[Sandro]

While hardly anybody rides bikes around here, i believe some of you have experience working in bike shops and the industry. I'm trying to gain some understanding of how the US market works, particularly who the main distributors and wholesalers are and how you would rate them.

The company i work for is based in Germany and Europe is our main market - our products are predominantly geared towards urban cycling / light touring and we are considering reentering the US market after a 15 year absence. I'm not necessarily looking for the biggest players, reliability and good support are far more important to me.

Sorry for bringing something business related to the lounge, but you guys can be a knowledgeable bunch of asshats sometimes.

 

[rockofullr]

QBP

 

[Full Trucker]

I believe QBP, BTI, and J&B are your biggest distributors. I would suspect going with one of those distributors would be the right call, given the type of products your company sells. Nearly every shop I know of has an account with one or all of them, and that's where most of the accessory type stuff comes from.

 

[maddog17]

Sorry for bringing something business related to the lounge, but you guys can be a knowledgeable bunch of asshats sometimes.

thanks... i guess? but what Full Trucker said. those are the big 3 that most use. but you may want to look at ASI also. they just bought Performance Bicycle and Nashbar.com. so they have 2 online sources and brick and mortar stores under Performance. story here for reference http://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2016/08/16/asi-buys-performance-bicycle#.V7UXIK0ny2o

 

[Sandro]

thanks... i guess?

Meant in the best possible way. Thanks for pointing out ASI and Performance, they weren't on my radar before. In Europe we prefer to work with distributors that also supply independent bike shops, but the added online outlet is certainly nice.

Does anyone have experience with Hawley? They appear not to be as huge as the others but carry many brands that fit pretty well with our own.

 

[Vipon]

I have a Hawley account, never hear a word from them. Asked them for a catalog months ago, still nothing.
J&B gets most of my money.

 

[pugslybell]

Hawley bought SBS (large pacific northwest supplier) this spring and is making inroads at least here in Denver. They opened a Reno NV ware house as well. They are the sole distro for Look in the US so I use them mostly for Look and they just took over Blackburn as well. They are ok but for me its 1. Trek 1a QBP distant third is J&B and Hawley is 4th. Since BTI lost shimano we do just about nothing with them anymore. QBP does all most as good a job at smaller dh brands as BTI used too.

 

[maddog17]

Meant in the best possible way. Thanks for pointing out ASI and Performance, they weren't on my radar before. In Europe we prefer to work with distributors that also supply independent bike shops, but the added online outlet is certainly nice.

Does anyone have experience with Hawley? They appear not to be as huge as the others but carry many brands that fit pretty well with our own.

I know how you meant it, busting balls is part of being on here. I don't think there are many more to mention but there are a few FB pages that are dedicated to bike mechanics and such. you may want to post on there as well to get some of their opinions. the page Pro bike mechanic support group and happy hour is full of shop owners that could give you some more perspective on who's good and bad for distributors.

 

[Sandro]

Thanks all, I've gotten in touch with most of them and will probably be able to meet some of their representatives during Eurobike. In the end it will probably come down to which distributor is willing to deal with our peculiarities.