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TPC worked great when they were selling bikes form the Boulder area cycling community - people that didn't want to deal with the hassle and either had sponsorships or enough money to get new rides without much worry.
Those people don't exist throughout the country, and at some point TPC had to start spending real money to get inventory. Scaling it up just didn't work.
IMO
Yeah, not everyone is getting a new S-Works every couple years.
And yet TPC talked investors into giving them tens of millions of dollars. I would fucking love to see those slide decks.
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Private Equity greed at its finest, combined with unsustainable growth through the Covid years... they've made some very bad business decisions over the last 4-5 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skistack
I remember back in '20 and '21 they contacted me and asked to buy all of our demo bikes, and told me how much they'd pay. I declined, and named my price- and they paid it without hesitation. Pretty sure they lost money on most of those bikes.
I’d bet that private equity somehow turned what in real terms is bad business into good business for themselves
Good godQuote:
Originally Posted by smmokan
Giant acquired Stages Cycling from bankruptcy.
When Stages was having finical difficulty Giant offered them $20m for 32.5%, and Stages refused the offer.
Then Giant sued them for $14m for unpaid invoices and for misuse of intellectual property rights. Industry insiders believe that this was the straw that broke the camels back, forcing Stages into bankruptcy.
Less than 6 months later they filed for bankruptcy, and Giant has now acquired the bankrupt company for $20m.
What a weird business this bike industry is.
Peak TPC was when they actually sold genuine pro team kit on eBay. I have some United Healtchare and Optum team bibs from 10 years ago that I still wear, probably paid $15 each. They’ve held up way better than fancy consumer grade cycling clothes I’ve owned
Giant had made Stages excercise, peloton style bikes and were probably owed some money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dee Hubbs
I remember paying $300 for some used Travis Brown chamois’. Ahhh, simpler times…Quote:
Originally Posted by Benneke10
How many times did he use it?
Travis' brown chamois?
Or
Travis Brown's chamois?
Guaranteed that those guys structured the deal so that they made money no matter what.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcski
I got some great used pieces from TPC but I only bought unused bibs. In hindsight I wish I had the nerve to stock on the used ones back in the day. I did pick up a pair of lightly used bibs from the Trek world tour team at a consignment shop for $20 a few years ago, money well spent.
I would guess Ti tubing is going to be much more expensive soon with the restrictions on Russian imports?Quote:
Originally Posted by sfotex
That is my understanding.Quote:
Originally Posted by One (+) Sentence
I bought a bike from the TPC before prices got stupid and it was an awesome experience. Pretty sad to see. Honestly whoever signed off on buying bikes at the inflated prices they did should have been fired long ago… but in general how where people in the bike industry so stupid?
Having worked in the industry, I'd say that most people are in it for the "bikes" and not the "business".Quote:
Originally Posted by TAFKALVS
They likely wouldn't make as business people outside of this niche.
Add to that the infusion of stupid VC money with the Pro's Closet, and it was a recipe for disaster. There were so many bad business decisions made with that company, and you could see the signs of desperation over the last 18 months.Quote:
Originally Posted by XtrPickels
You know the old saying:Quote:
Originally Posted by XtrPickels
How do you make a small fortune in the bike business? Start with a *large* fortune. :D
Ha! I just said this to a guy in the neighborhood that is selling his bike shop and asked me if I was interested in buying it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SKIP IN7RO
Yep. Just posted this in that thread...Quote:
Originally Posted by smmokan
I don't work in finance or anything remotely related but even I and most people I know, as consumers, equate VC (scum) involvement with degraded product and/or service and most likely, demise of said product and/or service, all for a very small chance of explosive growth and survival. Easy for VC scum to play that game when they have eggs in many baskets, each representing small relative potential loss for them. For the business owner courting such funding though, how do they not see this? All their eggs are in the one basket that the VC DGAF about. It's one thing to cash out and exit/retire but if you want to keep your business and you're giving it your all, it's tall odds at succeeding in this model.
Is Cleary joining the tumult?
There is some you tube guy who pointed out "Why did they buy a huge warehouse"? I'd add to that, at Boulder Colorado Prices. I haven't lived there for a very long time, but back when we did, the real-estate was more pricey than anything else in Denver area, including Cherry Creek. Their model was portable. they probably could have pulled that off is alot of places where the lease or buy of commercial space was multiples less.
Appears so. Bummer. I had a good run of 16-26” cleary rigs for my kids. Just grabbed a 50% off 26” Meerkat for my 8 year old who will be done with her 24” by Spring ‘25. Heavy but rolls great and I like the look of their bikes. Mostly just get around our pretty flat town, to/from school needsQuote:
Originally Posted by SchralphMacchio
https://www.clearybikes.com
Oh man, good prices, I need to find my oldest a 24", but looks like they sold out of those.
Does your oldest like pink??Quote:
Originally Posted by 406
Yeah, she loves it....You selling a Scout or Meerkat? We would want the Scout.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doremite
Yeah, good prices. Just grabbed a scout. Thanks for the heads up! Bummer they're folding. Kinda surprising, really. Simple bikes so no fancy tooling to get bored down in, and I see plenty of clearys around.
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Sorry, Meerkat.Quote:
Originally Posted by 406
That said I will likely have a 24” Prevelo Zulu Four up for grabs come Spring. Pink grips and pink pedals!
I ordered a single speed Owl. My older kid is looking silly huge on her Ramones 14 (which is a pointlessly stupid bike unless you live in Whistler and your 3.5-4 year old has been hucking their balance bike off of everything since before they could walk and needs an appropriate fitting 14” bike with the stopping power of a race motorcycle). I wonder if she can skip 16. If not, friends have a couple of free Woom 16s they are giving me this weekend.
Big bummer about Cleary though.
we went from a ramones 14 to a 20" specizlized riprock for Jr. T.odd this summer....I was worried it would be too big a jump, but he took to it pretty quick. still loves hopping on the 14 a fair bit, kinda uses it like a bmx bike! lol
I"m NOT a parent, but a bike mechanic
See parents skip a size OFTEN.
Not a parent but the number of kids I see absolutely shredding on bikes that WAY too big for them makes me think skipping a size is fine.
^^^ I'd say that's about 50/50. I've seen a bunch of kids who are good riders, and their parents put them on a bigger bike because a bigger bike tends to mean better tires, better brakes, maybe suspension, gears, etc. The kids benefit from the better bike and continue to shred.
I've also seen a bunch of kids that are ok-ish riders that don't really get much benefit from the nicer parts and are clearly less comfortable on the bigger bike. They'd be much better served on a smaller bike that they can maneuver more easily.
Also depends on what the kids are riding. Much easier to get away with a bike that's a bit too big on flat bike paths and smooth pavement. Harder to manage to bigger bike on pump tracks, hillier terrain, and any place where they're gonna be stopping and starting a lot.
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I’m a proponent of bikes that fit well. Worked well for my kids. How much would you want to ride a bike that was two sizes too big?
I'm sure a bike that fits is better and, more bikes is better duh! But those things are figgin expensive!
If the kid is "silly huge" on a 14" than jumping straight to a 20" should not be a problem.
Yeah we’ll see about fit on the 20”, she had a great time on the 16” bike yesterday. Woom 3 frame wasn’t really much longer than the Ramones 14, the stark difference was in stack and standover height. I’ll probably keep the 20” Cleary in storage until Summer as it’s like 5 lbs heavier than the Woom 3.
Ramones 14 is a well built bike btw, my mini rant about it being mostly pointless is that it’s 17 lbs fully built, intended for a 35-40 lbs kid with a very small window of usage due to limited height range for that wheel size. Not much need for dual disc brakes, beefy chromoly tubing and burly rims at that age. I mean that bike can handle my weight and stop with me on it! Plus with a bike that ends up getting chucked into the back of a car trunk with other random things, it’s not really great to use rotors that can get bent from banging into other bike pedals etc. This bike was probably marketed specifically for unrealistic dads wanting their kid to be as cool as them.
Bell Helmets, Fox Racing, Giro sold to PE
https://www.rideapart.com/news/73659...fbul3wENjP1Xtw
Phew! Fox Racing will be fine !!1!!&!Quote:
As we've come to expect from forward-looking statements of sales, the release given by Revelyst and Strategic Value Partners is one where it touts that this investment will "unlock new potential" for these brands. And that the new owners have deep respect for each company's core audience.
:facepalm: