The political world has been rocked on both sides of the Atlantic in the past 6 months, first with Brexit and then the Trump presidency. With future trade and economic policy extremely uncertain in both cases where does this leave the global bike business?

Will leaving the EU mean a boom for UK manufacturers? And what affect could a potential US trade war with China have on an industry that imports 98% of bikes sold in the US from Asia?

Tune in to hear from US bike market research expert Jay Townley on how things are shaping up in the US market since the Trump election win, and Alan Weatherill from Hope Technology in the UK to hear some positives from the Brexit vote.

As with every publishing business, the cycling media landscape has changed beyond recognition in the past 10 years with the move away from print to digital platforms. Long-standing print publications have faced challenges on all sides to maintain both editorial quality and advertising revenue in the face of competition from new digital publishers.

But beyond this, what specifically has changed for both publishers and brands and how do those on both sides of the business need to adapt to this changing media landscape? Is print in terminal decline? And how are digital platforms challenging for both valuable consumer attention and ad budgets?

I'm joined by 2 guests with some heavyweight experience on both sides of the publishing landscape to look at this in more detail; Neal Rogers, former editor of Velo News and current US editor of Cycling Tips, and Richard Schofield, cycling media consultant and former publisher of cycling titles at Future Publishing.

We talked at length in a previous episode about the challenges that the growth in consumer direct sales places on traditional bike retail. With the local bike shop facing increasing competition on all sides how can it stay relevant and survive in today's changing market place? 

It's very well known that the majority of larger bike brands manufacture many of their frames and other components in Asia, in particular in Taiwan and China. But beyond this, most consumers know very little about this major part of the worldwide bike market. Is this simply by accident or by design?

Against the backdrop of an increasingly competitive yet commoditised road bike market, how do high end brands differentiate themselves? Erik Joule from Stinner Frameworks and Julian Franco from Franco Bicycles share their take on this issue.