clothing brand in Europe. Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' Blog Sign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling...

If cycling is anything, it's insular. There is a real reason for this. To be successful in the cycling business, a genuine passion for the sport is required. Nowhere is this more true than in cycling media. Cyclists that consume this media can smell if you are coming from a place of honesty or not. Cycling, especially road cycling, is really a niche sport. Therefore to be part of this community yo...

David Van Orsdel is an ex-professional cyclist and has a content marketing agency that specializes in cycling. David is originally from Minnesota and lives in Lucca, Italy. In our conversation we talk about how he ended up in Italy riding bikes. We also discuss the state of content creation in the cycling industry and the challenges of creating unique content with limited resources. And how Rapha...