[jonKranked]

GT - "paused"

Rocky Mountain - Restructuring

Trek - rumored to be in significant debt

Who else? Might try to keep this post updated as a running list

 

[rideit]

Heres a few that I’m surprised still exist:
Esker
Spot
Alchemy
Diamond Back
Ibis
Revel
*Rossingnol (not really a bike co, lol)
Others?

 

[gonefirefightin]

Heres a few that I’m surprised still exist:
Esker
Spot
Alchemy
Diamond Back
Ibis
Others?

Dont forget Jamis

 

[rideit]

Dont forget Jamis

Who?

 

[toodles]

Is Ellsworth still a brand?

 

[jonKranked]

Heres a few that I’m surprised still exist:
Esker
Spot
Alchemy
Diamond Back
Ibis
Revel
*Rossingnol (not really a bike co, lol)
Others?

Ibis' most recent bikes all seem very well reviewed, however I've only seen a handful locally

 

[toodles]

The industry is just falling in line with the the new DH rules. Down to 15 teams, down to 15 brands.

 

[Andeh]

edit: nm on my question about Rocky

On the surprised they're still around (but not knocking them) list:
Devinci

On the surprised they're around (seriously who buys them) list:
Niner

 

[Carraig042]

Ibis' most recent bikes all seem very well reviewed, however I've only seen a handful locally

I used to be one of the only Ibis' in the region, now I see them quite a bit in my area.

 

[canadmos]

It's probably a lot easier for the small well liked brands to ride the wave, compared to some of these larger ones that move at a snails pace and who sometimes put a stick in their own front wheel.

But that said, behind all these are regular people who I hope do okay. Same with everywhere else. Stay afloat, somehow..

 

[boostindoubles]

RIP Blackspire.

 

[SylentK]

Well, I am Jack's lack of surprise.

Are we talking overall company? Or just DH style?

From a local's perspective it would be nice to hear from:

Niner

Yeti

Commencal (USA division)

Personally, tho, DH is being killed. Enduro is OK. XC seems to be OK. And for me? Give me DH. But I'm in the minority.

Yeah it's an XC trail and I'm on a 160mm bike. And guess what? I just caught up to you in an instant. Give me DH.

 

[trib]

Not sure how long brands like Hyper and KHS can continue to have sponsored riders.

I think the only people really ready to weather this out, oddly enough, is custom builders. Brand new bikes are being sold at 50%, the only people who it makes sense to purchase full price from are boutique brands who can literally make you something no one else sees the niche for - lets see what new tariffs do to frame spec tubing.

Doesn’t hurt that most makers are a single person operation working out of a garage. Smaller overheads than global brands.

And the day of throwing literally anyone with a YouTube page a frame will definitely be over.

 

[Toshi]

Niner

I thought they bit it years back

Niner Reorganization in the Works – Your Group Ride

yourgroupride.com

 

[trib]

I thought they bit it years back

Niner Reorganization in the Works – Your Group Ride

yourgroupride.com

Yeah, niner, Devinci, Evil already downsized and restructured once - fingers crossed it’s enough to keep them operating

 

[Jm_]

Is Ellsworth still a brand?

Good news

 

[slimshady]

Ibis' most recent bikes all seem very well reviewed, however I've only seen a handful locally

Down here they're selling pretty well. Lots of former Mojo owners buying the new Ripmo V3 and Ripmo/Ripley AF.

 

[Jm_]

Well, I am Jack's lack of surprise.

Are we talking overall company? Or just DH style?

From a local's perspective it would be nice to hear from:

Niner

Yeti

Commencal (USA division)

Personally, tho, DH is being killed. Enduro is OK. XC seems to be OK. And for me? Give me DH. But I'm in the minority.

Yeah it's an XC trail and I'm on a 160mm bike. And guess what? I just caught up to you in an instant. Give me DH.

I'd be ok seeing Yeti keep on going. I think they at least try to do something different and in general differentiate their brand.

I've never understood Niner tho, for a few years, they were the only ones making a 29-only line of bikes and FS 29ers (but horrible geometry at first). But now everyone makes "niner" bikes. And their parallel linkages were simply pretty terrible horst-link kinematics (which I think they've flattened out on the more recent bikes). So what is it exactly that they do here? Make 29er bikes? Everyone does that.

 

[rideit]

Not sure how long brands like Hyper and KHS can continue to have sponsored riders.

I think the only people really ready to weather this out, oddly enough, is custom builders. Brand new bikes are being sold at 50%, the only people who it makes sense to purchase full price from are boutique brands who can literally make you something no one else sees the niche for - lets see what new tariffs do to frame spec tubing.

Doesn’t hurt that most makers are a single person operation working out of a garage. Smaller overheads than global brands.

I was thinking about this a little when I was going over this list in my head. I had conflicting thoughts about Moots. On the one hand, they are so niche, they might have resilient product desirability. On the other hand, people don’t buy custom bikes like that often, they are usually ridden for decades until standards/geometries change. They expanded a bunch in the last 20 years, and I bet the pandemic was good. But high operating costs (labor and costs of being in Steamboat), I imagine some very wealthy enthusiasts are their financial backers, but hopefully not in a VC way.
They are neither the ‘single person’ builder, nor the larger manufacturer that can benefit from volume pricing on materials, shipping, etc.
Sometimes that’s a damn hard place to exist. It seems to work for some, Marin comes to mind.

Im thinking our friend from Tantrum might have dodged a big bullet without trying.

 

[HardtailHack]

I'd be ok seeing Yeti keep on going. I think they at least try to do something different and in general differentiate their brand.

I've never understood Niner tho, for a few years, they were the only ones making a 29-only line of bikes and FS 29ers (but horrible geometry at first). But now everyone makes "niner" bikes. And their parallel linkages were simply pretty terrible horst-link kinematics (which I think they've flattened out on the more recent bikes). So what is it exactly that they do here? Make 29er bikes? Everyone does that.

I always found it so weird that a drawback of some of the early 29ers was.........you'd clip your toes on the front wheel.

How hard is it to work out that the front end needs to be longer?! Then again I remember reading in a magazine that aero at over 20km/h was more important than bike fit.

I think Felt finally gave up on making MTBs, the little Aussie company Craftworks is gone.

I'm not sure how Rocky Mountain was around the globe but they seemed to be 40-50% off in Oz for at least a year and they still kept their crazy warranty.
I really thought people would start scaling back the five year and lifetime warranties, at least kill off the transferrable warranties.

 

[Jozz]

And the day of throwing literally anyone with a YouTube page a frame will definitely be over.

Around here probably half of the people on RMB bikes where 'ambassadors' getting bike at cost.
They'd get a new bike each year and sell the other one without a loss, or slight one.
Like some said, there were as many bikes getting out the back door as the front door.

 

[sundaydoug]

Who?

Laugh all you want, but they're one of the financially responsible bike companies.

 

[rideit]

Around here probably half of the people on RMB bikes where 'ambassadors' getting bike at cost.
They'd get a new bike each year and sell the other one without a loss, or slight one.
Like some said, there were as many bikes getting out the back door as the front door.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[trib]

I was thinking about this a little when I was going over this list in my head. I had conflicting thoughts about Moots. On the one hand, they are so niche, they might have resilient product desirability. On the other hand, people don’t buy custom bikes like that often, they are usually ridden for decades until standards/geometries change. They expanded a bunch in the last 20 years, and I bet the pandemic was good. But high operating costs (labor and costs of being in Steamboat), I imagine some very wealthy enthusiasts are their financial backers, but hopefully not in a VC way.
They are neither the ‘single person’ builder, nor the larger manufacturer that can benefit from volume pricing on materials, shipping, etc.
Sometimes that’s a damn hard place to exist. It seems to work for some, Marin comes to mind.

Im thinking our friend from Tantrum might have dodged a big bullet without trying.

Those carbon ebike moots were the first sign that not all is well in Steamboat.

 

[Westy]

I always found it so weird that a drawback of some of the early 29ers was.........you'd clip your toes on the front wheel.

How hard is it to work out that the front end needs to be longer?! Then again I remember reading in a magazine that aero at over 20km/h was more important than bike fit.

I think Felt finally gave up on making MTBs, the little Aussie company Craftworks is gone.

I'm not sure how Rocky Mountain was around the globe but they seemed to be 40-50% off in Oz for at least a year and they still kept their crazy warranty.
I really thought people would start scaling back the five year and lifetime warranties, at least kill off the transferrable warranties.

Niner is still leaning in to the whole terrible swoopy toobz things. Fire, kill it with.

 

[Jm_]

Niner is still leaning in to the whole terrible swoopy toobz things. Fire, kill it with.


View attachment 223595

All of that craziness and shit hanging below the BB that can be easily achieved with a horst-link:

 

[slyfink]

It's probably a lot easier for the small well liked brands to ride the wave, compared to some of these larger ones that move at a snails pace and who sometimes put a stick in their own front wheel.

But that said, behind all these are regular people who I hope do okay. Same with everywhere else. Stay afloat, somehow..

around here, the bike companies that seem to be doing ok are carried by the small LBS'. My LBS mostly deals in Ibis and Yeti (and Rocky... which may undermine my argument...!) I wonder if this is the "revenge of the LBS". The large bike companies tried to force the hand of their retailers, Covid fucked them with supply issues, and the little LBS' that couldn't handle the terms of the big bike brands struggled for a little while at first, but didn't get stuck with massive inventory that needed to be sold off at a massive discount? Now the bike companies that were smaller, have a better retailer network? Who knows, I'm going to bikes I see around me here, and have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about!

 

[Westy]

Imma gonna guess the $10,000 bikes have something to do with it. Maybe everybody doesn't need a plastic superbike jammed with pointless electronics.

 

[DaveW]

How could you say such a thing Westy!

 

[slimshady]

Imma gonna guess the $10,000 bikes have something to do with it. Maybe everybody doesn't need a plastic superbike jammed with pointless electronics.

Folks here, at PB and every other first world media outlet/forum have normalized characterizing 5k bikes as "cheap" or "affordable".

Go try to sell those supposedly affordable bikes in ~$350 median monthly income countries.

 

[SylentK]

I thought they bit it years back

Niner Reorganization in the Works – Your Group Ride

yourgroupride.com

Yeah, Not sure what to make of them. But do care somewhat as they are in my hometown. They did move their HQ up here. But like across the street. Haven't visited, but I'm 99% sure it's smaller and maybe no warehouse? So...IDK.

I think prices have gotten so out of control, and people made their investments a couple years ago and are like 'nope, no new bikes, I'm good until I die'. Type of mentality. I'm getting into archery. HA.

 

[Westy]

Folks here, at PB and every other first world media outlet/forum have normalized characterizing 5k bikes as "cheap" or "affordable".

Go try to sell those supposedly affordable bikes in ~$350 median monthly income countries.

But are their thumbs strong enough to push a shift lever?

 

[Jozz]

Imma gonna guess the $10,000 bikes have something to do with it. Maybe everybody doesn't need a plastic superbike jammed with pointless electronics.

Dentists do.

 

[Kurt_80]

Is Ellsworth still a brand?

Ellsworth is a state of mind.

 

[Muddy]

Why there's literally zero-adaptation from motorsport having a set no. of frames (chassis) to determine participation at an elite level has never made sense. For a while, that's what it appeared to be with everyone on Intense bikes / Curnutt Shock even if that was only due the lack of a capable ride.
9 MX Co are involved in AMA If you count KTM and GasGas - 7... Certainly seems support for racing has dropped off considerably as what's actual racebikes are being made for sale. There needs to be some kid of separation. Even faceless scale manufacturing outfits within frame building are now sponsoring at an Elite Tour level in Road - XDS w/ Team Astana
Really do not see current plans for racing being sustainable, or enjoyable.

 

[toodles]

Imma gonna guess the $10,000 bikes have something to do with it. Maybe everybody doesn't need a plastic superbike jammed with pointless electronics.

But if you don't have a limited edition, ceramic bearing, titanium headset for $420USD then your bike is basically unrideable.

 

[4xBoy]

But if you don't have a limited edition, ceramic bearing, titanium headset for $420USD then your bike is basically unrideable.

I had two of the 1 1/8 titanium ones long ago.

 

[iRider]

But if you don't have a limited edition, ceramic bearing, titanium headset for $420USD then your bike is basically unrideable.

At least they do not try to hide what influenced their pricing decision.

 

[norbar]

This is why private equity and vc is killing our economy. They put a lot of money into companies but they want it FAST so they pushed for too agressive expansion (since they care about valuation more than sales) and now everyone is fucked.

 

[Jm_]

This is why private equity and vc is killing our economy. They put a lot of money into companies but they want it FAST so they pushed for too agressive expansion (since they care about valuation more than sales) and now everyone is fucked.

And the CEOs that run them.