Cycle stores riding high
Cairns bike traders are geared up for a profitable period as the city’s economy reaps spin-offs from the recent world titles. Discovery Cycles director Larry Lanza expects sales to be strong for the remainder of the year on the back of last week’s international meeting held in Smithfield. “These events ... stimulate interest in the sport. We can move forward knowing more people will be getting into mountain biking,” he said.
CAIRNS bike traders are geared up for a bumper few weeks as the city’s economy continues to reap spin-offs from the recent world titles.
Discovery Cycles director Larry Lanza expected sales to be strong for the remainder of this year on the back of the successful 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
“These events do wonders for the economy and help businesses like us, not only when they’re being held, but during the long-term because they stimulate local interest in the sport,” he said.
“We can move forward knowing that more and more people will be getting into mountain biking, or cycling in general, which is definitely a win.
“We’ve had some record intakes during the weeks after these big events in the past … hopefully we’re in for more of the same.”
Discovery Cycles, which has stores in the city and Smithfield, provided support for several teams – including the French national squad – during the World Championships.
“It meant sourcing equipment for them, from bikes to massage beds and just about everything,” Mr Lanza said.
“It was a crazy lead-up and involved about six-weeks of preparation.”
Several renowned riders, such as French young gun Loris Vergier, took time out to visit Cairns cycling businesses and meet aspiring local riders during the event.
“It definitely helps the sport, and parents are becoming happy for their children to get into cycling,” Mr Lanza said.
Attracting more than 20,000 spectators, the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are believed to have already injected more than $15 million into the region’s economy. Rosie Douglas of Tourism Tropical North Queensland said the event, held at Smithfield, had been particularly fruitful for the Northern Beaches.
“One of the pleasing things about this event, compared to some of the major events we have – even Ironman for example – is that a significant amount of the teams are all staying at the Northern Beaches,” she said. “It’s been a massive boost to their economy, which has been really good.
“The whole thing exceeded our expectations in terms of what it was going to deliver.”
Ms Douglas said it was a “more realistic expectation” for Cairns to host a Mountain Bike World Cup before the city took on another World Championship.
“We’ll obviously need to have a chat to the State Government, who are a major stakeholder, and Cycling Australia,” she said.
“But I think there is absolutely a desire there.”