The bike industry crisis

birddog69 said:
I have been buying coats made with Goretex material since 1976. Coats last an average of 18 years. Best garments are not made by the Gore company. Mountain Designs make some great ones.
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My MD Goretex Windstopper jacket was labelled as 'vintage' by a store attendant in Melbourne around 2010. It still works.
 
Jpez said:
Second brand I’ve owned that’s grenaded. The joys of supporting small companies. Should probably buy a Trek next go around…
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Was your frame part of the manufacturing defect that occurred early on? I recall Trek were downsizing too. Is any brand safe? Need to ask for a copy of their finances before buying. 😂
 
shiny said:
Was your frame part of the manufacturing defect that occurred early on? I recall Trek were downsizing too. Is any brand safe? Need to ask for a copy of their finances before buying. 😂
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Yup. It certainly was. Rear triangle was first off faulty, then before I could get a replacement the front triangle was recalled. Was a major pain in the ass and took three or four months to get it rectified.
Yep.
 
Crisis it is when so many are going bad considering I think there are more mtbikers than ever.
Our town has gone from about 4 > 200
Part of the problem has been stop start demand and stop start supply due to Covid .
Too many proprietary models and standards which must have cost a fortune in mishaps ,tooling and design .
I think they would have done much better to pool their talent and have open standards such as telemark skiing.
They didnt recognise that ebikes would rewrite everything.
 
rowdyflat said:
Crisis it is when so many are going bad considering I think there are more mtbikers than ever.
Our town has gone from about 4 > 200
Part of the problem has been stop start demand and stop start supply due to Covid .
Too many proprietary models and standards which must have cost a fortune in mishaps ,tooling and design .
I think they would have done much better to pool their talent and have open standards such as telemark skiing.
They didnt recognise that ebikes would rewrite everything.
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Apart from a select few *cough, cough* a bike is a one and done item, particularly at modern prices.

The industry cleaned up every ‘potential’ cyclist in one Covid-panicked swoop and then expected that to continue?

Have a look at the second hand market, if people can’t sell their old bikes, they can’t buy new bikes. The market is flooded, it’s good old fashioned supply/demand
 
Talking to some industry folk the other week the market appears to be wrangling its way through a change to the retail model - either brand exclusive outlets or exclusively online. I may have typed this previously but I'm aware of several shops that have been eliminated out of existence by the big brands (by bullying them out of business). The unfortunate victim is the local bike shop that we used to know, and love will be no more.
 
The Specialized dealer ( big sign on the roof ) in Wanaka - Queenstown NZ - has 2 bikes . in their 'own space ' -the rest of the store is mixed , 3 or 4 brands .
The Santa Cruz guy in Queenstown - is ' SANTA CRUZ " so his model works
The Mondraker fella has a bit of a mix .

As an outsider looking in , it will be hard to ' just gonna go look at bikes'' if all online , I'm a 'toucher feeler'

I do like the off course bike shop in melb - has all kinds of bikes and parts to 'touch '

When I sneak off to Japan , I wanna explore the 'Blue Lug ' guys and the random little shops that appear 'only in my YT feed hahahaha '

Didn't trek try the 'factory store model ' and then closed out any competition ? Similar to the Spec model I guess - you were either in the tent or actively out in the cold
 
richie_gt said:
Talking to some industry folk the other week the market appears to be wrangling its way through a change to the retail model - either brand exclusive outlets or exclusively online. I may have typed this previously but I'm aware of several shops that have been eliminated out of existence by the big brands (by bullying them out of business). The unfortunate victim is the local bike shop that we used to know, and love will be no more.
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I recently heard that a very long running Melbourne shop, in the eastern suburbs, is becoming a Giant concept store.
The LBS is going the way of the dodo
 
There will still be LBSs, but they will be all kids bikes, low quality Chinese e-bikes and Malvern Star townies and lowriders.
 
johnny said:
There will still be LBSs, but they will be all kids bikes, low quality Chinese e-bikes and Malvern Star townies and lowriders.
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Or us...fixing the various bikes of our friends. I've already been attempting that for a while given our distance from an actual bike shoppe.
 
A new 99 bikes opened near work. i went in for a look on way home. There was not a single thing of interest to me in the entire 'packed to the rafters with stock' shop.
I'm liking the small operators popping up with no brand affinity, even mobile or with beverage tie-ins.
My mates old school grimy LBS runs on servicing and doing a great job whether its a commuter , a vintage rebuild or 20k carbon race rocket.
 
boyracer said:
A new 99 bikes opened near work. i went in for a look on way home. There was not a single thing of interest to me in the entire 'packed to the rafters with stock' shop.
I'm liking the small operators popping up with no brand affinity, even mobile or with beverage tie-ins.
My mates old school grimy LBS runs on servicing and doing a great job whether its a commuter , a vintage rebuild or 20k carbon race rocket.
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Servicing, building up bikes from parts, and wheel-building, is going to be the way that independent LBSs survive going forward, IMO.
 
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