influencers!

Kevin Mayne

In many fields we hear about someone who is an ‘overnight success’. But further research usually reveals that they’ve put in years of hard work before they seem to suddenly start kicking big goals. Kevin Mayne is a great example of this. After completing a science degree followed by an MBA, Kevin worked in the multinational corporate world for more than a decade before joining the national cycling charity, Cycling UK, as their CEO in 1998. Kevin has been working with quiet determination in the cycling advocacy field for the 25 years since then. Since 2019 Kevin has been CEO of Cycling Industries Europe. This dynamic global bicycle industry funded group has gradually helped to unlock billions of Euros for cycling infrastructure projects across Europe. But as Kevin foreshadows in this interview, the combined impacts of Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have suddenly propelled he and his organisation from being considered by key European political leaders as a noisy annoyance to being taken seriously. Kevin and his team now have increased access and relationship with the most senior elected politicians and officials in the European Parliament and European Commission. This interview was recorded in 2022. Since then, Kevin and his team have made further progress towards historic, unprecedented new levels of European Union level support for cycling throughout Europe that will hopefully be announced during 2023. To watch the video version of this interview, visit the Micromobility Report website here: https://micromobilityreport.com.au/influencers/

Erik Bronsvoort

It’s a hard truth that most of us don’t want to here, but just because we buy and ride a bicycle does not mean we couldn’t further reduce our environmental impact. Sure, bicycles have far lower environmental impacts than cars. They are typically about 100 times lighter, sometimes even more. In the case of e-bikes their battery is also typically about 100 times smaller than an electric car battery. But as you will here in this interview with Erik Bronsvoort, bicycles still take a lot of energy to manufacture and they’re harder to recycle than you might think. Erik is a global authority on this subject, having co-founded Circular Cycling and written a ground breaking book on the topic. The good news is that if manufacturers and consumers work together, there are solutions available. To watch the video version of this interview, visit the Micromobility Report website here: https://micromobilityreport.com.au/influencers/

Chris Nolte

Chris Nolte is a very quiet spoken, humble guy – especially for an American! After enduring some life changing trauma in the Iraq war, Chris started questioning America’s oil based economic system and compromises that this led to. He became a pioneering retailer of e-bikes in the USA, a heinous crime that earned him a huge fine in New York City! But Chris fought city hall and eventually won this David vs Goliath battle. Over the years his Propel Bikes business has grown from the smallest possible start-up in to one of the USA’s largest e-bike retailers. Meanwhile Chris has built the incredibly popular Propel YouTube channel that is now his primary full time job, with over 54,000 subscribers and over 11 million views. To watch the video version of this interview, visit the Micromobility Report website [https://micromobilityreport.com.au/influencers/].

Joshua Hon

Joshua Hon has decades of experience in the world of bicycle design and manufacture. His father Dr David Hon, founded Dahon (a shortened version of his name) which became a well- known, globally distributed folding bike brand. After working at Dahon for years, Joshua branched out and set up an entirely new company from scratch, Tern Bicycles. Initially Tern was best known for its own designs of folding bicycles, but then Joshua ‘bet the company’ on an ambitious project to create an entire new category of bicycle from scratch. The result was the Tern GSD, through which Joshua Hon can take credit for creating what is now a huge bicycle category, ‘compact cargo’. Although this bike has ‘inspired’, as Joshua diplomatically describes it, many very similar models from other brands, Tern has focused upon continued product innovation and development, which has resulted in huge growth for the still relatively new company. Throughout the journey, Joshua has developed a company with a strong culture of environmental sustainability and advocacy. It’s also a place where just about every team member regularly rides the products that they make, including Joshua. To watch the video version of this interview, visit the Micromobility Report website. [https://micromobilityreport.com.au/influencers/]

Oliver Bruce

Some people seem to live on a higher plane than most of our routine suburban lives. If you look at Oliver Bruce’s resumé he certainly seems to qualify for that category. After an eclectic global education, Oliver has held a wide range of roles including strategic advisor, corporate manager and angel investor. He’s also one of a select group of Edmund Hillary Fellows in his native country of New Zealand and co-host of the influential Micromobility Podcast which he co-founded with the inventor of the term Micromobility, Horace Dediu. To watch the video version of this interview, visit the Micromobility Report website. [https://micromobilityreport.com.au/influencers/]