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

[peanutgallery]

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

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

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.

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

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.

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.

[KidWok]

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

[El Chaba]

Originally Posted by KidWok

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 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.

[Nomadmax]

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?

[54ny77]

Truth!

Originally Posted by KidWok

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 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

[jemoryl]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

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.

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.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by jemoryl

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.

[MagicHour]

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.

[jemoryl]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

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.

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.

[unterhausen]

In a lot of places, they are straightening out all the nice roads and making them safer for drivers. So of course, the drivers just go faster to make it just as dangerous for themselves as it was before. This means that riding on those roads is far less pleasant than it was. I fully understand why people aren't riding on the road as much.

My favorite LBS is mostly groad and mtb with commuter thrown in. They have road bikes too, upstairs. I think the roadies and triathletes go to the spesh shop up the street. But we have awesome gravel and mtb, and the roads are overrun with people commuting long distances to get to their job at Penn State. Pretty much any place within an hour of Penn State is turning into a suburb. It's crazy.

[Uncle Cranky]

On a happier note, looks like niagaracycle.com is being reborn as thebikeshopstore.com

Thats been my go to spot for cheap stuff.

[Elefantino]

Drifting this thread back to the original topic, the Performance website will go 404 tonight. We don't know if Amain will bring it back or just bought the customer database.

Today was the official last day at the Chapel Hill HQ. A few of us are sticking around to break down and clean out the business.

Going through one desk today I found a binder containing the first few years of Performance catalogs. Really took me back to when I ordered from them. Even saw one that had the Serotta Performance steel road bikes.

End of an era.

[AngryScientist]

I don’t think this is unique to the bike sales biz.

All the above mentioned businesses had a good run right? How many businesses in general stay alive and well through that many years?

Look at Main Street in Anytown USA: probably looks pretty different than it did 15 years ago. We get nostalgic and like the places we know to always be there but times change; they always have and always will.

[RFC]

I just stopped by my local Performance in Scottsdale tonight. Picked up a new helmet and tubes.

I'm sorry to see them go, in my experience with that store, they were always helpful, particularly when I was rebuilding C&V racing bikes and building campus bikes for my sons.

I doubt we will see anything B&M to fill that niche.