State of the industry: a running thread

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jonnyboy666 said:
@al-onestare curious where you heard something about Zyro, i'd heard something of a rumour so i straight out asked the rep, he said there were no issues. i have no reason to not believe him as he has been in the industry a long time and is a good guy, i also pointed out that with the demise of raleigh that means Zyro become sole uk supplier for Sram which has to help them, also raleigh had a quite a few other brands which will now go elsewhere, Stans for example, although to be fair most of their brands were available elsewhere, schwalbe etc.
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Word of mouth hence no link. Fingers crossed the reps news is true.
 
@al-onestare yeah i heard a rumour from a fellow shop owner, non specific type of comment, a simple "i've heard zyro are in trouble" but with no more than that as explanation, i tend to not piss about with stuff like this and just ask reps straight out, this particular rep has a slightly strange path in that when i started my shop 8 years ago he was working for zyro, zyro then bought fishers outdoor, zyrofisher then ran 2 reps for each area concentrating on the products they had always sold, then they decided to make one rep in each area redundant, so my zyro rep took redundancy which left the fisher rep doing all the catalogue of brands not just the fisher brands, cut to 3 years later and that rep leaves, at which point the rep manager phoned up the rep who had taken redundancy and offered him his old job back, for me this was good thing as i prefer this rep but knowing he is not stupid and has been in the industry a long time i don't think he'd go back to work for a company that was in trouble, so hopefully it is just bullshit and people are assuming stuff based on what other stuff is going on in the industry.
 
@CassidyAce this echoes exactly what i said to a bike rep the other day, entry level to mid range is where most people have no money, high end customers still have money as the cost of living issue isn't a problem for the wealthy, but the slightly annoying thing for me (not that this affects me either way) is that the bike companies are massively discounting across the range, and i find this a bit annoying, not because i'm in the trade and having to do deals etc, it's more that i see it as unfair, someone who has little spare money can't afford a £800 discounted to £550 or whatever but a rich guy who can afford his shiny new all singing all dancing £7000 beast is also seeing massive discounts, and it irks me that he is benefitting from the situation while the guy who might need a bike for work because he can't afford the repair on his car still can't afford a bike . . . it just sucks.
 
jonnyboy666 said:
@al-onestare curious where you heard something about Zyro, i'd heard something of a rumour so i straight out asked the rep, he said there were no issues. i have no reason to not believe him as he has been in the industry a long time and is a good guy, i also pointed out that with the demise of raleigh that means Zyro become sole uk supplier for Sram which has to help them, also raleigh had a quite a few other brands which will now go elsewhere, Stans for example, although to be fair most of their brands were available elsewhere, schwalbe etc.
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Raleigh are still around, whereas the “demise of Raleigh” comment suggests the whole company has gone, but they have pulled out of the parts and accessories business which seems strange as a) they were big players and b) the profit margins were good (at least historically).

Lots of independent bike shops used Raleigh as their supplier.
 
jonnyboy666 said:
@CassidyAce this echoes exactly what i said to a bike rep the other day, entry level to mid range is where most people have no money, high end customers still have money as the cost of living issue isn't a problem for the wealthy, but the slightly annoying thing for me (not that this affects me either way) is that the bike companies are massively discounting across the range, and i find this a bit annoying, not because i'm in the trade and having to do deals etc, it's more that i see it as unfair, someone who has little spare money can't afford a £800 discounted to £550 or whatever but a rich guy who can afford his shiny new all singing all dancing £7000 beast is also seeing massive discounts, and it irks me that he is benefitting from the situation while the guy who might need a bike for work because he can't afford the repair on his car still can't afford a bike . . . it just sucks.
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This post resonates.
I'm fortunate. Cycling is a lifestyle choice for me. I'm not obliged to cycle for my commute.

There are plenty of people for whom the cost of car ownership represents a significant (even unaffordable) drain on their salary and who elect to cycle commute as a means of making wages go further.

It's a shame that decent performance at low end of the range seems to be the exception rather than the norm. It needn't be so.
 
legrandefromage said:
In name only. Reality is that I have one hand sometimes both tied behind my back by the car brands,

I can code many new parts to a vehicle but the majority are main dealer only as the software isn't available or is prohibitively expensive
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Add to that what a mechanic told me. Engines are now sealed units that need to be returned to the manufacturer for something that once was fixed locally. And special fittings requiring dedicated tooling that isn't available outside the franchises
 
I wonder if prices are just too high for people now. A quick look on a Kona uk site shows a mid? range deore spec Sutra priced at £1500, a road bike starting at £3800 and hybrid ebikes starting at an rrp of about £2k. How can an electric scooter cost a few hundred pounds but an ebike be a couple of thousand? I assume people look at the prices, think, "you are having a laugh" and walk away. The deore level Cindercone looks quite a bargain in comparison with an RRP of £1000 ish (though now heavily discounted) but what use is something of that geometry and gearing to anyone other than an actual mountain biker? Having said that, ebay prices for used bikes seem to be low (at least the ones that actually sell) so maybe everyone bought themselves a bike in covid times and just doesn't need to buy another. The bike industry clearly needs to reinvent itself, maybe a smaller 26" wheel to give some added fun factor will be the next big thing.
 
You've answered your own question in the penultimate sentence, plus all the other factors already mentioned across this thread.

As for wheel size, it'll be 36” or 29+ next.
 
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