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Treks buisness model for shops is single brand, either Trek owned or independent (but dictated to). They openly aspire to the Apple of the bike world (or whatever they latest buzzword book Burke has read this week).But being a single brand and not having a comprehensive range of models leaves you open to lost sales to the competition that fills the gaps. Despite what 'we' (as discerning mtbers) think ,the large majority of purchases are made on colour and price and don't really care what is written on the downtube. I like how Trek frame this as 'right sizing' in...

Nukeproof not so nuke proof after all? Too soon?

Kona is a zombie brand right now. Their 'pivot' happened without any warning to their dealers, and they also laid off a lot of people at the same time. And prior to that, new models they'd been promising for at least a year were abruptly cancelled. The whole thing reeks of desperation. Not entirely sure who's really steering the ship at this point. Part of me would like to see the brand bounce back (not least because I still own one of their bikes, and enjoy it a lot) but I also would not be surprised if they close up...

Well that's going to make this wheel set hard to sell. Anyone want some 29" ridefast mainlines? Thanks for the update.

Since there's a lot of speculation with GG, I'll add some clarity from a pretty reliable source. The GG demise is somewhat different from a lot of the other issues (i.e. overstock) the other brands are facing. The investor came in with a ton of money, some ideas and zero manufacturing experience. He loaded up management with loyalist, then made a left turn with the direction of the company. All the eggs were in that basket and they didn't hatch. I'm not sure if the chance to pivot had pasted or he just lost interest but the cash flow ended...

"Pulling sales out of the future and into the present." I was actually sitting around a campfire on a riding trip this past weekend and said almost the same thing to my riding buddies. The way I see it, on a micro-level with the riders in my local area, a good portion of people I saw getting new bikes during the pandemic were probably going to get bikes or upgrade their bike in the next 1-2 years but working from home and the increased leisure time that came along with it led to people making their purchases 6-12 months earlier...

You would think that planning for that bubble burst would be a no-brainer, but I worked for a bike manufacturer during 2021-22 and the talks of growth just didn’t stop. “We’re gonna double our team size.” “We’re gonna double our output.” All the leadership bought fancy trucks in advance. When I left, the shelves were full of inventory that wasn’t moving. The employee turnover was ridiculous. Every one of us actually getting our hands dirty knew that bubble was gonna pop long before it actually did. The leadership just refused to accept it. The idea of increased profits really can...