The Pro’s Closet?

[Touring_Sedan]

TGR’s judgmental take at AI is getting better at the humble brag. Nice progression. Next up, using punctuation.

I'm actually impressed. How the fuck did he get past all 72 auto corrects?

[simple]

That rental fleet dig is fucking awesome. How much are those punters paying for a day of dicking around in Hurricane this time of the year? I need to get in that game. I'll smoke them up and spin them around my secret spots

[smmokan]

Interesting... TPC is opening a retail location at their warehouse in L'ville.

https://www.theproscloset.com/pages/...ore-louisville

[jm2e]

I see some solid deals on their website. Optimism for the future of the second hand market for buyers is growing.

[joetron]

Just had another round of layoffs today. They won’t say what roles or how many.


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[iriponsnow]

They turned me down for some trade ins recently

[Meconium]

Figure they need to sell the used stuff at a loss at this point. I've seen identical new bikes selling for less.

[Kirkwood]

Just had another round of layoffs today. They won’t say what roles or how many.


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Where did you read this? The last round of layoffs was back in January.


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[jm2e]

My total guess is that someone dumped mad capital into the business to buy as much inventory as possible when prices were at record highs. Probably the same people who dumped all their money into crypto a couple years ago. Similarly, they’re hate-waiting for prices to come back up rather than admitting the loss. Laying off workers would make sense if nobody is doing any work other that keeping the lights on and wiping off the dust every few days.

Edit to add: why the fuck did they add actual new products to their website? I go there looking for deals. If I see full retail, I’m out.

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[joetron]

Bicycle Retailer

[EWG]

In fairness the new inventory glut is insane. Rumors on the street was that a month ago Specialized was sitting on a billion in inventory. Hence the retail sales.

[Skistack]

My total guess is that someone dumped mad capital into the business to buy as much inventory as possible when prices were at record highs. Probably the same people who dumped all their money into crypto a couple years ago. Similarly, they’re hate-waiting for prices to come back up rather than admitting the loss. Laying off workers would make sense if nobody is doing any work other that keeping the lights on and wiping off the dust every few days.

Edit to add: why the fuck did they add actual new products to their website? I go there looking for deals. If I see full retail, I’m out.

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Yeah, they got $40M in 2021. Moved from Boulder to a larger space in Louisville so they could hold more inventory. And misunderstood the pandemic market dynamics like alot of the industry.


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[XtrPickels]

Yeah, they got $40M in 2021. Moved from Boulder to a larger space in Louisville so they could hold more inventory. And misunderstood the pandemic market dynamics like alot of the industry.


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I was working with a manufacturer at the time and questioned our finance department when they kept projecting off the charts growth. I'm just a product guy, but I could see it coming a mile away.

It's almost as if they purposefully deluded themselves into believing. Kinda like dreaming that you won the lottery. Except in this case they bought the $40 million house before they checked their ticket.

[smmokan]

My total guess is that someone dumped mad capital into the business to buy as much inventory as possible when prices were at record highs. Probably the same people who dumped all their money into crypto a couple years ago. Similarly, they’re hate-waiting for prices to come back up rather than admitting the loss. Laying off workers would make sense if nobody is doing any work other that keeping the lights on and wiping off the dust every few days.

Edit to add: why the fuck did they add actual new products to their website? I go there looking for deals. If I see full retail, I’m out.

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Ridgeline Ventures in Boulder: https://ridgelinevc.com/

[Meconium]

I was working with a manufacturer at the time and questioned our finance department when they kept projecting off the charts growth. I'm just a product guy, but I could see it coming a mile away.

It's almost as if they purposefully deluded themselves into believing. Kinda like dreaming that you won the lottery. Except in this case they bought the $40 million house before they checked their ticket.

Same. I rebelled under the radar and ordered nothing. Bit of a dice role, kind of helped with what would have been “why the fuck did you order so much shit”. Now I’m pushing production hard for quality not quantity to keep em “busy” vs slow and lazy mistakes. Kind of making work flow less efficient to save jobs without too much noticing that I’m doing it.

[rideit]

QBP: 2021, fully staffed, almost no product
2023 plenty of product, no staff

Ironic

[XXX-er]

About a month ago I hung out with a shop bro who ranted on at length about state of the bicycle industry, he figures shops, distributors and even bike brands are at peril and we will see how this shakes out in the next year and half

so i asked since when and he figures since 2018 margins are too low to run an LBS,

sez the well run LBS will survive on a well run shop

[simple]

Hearing that I have no idea how powersports shops stay open. It's got to be the service department that gets them profit because they sit on millions of dollars of inventory. Inventory that generally is the same as the last year with different colors.

[panchosdad]

So should I wait 2 years to sell my used bikes, thinking that this will also be a clueless overcorrection and in the not distant future there will be no inventory again?

[simple]

Yeah because there will likely be a global pandemic again in 2 years

[waxman]

Hearing that I have no idea how powersports shops stay open. It's got to be the service department that gets them profit because they sit on millions of dollars of inventory. Inventory that generally is the same as the last year with different colors.

Maybe not every powersports customer thinks they should be sponsored/get a discount because they came 7th at the local Tuesday night race? Or legit powersports brands aren't competing directly with their dealers online?

[toast2266]

Hearing that I have no idea how powersports shops stay open. It's got to be the service department that gets them profit because they sit on millions of dollars of inventory. Inventory that generally is the same as the last year with different colors.

Service, parts, and I'm sure companies give them very, very good terms on their inventory.

Normal margin on a motorcycle is like 10%ish, so they're certainly not staying in business based on sales of bikes. But it's a lot easier for the average idiot to wrench on their mountain bike than it is for the average idiot to wrench on their motorcycle. So service departments make money.

[XtrPickels]

So should I wait 2 years to sell my used bikes, thinking that this will also be a clueless overcorrection and in the not distant future there will be no inventory again?

The continued bounce is going to be hard to predict. Manufacturer's can't just shut down production and rely on their current inventory, which is why you see current product being moved at reduced prices.

I'd predict a slight pull back in the future, but to be honest, I think the market is going to shrink as well.
I don't think it's a strong time for secondary sales at the moment, and while it might be slightly better in the future it won't go back to the pandemic level seller's market.

[Meconium]

I blame whierless electronic shifting and down country bikes relabeled as short travel progressive "whips". To many small players trying to go big and the big trying to bigger. Bike companies should just all go in on stocking display/demo galleries that are inclusive to whatever brands who want to pay for a "booth". Fuck specialized,Trek and Giant "shops". Real bike shops should just stick to service and components. Like restructure component US pricing. Cut out distributors all together a manufacturers sell components directly to bike shops. Margins do not need to be low, manufacturing costs are not outrageous, sales and marketing is. Sram is the devil, Shimano, fine with the 5 year life cycle. Hayes is fine, Mezzer don't retool like an idiot. Silicon valley software shenanigans investment Tom foolery is a game and if you lose, Bitcoin it.

[rideit]

I’m really, really psyched that I absolutely love my three Mt. Bikes, they serve my needs, and I don’t see any technological advancements coming from my chosen brand on the horizon. The pace of development has been so rapid in the last ten years, I was psyched to get the newest whiz bang altitude as they came out. But it was easy to flip them for about what I paid within their product cycle.
I didn’t even bite on Transmission, the shifts seem too slow for my tastes (but probably would be better in the long run on the e-bike)
In this climate, I’m happy to ride what I have until there is a real ‘gotta have’ new frame or suspension development. I would take an absolute bath right now if I tried to sell.
Judging from the new Slayer, all they changed was a ‘me too!’ in-frame storage and a rear axle flip chip, which I already have.