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I had to stop and help someone put a freaking pedal back on a couple of months ago. Whoever installed it had cross threaded it and it was just a disaster. I said, “well, I can get it back on so you can get back to the trailhead but take this back to the bike shop and make them pay for new cranks.” It was almost like the “mechanic” not only did the cross threading but also managed to use no grease or ASC. New bike, approximately $9k. Of course he had no tools with him. It hurt my soul that people can be that incompetent.
Cool bike shipping discussion, guys….
anyway, one has to wonder how much of what we’re seeing in this market lull is not just that Covid era sold 5 years of supply in 2 years, but market over saturation. How many pretty darn good $3500 carbon frames do we need? used to be there were a handful of elite companies you might buy at a primo price. Nowadays everyone’s making expensive bikes and they’re all good and served with a side of marketing BS.
Scott’s bailout says everything one needs to know about market receptivity to overly complex bikes. Meanwhile, Raaw is expanding their race program and adding a new bike. I dislike seeing any of these companies go under, but maybe there are just too many of them for such a small market.
ever seen how those bike boxes get handled by the ppl on the ground and how often you arrive at your destination but your bike hasn’t?
whats the point of knowing how to fix a flat if you ride tubulars
And let's start "opening our lungs up" before the stage again too!
a couple years back at the top of the lift at the bike park, there was a dude asking for help. his whole front end rattled apart - i mean everything was loose, brake caliper, the steerer in the headset, thankfully the handlebar wasn't loose in the stem. dude had a manitou sherman (i think) installed backwards. when i pointed this out to this his response was "no the brake arch goes in front". i kindly explained to him that wasn't the case with this particular fork (while also pointing out the brake caliper was on the wrong side) and he insisted on me fixing it. i just said i don't have enough tools on me for all the necessary repairs. i told him to take the lift back down the mountain and take his bike to a shop before I rode away from that liability.
bring back the pre-race lung bunger - https://www.instagram.com/unioncigaretteinternational/?hl=en
Back to Joe leaving SC, he may have been ask to oversee something he didn’t want to do or felt wasn’t required like move to the new premises, layoffs or production overseas.
then again maybe he cooked the books and is moving to Bahrain 🤑
Have you got a source for this, out of interest? Quite like them as a brand, just trying to see what's happening.
In Joe's defense. He was originally brought in as the second generation Nomad hit production. I quit my job there as a frame assembler over the stupid, stupid design of that bike. Poor Willy in warranty had his hands full with that one. I asked Joe to his face if he designed that bike and he was quick to clarify that he had not. Perhaps there's another silly design choice coming that he just couldn't stomach.
Some news on Vista, Camelbak, Giro, Bell, going through a restructure:
https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2024/02/02/vista-outdoor%…
Interesting graphic with YoY declines.
The chart above shows the quarterly financial figures of Shimano, which basically shows a nearly 30% decrease from the year before. For 2024, Shimano is predicting a further 11.3% decrease from 2023, owing to geopolitical uncertainty in Ukraine and the Middle East; another factor mentioned is that the upcoming U.S. presidential election “may influence the economy.”
From the article:
“Although the booming popularity of bicycles cooled down, interest in bicycles continued to be high as a long-term trend. On the other hand, market inventories generally remained high, despite ongoing supply and demand adjustments,” the company said of the global market.
The company said sales in Germany and the Benelux countries were strong, and road bikes are selling well in China. In North America, it said “although interest in bicycles was firm, retail sales of completed bicycles remained weak partly due to a reaction from the cycling boom, and market inventories were at a consistently high level.”
I forgot to mention that Shimano's 2024 global forecast is actually not THAT bad as they are predicting global sales higher than 2019. This is actually much more optimistic than what most of the cycling industry were predicting towards the end of 2023.
There are some funny headlines to be scored here, but let's say we're above that...
From Bicycle Retailer:
Giant agrees to sell kids and mountain bikes at Dick's-owned specialty stores
NEWBURY PARK, Calif. (BRAIN) — Giant Group will sell bikes through about 25 specialty stores owned by Dick's Sporting Goods, including House of Sport, Public Lands, and Moosejaw locations.
The stores will sell kids bikes, mountain bikes — including full-suspension and entry-priced E-MTBs — and gear.
Giant joins Cannondale, GT, Intense and other brands available at Dick's specialty stores. Public Lands, which has seven locations, launched in 2021. The retail chain has been seen as Dick's challenge to REI and its locations include full-service shops and other specialty store features.
In a letter to retailers Giant said Dick's has pursued the brand for five years and emphasized it remains "100%" committed to retailers. Giant said its bikes most likely will be available online from those stores' online sites.
Giant General Manager John Thompson did not respond to specific questions about the decision, instead forwarding to BRAIN the email that was sent to retailers and signed by Thompson and Giant National Sales Manager Angelo Mascelli that included a FAQ link.
"We are taking this action to attract non-riders and crossover athletes to see bikes that aren't typically visiting independent bicycle dealers," Giant wrote in the "Who made this decision" FAQ section. "We believe that getting more people on bikes is a win for everyone."
The question of the competency of the speciality stores' service departments was addressed in the FAQs.
"Their bike staff is well-trained in sales interaction and service execution to provide the best cycling experience," Giant answered. "They are committed to investing in their staff and facilities to elevate their services."
Giant said Dick's specialty stores will be committed to honoring Giant's minimum advertised price policy. In addition, Giant said it will benefit from Dick's specialty stores' ability to market the brand with a customer base of 80 million per year, "which means that our brands now have the potential to be seen by a much larger audience. For instance, customers who buy premium Callaway or Ping golf clubs can now access Giant Group bikes," according to Giant.
Dick's specialty stores will not be given priority to purchase bikes, Giant said, and will be in the same queue as other retailers. "They place individual orders for each of their 20-plus stores. They have a strong purchasing team and clear supply expectations, so they place firm orders. They are like any other retailer who needs stock. If the stock is available, it is accessible to them."
Dick's acquired Moosejaw from Walmart in February 2023. In September, Dick's announced it would close 11 Moosejaw locations, including the outdoor speciality retailer's headquarters in Madison Heights, Michigan, this month. Three Moosejaw stores will remain open and are located in Birmingham, Michigan; Salt Lake City; and Bentonville, Arkansas.
The 12 House of Sport locations have customer interactive features like a rock climbing wall, golf pro shop with a putting green, and batting cage.
In 2018, the speciality outdoor brand Black Diamond demanded that its products be removed from a special "curated" e-commerce site that was developed by Moosejaw. Moosejaw sold Black Diamond products in its stores, but the brand felt the specialty e-commerce site was too closely linked to the Walmart site.
i get some
vibes
Too easy.
Giant Dick's and selling kids?--what could go wrong
Tin foil hat take - Selling bikes at Dicks as a means to offload old stock and generate cash????
it should be noted that GT is no longer offered at dick's sporting goods. the store has some existing stock to sell through, but that's it. GT is only LBS and direct in north america.
P.s. Never mind that Outside is using fourth graders to write its headlines. Truth Social will be conflicted
@sethimus: why wait
Interesting. My local dick’s had been selling low end gts for years.
giant has said they won't go direct. I suppose this is the tradeoff, and I'd be interested to hear dealers' reactions as to which is worse in their eyes.
yep, i guess that strategy is over for GT.
It's my understanding/interpretation that Giants won't be sold at Dick's, just Dick's-owned specialty off-shoots like Public Lands and Moosejaw. It's really no different than REI selling Cannondale or Salsa (also formerly Ghost too).
Just some broad commentary to add here - whenever looking at year/year sales graphs or tables, its not the worst idea to go back to pre-COVID just to see what linear regression may have otherwise drawn if COVID didn't happen. In many cases we're seeing things track back to an average of sorts if you equalize for "all the demand that was pulled forward". Its not perfect math, but its worth noting for those who are looking for "what does normal/baseline" look like?
They also don't sell Intense bikes at Dick's neither. They sell the 951 series bikes at Cosco if that's what you were referring too. But this is a bit concerning. We've all seen how these big chain stores assemble their bikes that they sell. I'm not saying that they can't or won't step up their game when dealing with higher end bikes. But at this moment, I can't trust buying a bike from any of these big department stores. Buying a high-end mountain bike costs a lot of money. So it should feel special and the place selling them should have the same love for the bike as you do. So, I'll stick to bike shops or direct to customers.
I don't know if this is still the case, but Giant used to have basically 2 completely separate lines of bikes. They had a full line of budget bikes you would find at basic outdoors or sporting goods stores, and the high end line you would find at dedicated bikes shops. My initial assumption is that they will sell the budget bikes at the Dick's-owned stored to build brand awareness, with the hope that when the 5% or so of those buyers who become more serious MTBers step up to the higher end bikes, they stick with Giant.
Interesting. I wonder if this sort of strategy worked at all for Giant in the past.
Without any sort of aspirational top-shelf factory team stuff being on display, the brand will tend to be more associated to a mere budget line only. This is fine for locations in emerging markets, I guess, but for major cities, they may want to do what car dealerships do: have a striking frontage with the sexiest product they have and associate the rest of the inventory on display as coming from the same "design language" (or at least have the same branding cues: colors, decals, etc).
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