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hannesheurlin Liked a bike check Horizonn GBE1 Prototype
10/3/2026 5:57am
This bike check has 10 comments.
TheKaiser Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/2/2026 10:08pm
So it sounds like your issue is with the "slop" part (the low quality/accuracy of the generated image), not the AI in general. I'm not sure about the complainants in this thread, but a lot of the anti AI people in general are against it due to the environmental costs. From that perspective, if Jeff took the time to redo the prompt or iterate on the image, he would actually only be making the harm worse. For me, it's the first few paragraphs that would determine if I want to continue reading it, but its a free country and everyone...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
Brian_Peterson Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/2/2026 1:45pm
So let me get this straight... Jeff gives a good detailed analysis of a situation and some of you are grabbing torches and pitchforks because he's a finance major and not a graphic designer? 1 Ai generated picture and you want to chase him off... The pettiness runs deep... Seriously...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
Primoz Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/1/2026 10:51am
I don't think there is an overlap between people doing the chasing and people wanting @jeff.brines to stay... But yeah, it won't be the same if you stop posting Jeff.
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
Flauerwald Liked a bike check Forbidden Supernought 2.0
9/29/2026 11:24pm
This bike check has 2 comments.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 11:23pm
Posted this early this AM. https://substack.com/home/post/p-217835442 I echo a lot of sentiment in this thread. Big picture, the unit never performed, but the PE firm who is hanging around sure is an interesting throughline here...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
SteveClimber Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 11:23pm
Well the short answer is they don't. Fox's share price is back to where it was in 2016. When you lose that much money, it becomes the shareholders problem. Either they remove the executives and board members who did the Marucci deal, or you just move forward. But the company has dropped ~85% in 5 years from their COVID era peak. So they're not far away from having to bring in a turn around merchant. All depends how the shareholders assess the fallout, and if it's pitchforks or a polite goodbye.
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
onxx Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 11:23pm
Problem for the stock price though is: how do you have faith in this leadership going forward? They just lost you $400m on a business that currently has a $765m market cap and with the revenues and income the way they are, will be dealing with this for years to come. I get that everyone makes mistakes, investing in the future is hard, but this is a very big mistake. We've seen in the past how leadership changes can dramatically affect a business (and it's stock price).
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
astrad45 Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 11:22pm
I worked at Fox during the acquisition of Marucchi and can say these were the reasons behind it: Diversify out of the bicycle industry During COVID obviously there was a huge boom and bust cycle in the cycling industry and Fox was really just along for the ride. Record quarters followed by huge slumps. The C-suite decided to aquire a company outside of the cycling industry to hedge against further industry specific disruption. The SSG division of fox stands for Speciality Sports Group, and they wanted to cover more than one sport. There were perceived synergies in the product lines...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
mickey Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 11:22pm
Correct! Boeing bought the drawbenches that lived in Connecticut and also the draw benches from Sapa. 2015 was the last time anything except drawn-over-mandrel straight gauge 6061 has been available domestically. Swaging machines and shops that can dome and swage still exist, if you know where to look. There might be an automotive muffler plant in Ohio that has a draw bench suitable to the task in mothballs, but the chances of a dusty old mandrel for a Klein downtube being useful, or there being staff members who remembers how to run the machine are pretty darn low. Outside of...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
pamtbr Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 11:21pm
It must have been the Lizard Skins connection that sealed the deal. Bikes and bats united by grippy tape. The Marucci origin story is pretty interesting from an American success story perspective. How I Built This podcast from late '24. If you're an old baseball dork like me, then you've probably seen @baseballbatbros on IG, but if not, it's interesting to see how different bats perform. There is some tech in there, and exit velocity has gone crazy.
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 4:56am
All time post right here.
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
NoahColorado Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/29/2026 4:56am
I mean, it's not that confusing... 😆 2014: Easton-Bell Sports sold its baseball and softball division to Bauer Performance Sports ($330,000,000) 2014: Race Face buys Easton Cycling ($?), Fox buys Race Face and Easton Cycling ($30,000,000) 2016: Easton-Bell Sports sells Bell and Giro (and Blackburn) to Vista Outdoor ($400,000,000) 2020: Rawlings acquired Easton Diamond Sports from Peak Achievement Athletics (formerly Bauer Performance Sports) ($?) 2022: Vista Outdoor buys Fox (the other Fox) ($540,000,000) 2023: Fox (this Fox) buys Marucchi (whose logo looks like Manitou and name sounds like Marzucchi, which is how people frequently mispronounce Marzocchi –– which they also...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/26/2026 12:19pm
Hopefully I'll do a quick substack on this one, because its really bad. LOL. Fox bought the company for $572M, financed with debt. Interest on the debt was roughly $107-115M per year. The unit was generating roughly $65-73M in EBTIDA per year. When you net everything out, Fox lost about $400M before counting capex and working capital. The only thing Fox retains in this deal are the losses. No IP sticks around, not that they'd want it anyway. Baseball has nothing to do with suspension. OUCH.
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
sspomer Liked a reply to forum topic 2026 Race Talk
9/11/2026 1:38pm
Needles and Sam Hill POV - legends getting loose!
This forum topic has 1246 replies.
chriskief Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/4/2026 11:11pm
It must have been a rough day when the Levo rollout (years in the making) was quickly made irrelevant by the Avinox M2. Didn't they have to slash prices by like 40% or something? They already outsource their motors, just give in and go with Avinox. Do something unique with it like Orbea. Throw that on an updated Kenevo based on the latest Demo and let the good times roll.
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
ShapeThings Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/4/2026 11:10pm
Dude is 76. Curious if a Rupert Murdoch type of mentality of not being able to let go (and pushing the previous 2 CEO'S out) or a Disney situation where Bob Eiger was drafted back in because Chapek cooked the company?
This forum topic has 5327 replies.
JVP Liked a reply to forum topic Tire chat (nerds only)
9/1/2026 2:45pm
Patch that tire from the inside. Use a heavy duty or moto version of the old-school Rema kind that uses rubber cement. Gotta clean it, and a little heat helps, but it's not hard. Or even just throw a large Dynaplug in there (bacon strips aren't sufficient). It's not dead.
This forum topic has 1990 replies.
pamtbr Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
8/27/2026 2:38pm
It looks like the French courts have given Lapierre the green light to pursue an independent future outside of Accell. They have two months to prove they have the financing in place and a six-month observation period under court supervision to continue operations. Cycles Lapierre SAS generated €99.1 million in revenue in 2025. Between 2024 and 2025, its operating loss fell from €46.3 million to €27.2 million, an improvement of €19.1 million, or more than 41%, in one year. With its own industrial and technical site in Dijon, the current organisation brings together “the functions needed to build an autonomous...
This forum topic has 5327 replies.