Bike retail, from policy to the sales floor.
NBDA: Bicycle Retail Radio is a trade-focused show for specialty bicycle retailers facing shifting markets, safety rules, and operational pressure. Episodes pair policy talk with shop-floor concerns, from e-bike batteries and import data to sustainable products and retailer education.
PRESS PLAY
NBDA: Bicycle Retail Radio serves the business side of the bicycle world, especially the specialty retailers who live with inventory choices, service demands, shifting regulation, and uneven market data. It is not a consumer cycling show. The conversation is aimed at the people behind the counter, the suppliers trying to support them, and the advocates watching policy turn into practical obligations. Recent News Hour episodes spend serious time on the gaps in bicycle industry data. The speakers question how retailers and national companies are supposed to plan when import categories, e-bike numbers, and broader trends are still partly estimated. That concern leads naturally into tariffs, customs systems, federal agencies, and the need for better information. Then the show brings the issue back to the shop. A national trend matters, but a local market still decides whether mountain bikes, road bikes, or another category drives the forecast. E-bike safety is another recurring center of gravity. Episodes address regulation, teen rider behavior, battery fires, lithium ion chemistry, injuries, deaths, and the responsibility retailers carry after a sale. The Beth Black conversation adds an education and advocacy angle, with attention to communities, schools, policymakers, the Belmont Project, and the Incline program. Product conversations can be just as pragmatic. The mountainFLOW episode uses plant-based ski and bike products to explore why sustainability has to follow performance in retail positioning. If the product does not work, the mission will not save it. Training and professional development also appear regularly, including service, sales, fitting, peer sessions, profitability, and events such as Drive to Thrive and Frostbike. The show’s register is earnest, direct, and trade-specific. It assumes listeners already care about the bicycle business and want useful context, not lifestyle gloss. Its best moments connect the big systems around cycling to the everyday decisions that keep a shop viable.
Made for: Specialty bicycle retailers, shop managers, vendors, and industry advocates who need practical context on business planning, safety, products, and regulation. It also fits cycling-industry operators who want trade conversation rather than consumer riding content.
What sets it apart: The show connects national bicycle-industry issues to decisions retailers actually make: what to stock, how to educate customers, how to plan, and how to respond to regulation. Its trade-association perspective gives it a working-channel focus that broader cycling media rarely sustains.
The NBDA’s bicycle industry podcast brings retailers, vendors, advocates, and thought leaders to the mic for honest discussions about the latest issues facing retailers, while taking an in-depth look at the person within the profession. Content that proves relatable and thought producing, directed at exposing real-world tips and information to help retailers find success within the bicycle industry. Get more at NBDA.com. Podcast is made possible by donations. Support the show by donating here: https://nbda.com/donate-to-the-nbda/
Bike-shop decisions get easier when battery fires and unreliable market data stop being somebody else's problem.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical case for better bike retail data when tariffs, safety, and planning all collide.
Bicycle Retail Radio makes a practical case for better retail data by connecting it to tariffs, trade, and the need for reliable information when decisions carry real business consequences.
A retailer-first look at e-bike safety, regulation, and the data gap shops still have to work around.
Bicycle Retail Radio takes a blunt look at e-bike safety, regulation, and the information gap retailers keep working around. The discussion stays close to the business reality, moving from injuries and deaths tied to the category to the push for clearer facts from Customs, the…
Performance leads, and the sustainability message lands because of it.
The conversation between Peter Arlein and Heather Mason keeps coming back to a plain retail truth: sustainability only matters if the product earns its place.
Baustelle truth with tile dust attached.
HVAC field knowledge for working contractors.
X Lab’s roughly $3,300 GRX-equipped gravel bike and reports of bikes selling before assembly put Chinese suppliers at the center of Bicycle Retail Radio’s September 2026 review.
Bicycle Retail Radio's Retail Design Flex segment introduces Heather Mason, Brian Hawkins, and Fixture Lab's focus on bicycle-store design, remodeling, and merchandising.
Heather Mason and Brandon Andrews explain how the NBDA Certified Bicycle Service Technician Microcredential, developed with Northwest Arkansas Community College, uses five skills badges for working bicycle technicians.
U.S.
This episode features Beth Black discussing e-bike safety education, advocacy, and retailer best practices, with a focus on teen riders and industry challenges.
This episode is a quarterly news review focusing on current developments in specialty bicycle retail, featuring insights from Bicycle Retailer and Industry News to help businesses navigate challenges and opportunities.
["NBDA's Bicycle Retail Radio February 2026 news hour, powered by Human Powered Solutions, centers on New Jersey e-bike regulation, import data, and retailer profitability.", "Heather Mason, Executive Director of the National Bicycle Dealers Association, leads Steve Bina on regulation, Jay on margins, Fred on import data, and Mike on battery safety.", "Steve Bina says New Jersey grouped class 1 and class 2 e-bikes into one motorized bicycle category and added licensing, registration, and insurance questions for riders and dealers.", "Jay pushes margin discipline, Fred cites 8,540,268 acoustic bikes imported in 2025 and an $850,161,000 declared value, and Mike says UL 2849 and UL 2271 remain essential while battery chemistry keeps evolving."]
Peter Arlene says Mountain Flow built custom bioplastic bottles in Mexico City from sugarcane feedstock in Brazil and now sells them alongside ski wax, bike lube, and recycled-aluminum ski poles.
This episode promotes NVDA membership, the Drive to Thrive education events, and Cat Trike, targeting bicycle retailers for professional growth and industry connection.