Experienced editor, Mark Sutton, is not only a biking enthusiast, but through his extensive knowledge, also has a keen insight into cycling industry trends .
Mark Sutton is a journalist of nearly 20 years, spending the vast majority of his career in cycling and electric bike industries. He started out writing for business magazines like BikeBiz and Cycling Industry News, the latter of which he founded. Last year, he moved to CyclingElectric.com, which he co-founded in 2020.
Mark’s own cycling journey began as a child, initially playing tag around his local estate on bikes. As time passed, he began to use his bike more and more. Deciding he wanted to start jumping, he spent his free time as a boy building fresh sets of jumps, only to watch the council destroy them weeks, or months, later.
“Eventually, myself and other local kids settled on a spot, where we were left alone for maybe eight years; it became a haven for BMX and mountain bikers locally and everybody collaborated on the work to keep the place running and tidy. It was only when cars kept crashing through the surrounding fence, that people realised there were jumps on this land and then, they too were ploughed. Cars, as usual, ruined the cycling experience, but it’s where I began to formulate my own views on active travel.”
Mark, decided to channel his passion for cycling, and made it the core of his journalism career. As a budding writer, he collected enough bi-lines, until a job came up in Hertford with BikeBiz, and his career truly kicked off.
On establishing Cycling Industry News in 2016, the publication is now a B2B leader, providing quality, data-led, industry news to suppliers, with unrivalled insight, which is down to Mark’s steadfast ambition for its implementation.
“I love this industry and more than that, I love doing something positive for the world in giving people inspiration to cycle and get active. In founding Cycling Industry News, I had a challenge to create from the ground up, a new take on what a trade magazine should offer and the conversations it should lead. I took a lot of time to listen to people and understand the problems the marketplace had in changing its image and addressing potentially new cyclists.”
Mark refined his journalistic voice to change the record and encourage the industry to address, head-on its flaws, including speaking more to women and under-represented demographics. He also works to change the perception, and shape a new dialogue, around what bike retail stores should look like and how they could reform to becoming more welcoming places.
Overall, Mark is now keenly focused on electric bikes, and their future in the UK, and he enjoys observing how this innovative product evolution is bringing people who never considered cycling into a sphere of interest.
Looking at the current trends on the cycling market for 2024, Mark has plenty of engaging insights, from UK-based infrastructure, to worldwide transport trends.
“Hot topics at the moment are electric bikes, gravel bikes and affordable bikes, particularly those that are transport-ready. The UK already has a great strong and established mountain biking market that we should be proud of, though it seems to me that the road cycling market has been stuttering for a while now. Typically, the UK cyclist does not spend as much on our bikes as they do on mainland Europe, where the cycling infrastructure is inviting and positively encourages you to go by bike. I hope that will change in time, but we are very far behind, already.”
On top of lacking cycling infrastructure, Mark is conscious that contemporarily, there are many issues holding back less seasoned cyclists, specifically safety concerns in urbanised areas.
“I’m aware that a high proportion of riders are concerned about cycling on UK roads, and in studies it’s this that comes up time after time as putting people off riding. I think it’s criminal that in 2024, we still have a horrendous cycling culture and that investment levels in active travel in this country are in fact reducing heavily, not growing substantially as they should. I, like many others in the industry, are frustrated with the government making generic excuses for not shooting at the open goal that is active travel. It’s a silver bullet solution for so many problems we face and has an enormously positive cost-to-benefit ratio, compared to the transport status quos that become less and less attractive in the UK, year-by-year.”
For those that might be mulling over the idea of picking up cycling as a leisurely hobby, passion or even to bring out their competitive side, Mark highly recommends visiting a local cycling store, where you can receive valuable knowledge on a range of necessary requirements prior to purchase, such as fitting and performance use, regardless of experience levels.
“Give yourself the best chance of optimising your newly awakened cycling experience, by investing time and money into your kit. Best of all, for me personally, is that this kit will make you ride more often, for longer trips and it will help you reach summits you’ve not managed beforehand. From a life experience point of view, this is a wonderful tool to add some incredible value outside of just the cycling experience.”
For more information, visit: www.cyclingelectric.com, or you can subscribe here.
Follow Mark for more insights at: @marksuttonbike or LinkedIn
Ready to start your cycling journey?
Visit www.highwaycycles.co.uk, or visit us in one of our stores.
