UK bike sales plummet

[Timetoleave]

Cannondale are launching a new ebike. Globally. Except in the UK. I’m not a cannondale dealer (we are solely another American brand). If I were I’d be very concerned by this. At best they’re selling direct to customers, at worst, not selling at all to UK customers..

[nickfrog]

It would have been a bit weird to launch it and then tell the distributor they are gone. Maybe they will launch it in the UK when a potential new set up is up and running.

[President Merkin]

Does beg the question could Cannondale afford to ignore the UK market? I'm sympathetic to dealers fearing being cut out of the loop as the bike industry undergoes convulsions but there is an obvious difference between sales channels & availability to consumers.

[Julian Scott]

Same thing happening with BMC (might be the same distributor).

Friend just opened a bike shop, set up as a Cervelo and BMC dealer. BMC distributor pulling the plug, so they are adding Factor and OPEN to their range.

Cervelo wanted them to go exclusive and offered greater margin, especially as Pinarello have opened just down the road, but they wanted choice.

[Timetoleave]

Not sure I understand that last bit, President Merkin ! Retailers at the moment are betwixt and between. Some are just heading toward the Apple model, acting as a boutique showcasing the brand's products. Customers order online and have delivered to us to PDI or drop shipped to you at home and we get a share of the margin. Others will act as clearing houses for last year's models. The stark reality is that cycling has returned to its very niche spot within the UK, pre 2012 Sky levels. All the distributors are modelling how best to ease the supply blockage. In the meantime they have to work out how to continue servicing their customers. Raleigh's lords and masters (KKR) have given the clearest insight..cut and run. Now PON are doing the same in the UK. Who knows what the future holds ! The cost of running a bricks and mortar premises and employing staff ratchets up every few months. It's not easy !

[President Merkin]

I meant that if a brand canned their distributor & went DTC, I as an end consumer could still buy a bike, it would merely be direct from the manufacturer rather than via my LBS,so like Canyon or YT.


I don't have a view on that either way, save to say I'm no fan of seeing bike shops struggle. I would always want to see people use their local place, they're great & anecdotally, I hear bad things about customer service with certain DTC brands, I was only noting the difference between a brand binning a local distributor & pulling out of an entire market, which as far as I can see, Cannondale aren't actually proposing.

[okgo]

I’d imagine that is how many brands will go as high street shops wane.

We have seen it increasingly in my business with big brands who traditionally relied on a retail network and are now investing heavily in DTC via online properties with large hub shops for ‘showrooming’ - this could easily be done by any bike brand.

We could then just see bike shops selling accessories and servicing which is likely where most of the money is anyway. I hear Sigma have done a round of lay-offs recently.

[Timetoleave]

It's an interesting one, OKGO. One large US brand offered D2C bike deliveries...and even bought a load of vans to offer said service within the M25. I think they managed a handful of sales...and then nothing. People that buy our product - ebikes - need help, advice, test riding, first services etc. By definition they are NOT cyclists. Ebikes are a separate product that will always require physical sales sites, demos. When we set up in 2012 as a solely ebike shop I predicted it would be 5 years before "legacy" bike shops adopted ebikes as a viable product. Selling inner tubes to club cyclists and servicing £500 mtbs is not a business. It happened and everything was progressing well until Covid. Then the bike industry model broke and we are all sat around waiting to see what the public and then the manufacturers want to do next.

[troc]

Here in the Netherlands, my local bike shop is a Cannonade and Cube dealer (plus some Dutch brands). I've noticed that they've recently changed focus and all the window display is e-bikes. Mostly Cannonade ones. They used to be absolutely focussed on road, cyclocross and XC bikes so this is quite a shift.....

[YorkshireStu]

troc said:

Here in the Netherlands, my local bike shop is a Cannonade and Cube dealer (plus some Dutch brands). I've noticed that they've recently changed focus and all the window display is e-bikes. Mostly Cannonade ones. They used to be absolutely focussed on road, cyclocross and XC bikes so this is quite a shift.....

My LBS in Portugal is a KTM Dealer and he stocks the entire range but tells me since 2019 or so his trade is 80% e-bikes.

So much so that his business has actually improved overall compared to previously; e-bikes have opened up cycling to a much wider clientele.

[okgo]

And importantly - nobody owned an e-bike before - so it’s all greenfield. Selling someone new road bike or MTB when they have one is a much different/harder sell.

[GCH]

Blackspire - Canadian component manufacturer - now closed down.
Not announced (yet) and their website still up, but yesterday I received a reply to an email part enquiry telling me in fairly clear terms they were closed. I found the auction with all their liquidated stock so it checks out.
Tough times out there...

ps- anyone got an ISCG05 blackspire stinger laying about they no longer want? Bonus points if you have one in purple or pink?

[Court_S]

GCH said:

Blackspire - Canadian component manufacturer - now closed down.
Not announced (yet) and their website still up, but yesterday I received a reply to an email part enquiry telling me in fairly clear terms they were closed. I found the auction with all their liquidated stock so it checks out.
Tough times out there...

ps- anyone got an ISCG05 blackspire stinger laying about they no longer want? Bonus points if you have one in purple or pink?

That’s a shame. I’ve still got a few of their chainrings kicking about.

[Castrol for a knave]

Court_S said:

GCH said:

Blackspire - Canadian component manufacturer - now closed down.
Not announced (yet) and their website still up, but yesterday I received a reply to an email part enquiry telling me in fairly clear terms they were closed. I found the auction with all their liquidated stock so it checks out.
Tough times out there...

ps- anyone got an ISCG05 blackspire stinger laying about they no longer want? Bonus points if you have one in purple or pink?

That’s a shame. I’ve still got a few of their chainrings kicking about.

Yeah, a real shame. I had a Blackspire chainset on my old Turner 5 spot - they were a sort of Canadian version of Hope. Some nice kit.

[President Merkin]

Wiggle pulling the plug on interntional sales, admins say a sale of the business is progressing quickly.


https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/wiggle-closes-i...

[Court_S]

President Merkin said:

Wiggle pulling the plug on interntional sales, admins say a sale of the business is progressing quickly.


https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/wiggle-closes-i...

Any news on what’s happening with their in-house brands such as Nukeproof?

[Court_S]

President Merkin said:

Wiggle pulling the plug on interntional sales, admins say a sale of the business is progressing quickly.


https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/wiggle-closes-i...

Any news on what’s happening with their in-house brands such as Nukeproof?

[nickfrog]

President Merkin said:

Wiggle pulling the plug on interntional sales, admins say a sale of the business is progressing quickly.


https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/wiggle-closes-i...

I am quite tempted to fill the gap and open an international operation to get rid of my excess stock from them

[bobbo89]

Court_S said:

Any news on what’s happening with their in-house brands such as Nukeproof?

I'd imagine anyone looking to buy would want to retain the CRC and Nukeproof branding more than anything. In the UK MTB world they're both huge names that are worth a lot!

[President Merkin]

Court_S said:

Any news on what’s happening with their in-house brands such as Nukeproof?

Just what you see pal. Nukeproof needs to live on imo, same for Vitus, both distinct brands occupying very separate & viable niches. I wonder if any potential buyer would keep them with a view to spinning them off in future for a couple more pay days.