The fall of Kona Bikes :(

[KonaSS]

Originally Posted by benb

My takeaway from listening to this (listening to Josh on part 3 right now) is that we need to be hunting deals.

It's really not in the cards for me to bring another bike in right now just with garage space or whatever.

But they are talking about their being truck sized containers of groupsets and warehouses full of extra bikes and other stuff out there that were duplicate orders and dumb supply chain accidents and they are sitting on them all.

So at some point there's gotta be some smoking deals on replacing worn components/groups to new stuff and/or doing upgrades.

I guess my two main bikes are basically sitting there waiting to get converted to fanci(er) electronic groups when the deals are found.

My 2022 MTB has mechanical eagle on it.. I definitely gotta be looking for a deal on the AXS upgrade kit that's basically just dropping the new rear derailleur and the shifter on.

Of course I am wondering if the show is a distorted picture due to the small # of people they interviewed. Is it only certain brands of bikes that got over-ordered, etc.. or is it a wide swath all the way across brands and companies.

There has already been a good number of deals over the past year. Most have been on the mid to lower end bikes. But some on higher end. And good deals (30-50%) on higher end components have also been seen from time to time. I got a Fox Performance SC 120 fork for $300 with free shipping from Jenson. Lots of good deals on Sram Eagle AXS, Force and Red components. Most of those are due to new generations being introduced though. Right now is also a good time to get 12 speed Shimano MTB components. Sale prices tell me that a new generation is coming there too.

When you find a good deal on a higher end bike or component, they usually sell out fast. So you do need to be constantly looking and pull the trigger as soon as you see it.

[benb]

Originally Posted by many_styles

Has anyone listened to Esc Collective’s 4 parts series of how the industry go to this point: https://escapecollective.com/how-did...-deep-trouble/

Just starting Episode 1 but this series seems sooo well done.

Very interesting to hear right at the beginning of the first one that Shimano was basically like, "LOL no we've seen this before" and refused to expand production much and it explains a lot of what went on as everyone else went into a growth frenzy. Quite a good example of the stereotypical Japanese business conservative approach with long term thinking versus the American approach.