business

On Friday, after months of negotiations, Cervélo founders and owners Phil White and Gerard Vroomen sold their 16-year old company to Pon Holdings , the Dutch company that also owns Germany’s Derby Cycle and the Holland’s Gazelle. Soon after the deal was made final, White spoke with BRAIN web editor Steve Frothingham over the phone from Toronto. White discussed the origins of the purchase, what he’s expecting with the company’s new owners and some of the history of Cervélo, including its involvement with pro cycling with its own Cervélo TestTeam and the Garmin-Cervelo squad

On Friday, after months of negotiations, Cervélo founders and owners Phil White and Gerard Vroomen sold their 16-year old company to Pon Holdings , the Dutch company that also owns Germany’s Derby Cycle and the Holland’s Gazelle. Soon after the deal was made final, White spoke with BRAIN web editor Steve Frothingham over the phone from Toronto. White discussed the origins of the purchase, what he’s expecting with the company’s new owners and some of the history of Cervélo, including its involvement with pro cycling with its own Cervélo TestTeam and the Garmin-Cervelo squad.

The board of California-based Marin Bikes have agreed to sell the company to a�European investment firm, they announced this morning.

Founded in 1986 in Marin County, California�– the place widely regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking�– the business is currently owned by its staff and the family of founder and president�Robert Buckley. No date has yet been announced for its acquisition by Minestone Limited.

“The acquisition of Marin by Minestone will allow us to strengthen our brand through increased investment in product innovation, marketing and human resources,” said Buckley, via press release. “We’ll continue to operate from our Novato headquarters, designing and testing on the trails and back roads that have inspired us for over 25 years. I greatly look forward to accompanying our talented and dedicated staff during this exciting new phase in our company’s history.”

Britain has always been a big market for Marin, and many of the company’s full-suspension bikes have been designed on these shores. Ross Patterson, sales and marketing director at Marin’s UK distributors, ATB Sales, said: “This is excellent news. The investment this acquisition will strengthen Marin’s position globally and we look forward to the exciting times ahead for Marin in the UK.”

It’s not yet known how much Minestone are paying for the business, or when the sale will go ahead. We’ll bring you further details as soon as we get them.

Marin Bikes timeline

1985:�Bob Buckley�teams up with�Joe Murray, who’s working in a local bike shop, to start a bike company. Buckley had been working in the fashion industry but was inspired to change career after trying a mountain bike on his doctor’s advice to help�heal a nagging knee injury.�

1986:�Marin Bikes launch their first�bike, the Madrone Trail hardtail. They go on to become big players in the late ’80s and early ’90s mountain bike scene.

1992: The company unveil their first full-suspension bike.�The Ti FRS used a titanium front triangle mated to a Manitou twin shock rear end. It squatted badly under acceleration and sported negligible damping but�was still one of the better designs of the early ‘90s.

1995:�At a time when Marin are losing ground to rivals like Specialized, Kona and Trek, Bob Buckley meets Formula 1 suspension engineer Jon Whyte at a UK dealer presentation. Impressed, he contracts Whyte and Marin’s UK distributors ATB Sales to produce a new full-suspension range.

1996:�Paul Lazenby wins the UK cross-country championships on a Whyte designed single-pivot Marin Mount Vision, silencing the full-suspension sceptics for good. The long-travel B-17 also proves a success. Marin’s hardtails continue to be designed in the US.

2006: Jon Whyte retires from the bike industry and hands over the reins to Ian Alexander, his apprentice since 2002.�

2008: Marin’s latest four-bar full-suspension bikes garner high praise from the cycling press, with�What Mountain Bike�naming the Mount Vision as their Bike of the Year.

2011: Marin unveil a new suspension platform for 2012,�Quad Link 3.0. You can see it in action on the new Mount Vision XM8 in the video below:

CARMEL, IN (BRAIN) Feb 3, 13:42 MT —The Bike Line, a second-generation family-run retailer, will move from its current Carmel, Indiana, location this spring into the Carmel City Center residential, retail and entertainment development. “Our current store, we kind of look like your average strip mall bike store. And this new location, because of its environment being mixed use and residential, I think it stands out a little bit more

LOVELAND, OH (BRAIN) Jan 31, 04:39 MT — Husband-and-wife team Tom and Sarah Swallow met while working at Cycle Sport, an 8,000-square-foot bicycle retailer that occupied three storefronts in this Cincinnati suburb. When Cycle Sport closed down in September 2011 after 16 years in business, the couple believed they could make a bike shop work in the same location with a “less is more” strategy. In early January, they opened Swallow Bicycle Works in 1,600 square feet in one of Cycle Sports’ former trio of storefronts.

BIARRITZ, France (BRAIN) Jan 23, 14:31 MT — BH Bikes has expanded into France with a company-owned subsidiary in Bairritz, a tourist beach town on the Bay of Biscayne about 10 miles from the Spanish border. BH Bikes Francia aims to strengthen the Spanish brand’s position in the French market where the company’s racing, mountain bike and pedal-assist bikes are popular. The office will be headed by Benoit Rigamonti, former BMC manager in France

From c-list (1, 2)

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Urban AdvenTours, Boston’s first and finest bicycle tour company, is hiring! We take pride in offering the highest level of customer service from our tours to our bike shop. If you are a driven and outgoing individual who loves the city of Boston, we want to hear from you!

If you love bikes and riding in Boston, then being a tour guide at Urban AdvenTours is the perfect job! No tour guide experience required. We hire cyclists who are outgoing, friendly, hard working and knowledgeable about safe riding in an urban environment. A love of history and pop culture is a big plus as well!

Your primary responsibilities would be supporting and leading tours, giving content in a unique and professional fashion while on tour, keeping our guests safe and sound while out in the streets, and most importantly, making sure everyone has fun!

If you would enjoy showing people our beautiful city from the seat of a bike please send us an email with a brief bio of yourself and a resume.

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Urban AdvenTours, Boston’s Downtown Bike Shop, is hiring! We take pride in offering the highest level of customer service from our tours to our bike shop. If you are a driven and efficient individual who loves the city of Boston, we want to hear from you!

We are looking for some dedicated mechanics to ensure a professional level of service on every customer’s bike. Attention to detail is paramount to success, as is a friendly, ready-to-help attitude! You will be at the forefront of our business’s customer service department.

Your primary responsibilities would include professional level bike service and sales, receiving and executing tune-ups in a quick fashion, maintaining our extensive fleet of rental and tour bikes, and assisting the shop manager with inventory, ordering and receiving. We would prefer to hire someone with at least two years of experience in a shop. You must be able to work on any style of bike, have a strong motivation and attention to detail, and be neat and organized in your work. Retail experience is a big plus as well!

If you can make any bike run like new, we want to hear from you! E-mail us with a brief bio of yourself as well as a resume.

GLEN ROCK, NJ (BRAIN) Jan.

BROOMFIELD, CO (BRAIN) — Producers of a new trade magazine and show are aiming at retailers who sell action sports, bikes and outdoor merchandise. The inaugural January-February edition of Action Outdoor & Bike is now available in print or electronic form. The bi-monthly focuses on business and merchandising advice and trends, said editor Heather Fried.

CORTE MADERA, CA (BRAIN)—Bay Area retailer City Cycle rang in the new year by upgrading from its 1,200-square-foot Marin County home in San Anselmo to an expansive 9,000-square-foot space five miles southeast in Corte Madera. The new location, in a former Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership along the well-traveled Paradise Loop cycling route, opened Monday.