Will more companies be shutting down in the next 12-24 months?

I think Amer Sports were expecting bigger profits but Enve isn't on the level of trying to make products for everyone. They make products that appeal to a smaller audience and they aren't looking or needing the big numbers of a larger company.. I think they will be fine..

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2024/04/30/enve-gm-says-b…

The new env owner apparently is a newly minted/self made billionare from the company he founded who lives 20 minutes away, owns two of their bikes and whose son had a summer job building wheels there. Honestly sounds like the best buyer they could hope for.

It also seems like its not a crazy time to be investing in US manufacturing.

Probably the best thing for Enve. Once Amer sold off Mavic it left Enve as the only Amer brand in the cycling space. It would just continue to float about on its own without any support from Amer, but still be expected to contribute. 

One would think after having a bulk of the world's manufacturing sector shut down a few short years ago that doing more domestic manufacturing would be viewed as a good idea... But....

I heard rumors that Walmart is buying Specialized and part of Trek?  Anyone else hear this?

I saw someone on YouTube mentioning this, but I haven't heard anything solid.. Plus, it could be members of the Walton family,  which isn't the same as Walmart..

Are we doing bike shops/internet shops too?  Just saw going out of business ads for Colorado Cyclist and Planet Cyclery on FB.  That sucks.  

not the typical position you usually find listed in the swiss bike job listings:

https://www.ride-mtb.com/de/stellenangebote/scott-sports-ceo

Seems like a hostile working environment...

I’m surprised physically removing the current ceo isn’t in the job requirements.

rheeder out of Title and onto new things.

Hmm maybe just a falling out vs. concerns about Title moving forward? It was rad to see what Brett was able to create with Title, and I'm curious to see what his next move will be. Hopefully Title can continue to thrive without his name attached to the brand. 

Awkwardly working around the former/current/maybe-still-future(?) CEO on a daily basis is one of the downsides of that position. The cc/bcc email situation gets tricky when someone else in the org literally thinks they have your job.

I'd love to see a running list of MTB brands in 1992 when I fully embraced MTB versus now just to see how many have come and gone.  
A running total of how many there were then vs now.

get to work.

2 things on the Rheeder situation..

1) I wonder if this is a situation where sales weren't good enough and one of his vendors now has the company.. Seen this many times over the years..

2) New bike company?  I guess he won't be on Commencal much longer..

probably got pissed after breaking all their bikes

That was my first thought as well,  maybe he sees the writing on the wall and wants to “leave” rather than have to admit defeat in a few months when the company goes under. 

I would guess he never had controlling interest in the company to begin with. I could see an established Asian component factory forming a spin-off company where they stake the development and manufacturing cost then bring in a popular rider as a minority owner to give the new brand legitimacy. 

There can be a lot of risk in these situations when your personal "brand" is on the line and you don't have controlling direction of the company. The manufacturer could have said, "great we have legitimacy among core mtb riders, let's parlay that into the mass market, all the Walmart bikes will now come with Title components"

Agreed. Every time yet another company announces a stem or a pair of flat pedals I wonder how they can possibly be seeing a market opportunity.

Counterpoint (I am not saying I think it makes sense to come to market with another bar, stem, pedal...) but from a business standpoint, it is much easier (and potentially lower risk) to come to market with a component like a pedal compared to a suspension product. More pedals are sold every year (especially in the aftermarket where margins are higher) than forks. Plus, there is not a duo/trio of brands taking 80% of the market share. 

For some suspension brands, if they sell a few thousand forks or shocks, they are going to have a good year. And they had a lot of overhead in developing and testing that product. 

Pedals, it would not be too challenging to sell 10,000 sets of pedals (assuming a distribution channel in place) which have a lower overhead, higher margin, less development, and simpler production. 

So for a business looking to grow its market presence and expand into an additional category, I can see how they justify it.

I was about to say, it doesn't matter if the volume is higher, what kind of margins are you getting with pedals but they are selling theirs for like $160 haha. I can't imagine spending that on pedals, esp. flat pedals. 

I have a couple stem ideas I was prototyping/printing when a pal who is firmly more entrenched on the bike mfg side of things said pretty much the same exact thing. It stung, but hard truths often do. How many $100+ stems do we really need? I may revisit one of them at some later point since it had some novel aspects, but that can wait til winter.

The other site is reporting that the original owners of Kona have bought the company back from Kent Outdoors. I'd love to know what they sold/bought back for. 

Nice to see a good news story in the current climate.

PR from Kona
Dear Friends,

Kona Bicycles has been in the news lately. We’d love to say that it’s because the new Ouroboros is blowing everyone’s minds (because it really is that good), but truthfully, it has been a bumpy couple years. So, it’s time to print a positive headline: Kona is returning home to its roots.

Dan Gerhard and Jake Heilbron have purchased the brand back from Kent Outdoors, and along with a team of dedicated, experienced Kona employees, are reuniting to keep the Long, Sweet Ride rolling. There are a lot of familiar faces here who you know from epic dealer launches, My Kona videos and trail days who are dedicated to the cause. Kona’s employees, dealers, and our dedicated customers have always been our strongest resource, and they keep on jamming to the beat of their own drum. With this return to being rider-owned and operated, we’re doubling down on our unique brand legacy and getting back to some basics.

Renewing relationships with our nearly 1000-strong North American and European dealer network is our highest priority. Most of us started out in bike shops, and in our eyes, IBDs are our strongest advocates and allies. Healthy retailers are integral to making sure that Kona fans everywhere experience the ride of a lifetime. To best honor our dealer relationships, we are pausing D2C for all bikes. Konaworld.com will show changes to reflect this, and our social and communications channels will be getting reworked as well once we get things rolling. Bear with us, and we will keep you informed as we move through this transition.

On the bike side, new Kona inventory is headed to our warehouse and distributors, and alongside the freshly released Ouroboros, we’ve got some incredible bikes in the pipeline that we are looking forward to unveiling. We’re beyond grateful for the support that our suppliers have shown us in this endeavor. Vendors like Fairly Bikes, who have been with us since our first bike in 1988, are a testament to the value of longstanding relationships where people take care of people.

In more good news, we are now positioned to price our bikes much more competitively. Private ownership allows us to be more streamlined, more flexible, and quicker on our feet. This, combined with the support of our suppliers, means we can deliver high quality bikes in a distinctly Kona flavor at super attractive prices. We’ll never do a BOGO Sale again, so don’t ask, but we promise to offer good value for good money, always.

Our Pacific Northwest roots are as strong as ever. Offices in Ferndale, WA and North Vancouver, BC continue to anchor us proudly in place. Tenacious, resilient, straight talking, gritty and sometimes covered in grease, we are committed to keeping the distinctly Kona flavored bike buzz flowing, and helping people find freedom and fun. We are back. We are still here. Let’s ride.

Welcome back to the smallest biggest bike company in the world.

Glad to see it about Kona. My personal favorite LBS who have been a long time Specialized dealer and has been getting the shaft from them lately like all the other LBS's tried to branch out about 6 months ago and started carrying Kona. Then... the BOGO stuff started happening with Kona... then the shutdown... so hopefully it works out for Kona and for my favorite little LBS full of great people.

Jake and Dan just pulled the Dave Portnoy/Barstool move: sell out to the corporate goons at peak value, watch them tank the brand to within an inch of its life, then step in at the last minute to buy it back at pennies on the dollar. Kent is stoked to be rid of the sinking ship, while Jake and Dan now have the profits from the original sale to reinvest into the brand. Perfect! IMO they should bring back the 2000's styling and model names. Not many brands have been around long enough to go 'retro', but Kona has. Bring back the Stinky lineup with the same font and cool paint jobs, but with updated geometry and kinematics. And for the love of god just make it a Horst link already. The patent is expired, its public knowledge, and it will definitely make the bikes more competitive in performance. I love the move away from D2C and back to dealer-only, brands need to pick one or the other. Or if they are going to offer both, D2C should always be full price while any discounts/sales should only be available through the dealers.  I wish them all the best going forward.