The Business of Cycling

In this episode, we sit down with Philip Ferger, the newly appointed Managing Director of Fairnamic — the company behind Eurobike — just four weeks into his role. Philip brings over 20 years of experience at Messe Frankfurt, co-owner of FairNamic, and joins at a critical moment for the cycling industry's most important trade show. 

The conversation covers what's actually changing at Eurobike and why: a more budget-accessible format for 2026, a new industry advisory board, and a broader strategic repositioning aimed at 2027. Philip also addresses the hard questions head-on — the B2B vs. B2C debate, whether Eurobike has drifted too far from its cycling roots, and what it takes to keep a trade show relevant when the industry is under pressure.

If you're wondering what's next for Eurobike, this episode is essential listening.

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The business of professional cycling has never been more complex — or more expensive. Team budgets are exploding, rider time is increasingly scarce, and brands are being asked to spend more while getting less access in return. Meanwhile, gravel is professionalizing fast, and Asian brands are quietly reshaping who supplies the peloton.

In this episode, I sit down with sports marketing consultant Nicolò Ildos to take stock of where sponsorship dollars are flowing as we head into the 2026 season — and what brands need to ask themselves before writing any checks.

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HEXLOX founder Marcus Tonndorf spent years studying design in London and earning an MBA in Berlin, working at Pentagram on brands like Citibank, launching a failed publishing house in Japan, and even getting his illustrations into millions of Kinder Eggs.

By 2015, he'd figured out what he didn't want to do—now he just needed the right product. So he walked into Eurobike with no company and no prototype, just a hypothesis that the cycling industry needed his skills. Within a year, he launched a Kickstarter together with a partner that funded in 24 hours and hit 800% of its goal—after camping outside press booths in Taiwan and pitching a Kickstarter account manager at a New York Starbucks.

Today, HEXLOX tiny magnetic security devices protect bicycles, motorcycles, and museum exhibits worldwide, proving that sometimes the scenic route is the smartest one.

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Sam Nichols brings a rare perspective to the cycling industry—he's an outsider who became an insider during the most turbulent period in recent memory. After a decade at Amazon and strategic consulting at Bain, Sam took the CEO role at YT Industries in November 2020, just as private equity was flooding into cycling.

In this conversation, we cut through the noise around private equity in our industry. Sam explains how PE actually works using straightforward analogies, why the timing of 2020-2021 investments proved so disastrous, and what happens when company valuations collapse below the debt used to acquire them. We also discuss why family-owned businesses like Specialized and Trek have weathered this storm better, and what the current restructuring wave means for the brands caught in it.

This isn't about vilifying private equity—it's about understanding the financial mechanics reshaping our industry.

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CEO at Rali Systems and Contributor at VitalMTB, Jeff Brines introduces his "barbell hypothesis". In the conversation we discuss how the cycling market is splitting into two thriving extremes while the middle hollows out. Bikes under $4,000 and premium builds above $15,000 are selling well, but the $6,000-8,000 sweet spot is disappearing.

He attributes this to slowing technological progress (diminishing returns on spending), demographic shifts between asset owners and non-owners, and middle-class economic pressure. Brines advises brands to identify their moat: either compete on volume or position as premium.

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