Aebike, PricePoint, Nashbar, Performance - which one is next?
 

I have no idea what killed all of these companies but I believe each had a physical presence at some point (except for Nashbar who was bought out by Performance). In this world of eCommerce why didn't they just get rid of the physical presence years ago? Am I oversimplifying the issue?

Who is next to close up shop (and online)?

I have used all of them over the years and am surprised they are all gone.

I don't what killed them, but I do know that Nashbar actually did have some physical brick and mortar locations at one point, at least until the late '90s (Nashbar wasn't bought by Performance until 2000).

i betcha the UK online guys played a part

A. E. Bike closed when the owner essentially decided it was time to retire: https://www.mlive.com/business/west-...nswers_qu.html

Greg

campagnolo is next.

The problem is the pie ain't growing.

It's a niche business that isn't expanding it's user base in any appreciable way.

Art's Cyclery

I wonder if there was something going on like a bubble of guys "collecting" and "upgrading" way too often that is slowing down. Are the MAMIL's aging out or something.

Could be "average joe" who bought a hybrid or whatever is slowing down due to whatever (cell phone using drivers?) too, etc..

We've heard about the US internet businesses in cycling getting hurt by distribution pricing difference with Euro internet businesses, etc.. too.

Or maybe they are all just mismanaged.

hopefully not universal cycles. i like em.

Isn't their website just a front end over the QBP catalog?
(as-in nothing more or less than you can get at your LBS for about the same price)

In no particular order

J&B
Jamis
Accell NA
KHS

None of these places are doing the business they were 10 years ago and there is no way they can continue to bleed forever. KHS has the best chance as they are still an authorized dist. for shimano

Big change, I get the feeling something is afoot at Specialized. My gut tells me that Sinyard is getting out of his end and the ownership puzzle will change in some fashion

Funny, since they are sponsoring more World Pro teams than last year and are the first major manufacturer to roll out a 12 speed road group. All of that costs more money than a failing company can support.

why are you guys blaming euro sales for bankrupting american retailers?
i think the problem is PACELINE!

we're all buying used! Just look at the Classifieds!
:banana:
:):)

You win the award for most creative use of "smilies" - and most disturbing.. :eek:

Thank God their stuff is repairable, then

Why don't QBP and JB sell direct? Is there a minimum order size for dealers?

Campy is interesting in that there are very few bikes that are sold OEM with their products... Shimano and Sram and campy sells just about all their products in the after market. And they have nothing in the MTB market...and the biggest sector now is gravel...do they have much for that?

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I can only imagine they are not setup to deal with the "end user" customer service issues (i.e. I do not believe they even accept returns from an LBS unless the product is damaged or broken). Often I wish I could just order direct from QBP rather than have to research the part myself, find the QBP part number, call the LBS and ask them to order it for me, and then go pick it up when it arrives; seems to be a broken ordering model (for me at least). Where is the value-add from the LBS in this scenario?

Two local bike shops I have asked say that the usually try to meet the minimum for free shipping - a threshold that I do not think is very high - but order as often as needed from QBP which can be 1-2 a week.

This - plus the 'enthusiast' market, i.e., this forum, seems more interested in buying their older stuff, anyway.

Sure Campy has a cut of the enthusiast market, but how big is that? And with electronic shifting and disc brakes, how much of the enthusiast market does Campy have? I've 3 bikes on campy and my 3 most recent bikes are DA and 2 are Di2. I'm thinking next year I might build another...pretty sure I want electronic shifting. 11 speed etap will be on sale now that we are waiting for 12 speed etap, but R8000 is a great value...Campy EPS is suppose to be better, but where do you get it and what's it going to cost?

What data backs this up? Biggest globally? Not likely. Biggest in North America? Doubt that as well. Gravel as a proportion of bikes sales is not likely to be number one. Campy sells all over the world and its big markets are in Europe and Asia. Also, they have hydro options now across their range for road and gravel.

Nope, no gravel, minimal if any presence in cyclocross and they haven’t done MTB since the 90s and even then, it was at best a halfhearted, somewhat underfunded effort. They realize they can’t compete everywhere with their limited resources and the cycling press has expounded on that at length. For now, they appear mostly satisfied by supporting their road groupsets with little OEM exposure. They appear to also enjoy a lucrative business in their Fulcrum wheels. None of this bodes well for anything beyond a modest but sustainable market presence but since they are family owned even that may not last forever.

PSA: Italian parts maker with various European and Asian manufacturing capability. Storied history, produces uncorrelated but value-added wine accessories, makes ugly modern cranks.

Too bad Charles didn’t post a PSA when Silca was up for sale!

I think one distinction is which 'platform' was their most significant..storefront vs online sales..More than a few online places have a store front, cuz many manufacturers and distributors demand that(like Planet Cyclery) altho I think the storefront/online places that will survive are the ones 'owned' by distributors..Like PlanetCyclery and maybe Velomine. Along with the ones with 'token' store fronts(ExCel, for example..90% of their sales is via mailorder)...

It's common and laughable the number of times over that last couple of decades that that I hear 'Campagnolo is on the ropes!!' They sell everything they make. The 'last' time Campagnolo was really in trouble, was in the late 80s/early 90s, shortly after Valentino took over after Tullio's death(RIP Comandante)..and missed not only on MTB stuff but also not designing something that competed with STI(ERGO did, 1991/2)...

Not even close..Altho you see it a lot here, and there is a lot of hub-bub about GRoad bikes, it doesn't really even exist anyplace other than the US, which, by comparison to Asia and Europe, is still a teeny market.

No minimum order, and they really do, sell direct..At least QBP probably does. More than a few local store fronts and MO outfts are 'probably' owned by QBP..probably others.

J and B is the king of low end, Wald, type stuff...I deal with J&B and they are doing just fine these days. Lots of stuff they sell, other distributors, don't. Like these.

Campy doesn’t need to be Shimano or SRAM. Just like Apple doesn’t need to be Samsung or Google.

As an aside, the Performance liquidation sale may actually be worth going to now. I stopped by my local store yesterday since I was in the neighborhood, and made a number of decent scores on odds/ends and consumables - for example, Supacaz tape for $18.

Everything 50-70% off, a lot of Nashbar labeled merchandise on the floor too. Employees I talked to expected to be locking the doors for the last time in 2-3 weeks.

I dunno, our local J&B rep has to be the most beaten down individual to darken my door in quite some time. He's been practically begging us to buy from us. Feel sorta bad for him. Must be a market for his baubles somewhere, I think its the shops that dabble on the bitter low end part of the market. Losing shimano really hurt

Last of the old Schwinn guys

Do you have an account with QBP? Looks to me that they will only sell to shops with a storefront, service area, and liability insurance. I bought a lot of stuff from Performance and especially Nashbar over the years without these requirements.

Here's another thought. The bike companies got stupid the last 20 years and now it's finally caught up with them.

Let's take Dura Ace for example. The 74xx series lasted 11 years. 7700 lasted 8. 7800 lasted 4.

Colnago...The C40 was around for 10 years. Then replaced by the C50. Then the C55, C59, and C64.

Mavic started the wave of disposable wheel systems with the Helium. Then everyone got into the habit putting out "New and improved" year after year.

The bike industry moved towards a path of forced obsolescence with all of the ridiculous marketing claims driving people to buy buy buy. And they did...for awhile. I think it gets harder and harder to get people to do that when they just unloaded a few grand on a really sweet bike a couple of years ago. We see it in here all the time in the classifieds...prices are soft and people are always saying "if I wasn't already sitting on so much stuff". Plenty of people here are sitting on enough hardware that they won't wear out in their lifetimes.

To either counterpoint or add to those who say it is due to people buying mail order and from overseas, I'd say it was the bike industry that cannibalized itself.

Tai

Very true. Add the effect of the fact that the sport is shrinking in terms of participation. The industry has tried to maintain the sales level of the time period when participation was at an all time high. To do that they have had to shorten product cycles and turn the market into a "new product" one.

I hope Chain Reaction stays in business; I get a lot of stuff from them. I wonder how Colorado Cyclist and Excel Sports Boulder is doing?

Truth!

Yup. There are many places in the world outside the US where you don't need to worry as much about getting mowed down by idiot drivers while riding on proper roads. At least that seems to be what is driving the gravel craze among some people I know.

Didn't we already go over this in a different thread? it is the Fear of getting hit by cars that is increasing, not the actual reality of the chances of getting hit by cars.

New outfits like PowerMeterCity or CleverTraining that specialize in gadgetry and indoor training equipment seem to be an emerging market. Power meter's are getting cheaper and cheaper, and are MUCH more accessible than ever, as are Smart trainers/Smart bikes and things like Zwift/e-sports etc. that are still more closely aligned with the traditional road cyclist sensibility, vs Peloton, Soulcycle products etc. The pros are starting to race on Zwift now.

Scoff if you will the roads outside aren't getting any safer and I think these areas will continue to grow.

What you say may be true, but the experience of just this one person says that drivers have become more distracted (cell phones?) and more aggressive towards cyclists. In my 40+ years of riding I find myself with my head on a swivel and needing to take evasive action more often. There really aren't too many gravel roads where I need to ride and I prefer nice smooth asphalt in any case.