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Yes it’s legit. Take a look at HSA store and you’ll see tons of normal life stuff you can spend your HSA on. Also, Medicare will give patients about $500 a year to spend on healthy lifestyle things. My pops just got a ski season pass with it, the companies have to be qualified but it’s real.
Still seems weird to me, not that I'll complain about a way to avoid paying taxes haha (I understand that HSAs and FSAs are added to pre tax, might be wrong) . Who else is running a program like this?
Maybe not a brand familiar to this audience, but Gravaa (the hub-based inflation system) has filed for bankruptcy. They had some success with Visma and Marianne Vos winning Gravel Worlds; however, $4k was a big pill to swallow for most riders, and it looks like time ran out before scaling.
I've definitely seen ads from Ari for HSA-qualified purchasing. I imagine the bike companies are all using the same third-party service to determine qualification.
That said, if you have an HSA and can afford not tap into it regularly, there is no better investment vehicle in the US. Tax-deductible contributions, tax-free investment growth, tax-free withdrawals for qualified expenses. I don't currently have an HDHP that is HSA eligible, but when I did, I maxed it whenever possible and fully invested every dollar without spending any of it. It is my long-term care plan.
I have also seen some knee brace companies on the moto side offer this, so maybe protective gear is also a viable use of HSA funds.
FWIW, these programs normally see a pretty good return on investment just in terms of healthcare costs. It's a pretty cool and definitely good idea to keep people healthy!
Idk cycling has cost be over $100k in medical bills
They're hoping it'll just be one funeral cost before too long. That's cheaper than medical care in old age.
sounds about american. medical bills from cycling: 0
and i have a very nice titanium upgrade in my right hand. but that’s the price we pay for not having the famous american freedom. soooo jealous of you
More or less the same (upgrade on the cheekbone instead of the arm), except that over here we're not complete asses to people with a different government setup neither are we jealous of them...
Still not going well for KKR and the Accell Group https://www.ft.com/content/07f25973-c0ab-4bb8-a192-29ce9b7422bc
All I get is an invitation to pay them several hundred dollars, can you summarise?
Sorry, I was able to access it from my Google News feed.
AI summary: KKR-backed Accell Group is facing the prospect of a second debt restructuring just over a year after its last one, as continued cash burn and weak demand in the European cycling market strain its finances. Despite cutting €600mn of debt in 2024, Accell’s lenders are bracing for heavy losses, with its debt trading at deeply distressed levels and insolvency or liquidation a possibility if new funding or a sale fails. The situation threatens major losses for KKR on a €1.8bn buyout struck in 2022, highlighting the firm’s mis-timed bet on a post-pandemic cycling boom that quickly reversed.
"Traders have quoted Accell’s €274mn of so-called super senior debt at less than 20 cents on the euro in recent weeks, with lower-ranking loans marked at single-digit prices, suggesting that lenders are braced for heavy losses in an anticipated restructuring."
I have paid only a small fraction of this out-of-pocket
Is the cost to host a World Cup considered Bikeconomics? Sure, why not?
The Lake Placid events cost $860k in 2025 and brought in $293k in tickets, lift passes, and parking. Hotels and AirBnBs filled up, and money was spent on food, fuel, etc. I don't think the split venue and lack of bike park trails help the cause for this round, but hopefully the area and UCI decide to keep Placid on the schedule.
I think most WC venues run at a loss. I know Fort William was only viable due to the financial support from Visit Scotland and I beieve it's the case that many French venues that've hosted were heavily reliant on help from their local tourist board.
@Downtime Podcast did an episode last year on the logistics and cost of hosting Leogang. Interesting stuff. https://www.downtimepodcast.com/leogang-world-cup/
Rad Power has a buyer https://www.geekwire.com/2026/rad-power-bikes-asset-auction-attracts-two-successful-bidders-as-part-of-e-bike-makers-bankruptcy/
$329 million raised, selling for $14.9. Valued at a peak of $1.65 billion, that's rough.
Is it a forest fire company
That's a soul-crushing sale price for Rad Power. I remember when I saw them valued at greater than a billion dollars I thought that was obviously a pipe dream, but to get sold off for $14m is wild.
For a company that just had their showroom catch fire last week (likely due to the dangerous batteries they couldn’t afford to recall) millions of dollars is a big reach, IMO.
E-cargo is their market. They may have been early to “mindshare” in the space, but mindshare is worth nothing if you make a dangerous product.
These days you can get a specialized or trek that does the same stuff, costs about the same, and doesn’t have a track record of catching fire and lawsuits from the parents of dead kids.
Oh, and also, if there's a recall, you had better believe that Trek or Specialized or whoever is standing by their product and doing their best to make it right. None of that "you can buy a new battery if you want" utter bullshit Rad and CANYON have pulled. As upset as people were with Norco and Rocky when they had their own recall foibles a few years ago, they both made it right and I can't recall any mainstream, established brand doing what Rad and Canyon have done.
14m is probably about right - bidding was an inherently public process in this case and the market found a price. I'm not sure what brand equity remains at this point, maybe the buyer will be changing everything to have their own name now.
How are e-cargo bikes so huge? Most of the country experiences weather
Very popular where I live (East Bay). No snow, rain only a few months of the year. Flat for the most part.
And rain/weather covers exist 😀
experiencing weather is the point
Also e-cargo bikes sell for around 5k but look like about $7 worth of metal and labour was put into the frame
That's more than I paid for my Highlander Hybrid
Most of their end customers don't care about brand equity, a battery recall,or anything else going on with the brand. RAD was built on mobility solutions, of which there's still a market in need of. I think with the right leadership they'll bounce back relatively quickly.
There’s a line between the “mobility” space and “specialty cycling.” I get that plenty of people treat specialty cycling as a subset of mobility, but the distinction matters here: Rad is arguably closer to a moped company than it is to anything most of us think of as “cycling". So yes, I agree with @kperras , with the right leadership, it 100% could be turned around (depending on what they "acquired").
On the bankruptcy and the company’s brutal fall from a 10-figure valuation, this kind of unwind has (obviously) become normal in our corner of the world. The part I keep coming back to is how brands (IE: none) that transacted at the 2021 high-water mark will ever see those valuations again, even if the company were to execute well from here.
The old line holds: it’s better to be lucky than good. And the people who sold in that window were, without question, lucky. On the flip side, the buyers who paid those multiples were buying a story at the absolute top, and none soon to forget it. Yes, hindsight is 20/20, but it’s still pretty wild.
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