With new brand Batch Bicycles in the works, Huffy will soon be back in bike shops across the US through the local Independent Bicycle Dealer network. Huffy CEO Bill Smith has been making open moves to reconnect with IBD owners since at least the start of last year. And now Batch is poised to take it one step further.
Batch Bicycles in your local bike shop by Huffy
We first noticed when Bicycle Retailer reported on Smith noting to IBD owners how Huffy sells 4.3 million bikes a year. Their big box bikes are often the first two-wheelers that introduce a new cyclist to the potential of riding. And Smith wanted to open up a connection to point Huffy owners to IBDs when their bikes needed service, hoping to build lifelong bicyclists. The logic was pretty sound when he spoke to the group of bike shop owners at last year’s IBD Summit. And Huffy have since followed through, adding a national network of cooperating Service Center shops to their website.
Now with a foundation of open communication with IBDs, Smith & Huffy are about to come back with Batch Bicycles.
The general idea is to build affordable, simple bikes that can fit in under the more premium brands most bike shops already sell. Huffy has been talking up their purchasing power, experience in producing huge numbers of bikes, and lack of overhead costs that all allows them to deliver high value bike to IBDs with beneficial profit margins for the shops and no need to pre-order & inventory a ton of bikes. They have even developed a mobile purchasing app for shops that will allow them to order one bike at a time for customers and have it delivered to the shop within 2-3 days.
BRAIN reports that Batch will officially launch this coming fall at Interbike with a broad range of five bike types: a comfort bike, a city commuter, a beach-style cruiser, a mountain bike, and more than one kids’ bikes. Batch aims to deliver unmatched value in build quality and spec, with all of the bikes featuring aluminum frames, Shimano drivetrains, and proper double-walled alloy wheels.
We’ll have the full breakdown of Batch Bicycles when they are officially launched in September 2018.
