Stages Power Meters lay off entire workforce

[betaboy]

Riding used to be just that… riding/,racing whatever. They main focus was about been out there. We spent a lot of time chatting more about roads and routes than wasting time on figuring out the latest sauce pan they will finally make a molehill out that darn mountain. You either had a 41 or 39 at best… that’s it, and we all sucked it up. Today we are overly obsessed with equipment, there is always an upgrade somewhere. We created this monster and now it’s eating us and our wallets. I remember rides been organised with good folks who in most cases was purely doing it to benefit charities. We see less of that today and entry fees are becoming silly. What’s next? Wesbank HP for a season pass? 🤭 Cycling is getting overly complicated with too much tech, guys are giving up good rides because of battery life? Something is very wrong with this picture me thinks. Is every ride now just about numbers? Is watching the rands not enough on the JSE? 🤭

We are falling further away from the joys of just pedalling our bikes… I suggest a “ride nake day”.. you strip the bike of power meters, cadence and speed and gps and tire gauges and lights and radars.. and all you do is ride, and your entry for the day benefits some real people in need, not funding that municipalities Christmas party! 😂

okay. I’m done.🤭🤓✅

[splat]

On 4/24/2024 at 6:06 AM, DJuice said:

Spez UK have a upto 50% sale.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/surprise-specialized-sale-slashes-hundreds-of-bikes-and-accessories-by-50/

 

Trek UK are doing the same thing: 

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/trekfest-sale/ 

[IceCreamMan]

25 minutes ago, splat said:

Trek UK are doing the same thing: 

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/trekfest-sale/ 

During Covid a mate of mine bought a high end Trek e bike, paid 5700 for it. Demand was there and well the pricing milked the scenario. After Covid and when supply was restored the same bike was a grand less. 
 

short term profit over long term sustainability has its consequences.  

[GHOST FACE]

https://velomedia.io/bad-medicine-trek-closes-italian-subsidiary

[shaper]

Rapha North America Abruptly Closes Bentonville Office, Lays Off Staff

https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/rapha-north-america-abruptly-closes-bentonville-office-lays-off-staff/

[PhilipV]

11 hours ago, betaboy said:

Riding used to be just that… I suggest a “ride nake day”.. you strip the bike of power meters, cadence and speed and gps and tire gauges and lights and radars.. and all you do is ride, 

You’ve just described all my riding for the last couple of years. A couple of mates, lekker trails on the mountain, a good day or weekend out. 
I can’t remember the last time I actually raced my MTB. Actually, wait, I did a couple of enduros a few years back. That counts as racing, even if we were basically racing ourselves and our mates. 

[Danger Dassie]

1 hour ago, IceCreamMan said:

During Covid a mate of mine bought a high end Trek e bike, paid 5700 for it. Demand was there and well the pricing milked the scenario. After Covid and when supply was restored the same bike was a grand less. 
 

short term profit over long term sustainability has its consequences.  

Wasn’t really any profit, the cost of manufacturing and supply more than trebled in a lot of areas. So yes, while we paid much higher prices it didn’t correlate to massive margins and profits as brands absorbed a lot of the increase as well. Probably banking on a levelling out in the market. 
Of course a cost of living crisis driven by post lockdown and wars compounded the drop off and bad forecasts. It also doesn’t help that there’s little investment in cycling advocacy by the industry. 

[Shebeen]

37 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

Wasn’t really any profit, the cost of manufacturing and supply more than trebled in a lot of areas. So yes, while we paid much higher prices it didn’t correlate to massive margins and profits as brands absorbed a lot of the increase as well. Probably banking on a levelling out in the market. 

You sure about that? plenty of reports and podcasts etc about the bike boom during covid.

 

2 hours ago, shaper said:

Rapha North America Abruptly Closes Bentonville Office, Lays Off Staff

https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/rapha-north-america-abruptly-closes-bentonville-office-lays-off-staff/

whoa, when the Waltons start counting $$ and cc then you know things are getting tight.

[Danger Dassie]

Quite sure, there was an initial boom yes. The vast majority was lockdown stock, then when the supply chain needed to restock and meet demand, there was nothing to supply and keep up with the momentum. It became a bun fight.
This has been documented in not just the cycling industry, but also a number of manufacturing industries (cars) went through the same. 

[The Ouzo]

1 minute ago, Danger Dassie said:

Quite sure, there was an initial boom yes. The vast majority was lockdown stock, then when the supply chain needed to restock and meet demand, there was nothing to supply and keep up with the momentum. It became a bun fight.
This has been documented in not just the cycling industry, but also a number of manufacturing industries (cars) went through the same. 

and cars had the same issue as bike post covid, once the stock panic ordered after lockdown started arriving, everyone was suddenly over stocked in a market where nobody had money to buy the stock.

As with bikes, the motor industry is now in the poo, take a look around your areas and see long standing dealerships closing their doors.

[DieselnDust]

3 hours ago, The Ouzo said:

and cars had the same issue as bike post covid, once the stock panic ordered after lockdown started arriving, everyone was suddenly over stocked in a market where nobody had money to buy the stock.

As with bikes, the motor industry is now in the poo, take a look around your areas and see long standing dealerships closing their doors.

There were quite a few supply chain challenges post Covid. Our biggest problem is still exchange rate. SA will need to align with either the West or the East eventually. The fence sitting isn't helping our cause either way

 

[The Ouzo]

18 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

There were quite a few supply chain challenges post Covid. Our biggest problem is still exchange rate. SA will need to align with either the West or the East eventually. The fence sitting isn't helping our cause either way

 

it was these supply chain challenges that lead to the panic ordering of stock, and in the motor industry there are still supply chain challenges, although on a much smaller scale

[reteid]

I am still riding my titan 29 ht from 12 years back.I am also still riding my fuji sl team edition of 17 years ago. I have replaced tyres chains casettes etc but the basic bike is still the same. I sort of made up my mind that we were heading for trouble once you could finance your bike. I always thought and still do that if you have to finance your bike, the bike you bought was too expensive. But each to his/her own.

[onthetrail]

On 4/24/2024 at 8:35 AM, ChrisF said:

 

Welllll .... MOST have been saying this.  There are the odd Hubber hell bent on telling us that the PREDICTIONS show a growing market, and that it is all good and well.

 

 

Back in the real world ... 

1. Only buy new if you really have to replace at this point in time

2. DO YOUR HOMEWORK !!!  Trek's local special is a JOKE compared to what they are doing overseas !  They are still milking us !!!  Okay, at least they are one of the first brands to embark on big specials in SA.  Some other brands are doing two-for-one specials in Europe, but hardly any discount here ....

3. As much as some Hubbers gets their knickers in a twist about "low balling" ..... the secondhand market is going to adjust as the real specials start on new bikes.

4. The more immediate issue .... it is getting stupidly difficult to get hold of some basic spares.

5. The closure of family shops such as Cyclosport is a vivid image of the REAL state of this industry.

The Trek SA Pricing looks better than the Trek USA pricing when you do the comparision?

[IceCreamMan]

On 4/24/2024 at 7:35 AM, ChrisF said:

 

Welllll .... MOST have been saying this.  There are the odd Hubber hell bent on telling us that the PREDICTIONS show a growing market, and that it is all good and well.

 

Well, the statistics are there for all to peruse. 
 

Some folks should refrain from purchasing bitcoin, it will do their head in. 

[shaper]

11 hours ago, IceCreamMan said:

Well, the statistics are there for all to peruse. 
 

Some folks should refrain from purchasing bitcoin, it will do their head in. 

https://road.cc/content/news/2023-saw-worst-bicycle-sales-uk-1985-306667