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jonkranked Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/2/2025 2:06am
You're Toast
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/2/2025 2:05am
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I’m trying to think of a situation where a distributor continued selling a company’s product while the parent company was in bankruptcy, I can’t recall one, let alone a situation where the distributor bypassed the parent and kept operating. To be clear Flossman comes off (is) like a sociopath, but if the parent is actually in bankruptcy, I don’t see how any real deal gets done. It’s not that he wouldn’t say a deal could happen...he always looks out for himself but unless the U.S. distributorship could satisfy the creditors, there would...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
hogfly Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/2/2025 2:05am
From a commenter on PB: “ Everyone needs the hear the facts. Markus flossman is an egotistical freak and scammer. After insolvency there was a handshake deal for YT USA to purchase exclusive brand rights and be independently operated. Truth is Markus couldn’t stand the idea of US branch not being under his control. Continued to shoot over shitty deals, 1 year contracts, and insane royalty payments. We as a staff chose not to sign up for a shitty deal that would ultimately kill us anyways. Everyone thinks private equity killed this brand. That’s wrong. Markus single handedly killed YT...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
LePigPen Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/2/2025 2:04am
Regardless of how challenging it would be... There's just no way Markus was gonna basically sign over the rights to his brand to the US division, especially at a discount. Truly, he is prepared to 'go down with the ship'... But not before saving himself financially and pushing all the staff and riders (and customers) off the life boat first lol (All for the life boat to sink as well?) I called out the YT-US only concept a while ago, or what I called the oppo-Scott. But ya he was never gonna let that happen. I think it woulda been...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/2/2025 2:03am
Is anyone surprised by this? From what I can tell the parent company isn't emerging out of bankruptcy protections and the creditors are liquidating assets (including goat heads). Maybe the hope is the creditors are able to liquidate enough to make them whole, and the equity holders are given back the company? This doesn't seem likely. This is why Markus needed investors, to effectively buy the company out of bankruptcy. TL;DR - The parent is done, hence every regional distributorship is also done. Am I missing something?
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
iceman2058 Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/1/2025 7:02am
Here's the official, non-meme statement from YT USA: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you from YT Industries USA Dear YT Family, After eight incredible years of serving riders across North America, we want to share some difficult news. Despite our best efforts, YT Industries USA and YT Industries Germany have not been able to reach an agreement on future operations. As a result, YT Industries USA will be closing its business. This is not a decision we made lightly. From day one, our mission has been to bring the YT spirit—performance, creativity, and community—to riders all over North America. Together, we’ve built something...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
11/1/2025 7:01am
Wait. For accuracy I have to call this out: two things can be true at once. The defense contracting world has historically been a stealthy, backroom deal making, hush hush industry and Silicon Valley types can buck that trend while still building legitimate business and being very important people at their respective companies. To act like Palmer Luckey or someone like Alex Karp are not making real decisions because they show up on podcasts from time to time or come from tech is wrong. Palmer runs Anduril. Alex runs Palantir. Do you really think they do not influence outcomes at...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
Downamics Liked a bike check Downamics Gamux Sego
10/28/2025 12:33am
This bike check has 10 comments.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/28/2025 12:32am
There's substantial strawmanning here, though I want to be clear, I'm not criticizing you for sharing it. Some of his core points hold up: tech companies do prioritize growth over fundamentals, Google's search quality has in some way degraded (though they have bigger problems w search), Uber's profitability concerns (durability) are legitimate (something I've written about), and Meta's ad model faces real structural headwinds (been written about for eons). But the piece paints a fundamentally incomplete picture. He relies on rhetorical extremism ("markets have fucking cataracts"), cherry-picks examples that fit his predetermined narrative, and ironically suffers from survivorship bias in...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
Bananamoon Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/28/2025 12:31am
Anyone in the UK who knows what's goin on at Bird Cycleworks? For some wheeks now their FS frames have been on sale and as it seem they're about to start selling bikes from Forbidden, Forestal and Early rider.
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic 2025 Race Talk
10/25/2025 11:21pm
Ah, good point. Funny enough, I actually dug into this about a year ago and learned that in most cases, these sponsorships, regardless of the sport, exist because there’s an evangelist high up in the company. Someone who genuinely loves it. They probably know it’s not the best use of marketing dollars, but they’re passionate and, frankly, hard to fire. It really helps if there is a culture around supporting these things, too (WD-40 has this culture). My dad actually knew the guy who owned Interstate Batteries back in the day. He loved NASCAR. For him, it wasn’t about ROI...
This forum topic has 2616 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic 2025 Race Talk
10/25/2025 11:19pm
I’ve long argued that unlocking more money in racing depends on bringing in more non-endemic,or at least semi-non-endemic, sponsors. Think Frameworks x WD-40. The challenge is that I cross paths with a lot of marketers, and its incredibly hard to justify putting millions into such a niche sport when that same budget could go into Meta or YouTube ads. With digital, you get instant analytics, optimization tools, and far less career risk. You can still reach the same demographic, but in a way that’s more measurable and scalable...with no tough conversations with the boss (really, ever). At the end of...
This forum topic has 2616 replies.
Karabuka Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/24/2025 4:44am
The only other brand that comes to mind was Iron Horse in 2008 but it was not even close. Remember, it was the era of prime Sam Hill and that year he was 2nd overall and 3rd in the world champs (legendary Val di Sole run when he crashed in the second to last corner)
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
Brian_Peterson Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/24/2025 4:43am
Racing at a WC level tends to cost a lot of money.. Given the industry struggles as of late, this really isn't too shocking.
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
63expert Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/24/2025 4:43am
How many bike companies have won a World Championship, a World Cup Overall, and then folded that same year?
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
Blake_Motley Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/24/2025 4:37am
Someone tell Leo Kokkonen that the investors at Nobl have no obligation to Evil’s customers so this actually can’t be done
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
pocguin Liked a bike check CUSTOM Norco Shore 2023 dream build
10/21/2025 2:14pm
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jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/21/2025 2:13pm
I'm locking this thread for a day or two. Not trying to be rude, I'd actually love to jump in myself, but we've gone way off the rails. None of this ties back to the bike or outdoor industry directly. If you want to continue the AI discussion, please start a new thread, take it to X/Twitter, or head over to LinkedIn. Those platforms are built for this kind of speculation (and overflowing with this sort of banter). I want to keep this space focused on industry-specific topics. Nothing personal,I genuinely enjoy these conversations, this is just a "thread hygiene"...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/21/2025 2:11pm
I had a long reply written for this, but broadly discussing AI is probably outside the scope of this thread. There are really only two relevant tie-ins here: 1. How companies should be able to do more with less, and how that could (or should) put downward pressure on margins, potentially making things deflationary. (Don’t hold your breath.) 2. How the current data center capex cycle, set against shaky conviction in model economics, could eventually blow up and have second- or third-order effects on industries like bikes, just as the dot-com bubble and the financial crisis did in their time...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
DServy Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/21/2025 2:11pm
" The majority of jobs will be things where robots are just too expensive to do what a human can do with their hands." Ohhh man, we're all about to get a pretty rude awaking on this front. I really cannot understate how much of a wrecking ball AI will be across all industries, and I say that because I'm in the AI industry for work. Hearing what our investors are saying, and how we are positioning our company internally has me legit scared for a lot of people's jobs. White color is by far going to be the first...
This forum topic has 4832 replies.
