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

[shinomaster]

Originally Posted by NYCfixie

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)

they have a shop in Portland.

[RFC]

BTW, they told me that 2/28 was there last day here.

Originally Posted by 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.

[Keith A]

I’m sad the Performance Bike/Nasbar are going away. I’ve been shopping with them for as long as I can remember.

[MagicHour]

I feel the same been ordering from both going back to something like '89-90. Great stuff in the catalogs back then! and through the years occasional cool finds like random Italian or Euro stuff would pop up. Times change though and unfortunately the last couple years both companies offerings (online) became less and less interesting and websites were buggy compared to other sites so I moved on.

Originally Posted by Keith A

I’m sad the Performance Bike/Nasbar are going away. I’ve been shopping with them for as long as I can remember.

[NYCfixie]

Originally Posted by Keith A

I’m sad the Performance Bike/Nasbar are going away. I’ve been shopping with them for as long as I can remember.

According to the financial information I keep in Quicken my first purchases were...
- 10/1996 from Performance Bicycle
- 7/2002 from Bike Nashbar

It appears I mostly used the LBS until that fateful day in 1996 (there were no Performance brick and mortar stores in the NYC area).

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

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.

I used too along with a gent that sold stuff THROUGH QBP....but small, they took a look and cancelled me(and him). QBP, in spite of their StoreFronts’, are wholesale. Performance and Nashbar are retail.

[oliver1850]

I understand that they are wholesalers, the question is why. Seams to me that the traditional hierarchy of manufacturer>distributor>dealer>consumer is outmoded and that companies that remain in the middle of that chain have a very limited expected lifespan.

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I used too along with a gent that sold stuff THROUGH QBP....but small, they took a look and cancelled me(and him). QBP, in spite of their StoreFronts’, are wholesale. Performance and Nashbar are retail.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

I understand that they are wholesalers, the question is why. Seams to me that the traditional hierarchy of manufacturer>distributor>dealer>consumer is outmoded and that companies that remain in the middle of that chain have a very limited expected lifespan.

No doubt about it and the bolded one in your statement is the one that is getting hurt the most..Bikes are of parts from many manufacturers, unlike just about everything else 'sold'..so a central point for 'parts' is essential(distributor) but what some manufacturers have done is become the 'place' that you get your non maker, spare parts..BUT distributors, as I have mentioned, and very common in Europe with different contractual laws of what you can buy, sell and how it's priced, are goin to the distributor-consumer in the US..QBP, probably others. They keep it pretty quiet tho, cuz many LBS will dump a distributor they see as competition..It's not illegal, just kinda smarmy.

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by vincenz

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

Actually Apple does need Samsung. Without Samsung they wouldn't have chips for their products.

[Keith A]

So is Performance/Nashbar going to keep their online store open? I see that Performance Bike's website is still up today with no indication they are closing.

[peanutgallery]

It's going to switch over to dumpsterfire.com in a few weeks

Lots of hands in this one, it's been a cluster all along...why change now? On of the purchasers in an online company, maybe they take up the reigns? Curious about Fuji, too

Originally Posted by Keith A

So is Performance/Nashbar going to keep their online store open? I see that Performance Bike's website is still up today with no indication they are closing.

[Hawker]

I know there are multiple market and societal forces at work as all these shops and chains close....but I wonder how much of it can be a attributed to the loss of the "Lance effect"? Not just sales, but the large drop in viewership of the TDF and Tour of California.

[NYCfixie]

Originally Posted by Hawker

I know there are multiple market and societal forces at work as all these shops and chains close....but I wonder how much of it can be a attributed to the loss of the "Lance effect"? Not just sales, but the large drop in viewership of the TDF and Tour of California.

I am sure that has something to do with it. How often do you see people on roller-blades anymore yet 30 years ago it was all the rage. The average american sees cycling as a sport/fad that will come and go. People on this board (and the one across the hall) are the outliers on the bell curve that describes Americans interest in cycling.

As roads become more dangerous due to distracted drivers, sport cyclists just find another sport whereas we (the dedicated) find other ways to continue cycling and make it more safe by going off-road (i.e. gravel cycling and a move back to mountain biking).

[Keith A]

I did a little more checking and although both Performance Bike and Nashbar websites are up, their inventory is gone. It looks like they are just trying to get ride of the remaining bikes they have on hand, because that's all they have available.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Hawker

I know there are multiple market and societal forces at work as all these shops and chains close....but I wonder how much of it can be a attributed to the loss of the "Lance effect"? Not just sales, but the large drop in viewership of the TDF and Tour of California.

Bike and bike stuff sales in general in the US have been flat for years..BIG bump mid, late 80s(Lemond) and index shifting, clipless pedals..another for LA7, smaller but vast majority of bike sales in the US are the lower end, $170 type from WallyWorld and Costco. The mid to high end, like the low end, sales very flat to negative. Coupled with internet ease of buying..that's why bike shops who try to sell the same thing as MO/online, are having a really tough time.

BTW-altho GRoad bikes and riding seem to get a lot of press..riding a road bike on the road is still the largest type of 'enthusiast's' riding..Roads 'may' be more dangerous or are perceived as such, again due to press and internet, and there is more GRoad riding..but still pretty small in comparison.