Steve Frothingham

Steve is in his second stint at BRAIN. He was here at the beginning in 1992 while still working for a bike shop in Santa Fe, N.M. He wrote several articles for BRAIN's first issue and later joined the staff, eventually becoming managing editor and then executive editor.

After leaving BRAIN in 1997 he worked for several news organizations including The Associated Press and VeloNews before rejoining BRAIN as web editor in 2011.

He is based in Longmont, Colorado, and is an enthusiastic (and slow) road, mountain bike and cyclocross rider.

sfrothingham@bicycleretailer.com
/twitter.com/#!/stevefroth

All articles by Steve Frothingham

After sales tax ruling, some call for reining in offshore vendors

June 25, 2018
U.S. consumers can often buy from non-U. S. sites without paying sales taxes or import duties. Sometimes that gives foreign retailers a head start of 20 percent or more.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — Now that the Supreme Court has (almost) resolved the state tax issue for online retailers, the time might be right to push to increase the collection of import duties.

Posted in Opinion/Analysis

US component makers squeezed by material costs and new tariff on bearings

June 22, 2018
Chinese-made bearings of many varieties will be hit with a 25 percent tariff starting July 6, increasing pressure on component makers to raise prices.

LOUISVILLE, Colo. (BRAIN) — When you buy 5,000 pounds of aluminum every day, you notice quickly when the cost per pound goes up 20 percent — or more — in a matter of months.

Dave Batka, the owner of Wheels Manufacturing, is noticing.

Posted in Industry News

Supreme Court says states can require online retailers to collect sales tax

June 21, 2018
Some see the decision as a victory for mom-and-pop store owners; but a challenge for those with small e-commerce businesses.
Photo: © 2007 Kjetil Ree. Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that states may require online retailers to collect sales tax revenue from online consumers who live in their states.

The National Retail Federation called the decision "a major victory" for retailers.

Posted in Retail News

US proposes 25% tariff on China-made e-bikes

June 19, 2018
The industry is scrambling after the Trump administration includes e-bikes on its list of proposed tariffs.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The U.S. bike industry has been drafted into the trade war between China and the U.S.

Posted in Industry News

China-made GPS units will be hit with 25% tariff starting next month

June 19, 2018
The Stages Dash

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — China-made bicycle GPS units are expected to see a significant price increase in the coming months due to a 25 percent tariff imposed by the Trump adminstration.

Posted in Industry News

Illinois retailer gears up for 27th Krate Fest

June 15, 2018
The Blue Moon bike museum.

SYCAMORE, Ill. (BRAIN) — The Krate Fest — a celebration of Schwinn Stingrays and other classic bikes — has been around longer than Blue Moon Bikes, the retailer that hosts the event.

Posted in Retail News

Trek and Make Him Smile agree to settle Farley trademark suit

June 6, 2018

MADISON, Wis. (BRAIN) — Trek Bicycle Corporation and Make Him Smile, Inc. have agreed to settle their lawsuit over Trek's use of the name Farley for one of its fat bike models. 

Posted in Industry News

Yeti Cycles hopes to move headquarters to proposed outdoor industry campus

May 30, 2018
The proposed development.

GOLDEN, Colo. (BRAIN) — Yeti Cycles hopes to anchor an "outdoor lifestyle campus" a few miles from the bike maker's current headquarters here.

Posted in Industry News

We explain a few recent tweaks to the BRAIN website

May 7, 2018

LONGMONT, Colo. (BRAIN) — Last week we made a few changes to the BRAIN website that folks have asked us about. Now that we've had a week or so to work with the changes, we’d like to explain what we did.

Posted in Retail News

After guilty verdict, Kalamazoo bike community still dealing with 'horrible thing'

May 3, 2018
Kalamazoo riders before Tuesday's post-verdict ride.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (BRAIN) — Bike riders do things a bit differently now in this city of 75,000, where a driver plowed his truck into a group road ride nearly two years ago, killing five cyclists and injuring four others.

Posted in Retail News

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