Every week there’s a new story relating to a big player in the cycle industry closing, downsizing or restructuring (job losses!). Or the bike shop closing that’s been there for decades.
Just wondered how other equipment-heavy sports are getting on. My only other source of reference is horse riding - still seems to be no shortage of cash in the eventing world! The horse folk are weird though and will live off beans and live it a shitty house if it means their horse can have the latest bit of kit! Or mega rich and daddy buys everything! 🤣
That's a bit different tho' as while you might be a bit sad if you can't buy new tyres, don't pay for horse food and the consequences are a bit rough for the pony.
My local retailer tells me climbing gear isn't suffering too much, ski demand is weak.
Cycling is suffering as it has an unhealthy relationship with shopping compared to many other sports
I've worked in the outdoor trade for 20+ years although moved away from the sales side a couple of years ago. From speaking to ex-colleagues, and as wbo says, climbing equipment and kit for other more specialist activities are doing okay, but "general" outdoor kit such as clothing is suffering from similar over-stock to the bike industry.
We have someone at work who only works to pay for her horse, their other half pays for everything else and all their wage goes on the Horse
From what they tell us the Horse industry is doing very well, they have even started their own little business making horsey stuff so they can make a bit extra to spend on the horse, its very much a way of life for them and they would happily go without if the horse needed them too
Part of the problem in the bike industry is the complexity of the supply chain - it takes a lot of parts from different suppliers to make a bike. Are there other leisure activities that are similarly complex?
Or, how are things in the car/motorbike/computer world? I imagine they’re similarly complex in componentry?
Just my opinion based mainly on my own habits….
There’s two kinds of spending in the bike world. Needs and wants. “Needs” I’m counting as a necessity to enable you to carry on playing with your bike in the woods, so not a true need up there with feeding and housing yourself. <br />I would guess that the needs are still going on at the rate they always were. Wear a tyre bare or snap a frame or need some winter clothing and you’ll have to open your wallet to replace it, same as before. <br />want to try the latest tyre tread pattern or feel your bike could do with an upgrade or upset your fox jacket is last seasons and you might think that actually, there is nothing wrong with what you have. <br />I said on the cotic thread recently - looks really nice, doesn’t seem to be an improvement over my 2017 bike. Design has kind of plateaued in recent years in some areas of biking at least.
Design has kind of plateaued in recent years in some areas of biking at least.
That could certainly be part of it, there's not really anything new to get excited about. Every time I've changed my main bike for the past 15 years it's been for something that's moved the game forward. My current 2020 Stage 5 doesn't seem a million miles away from the current offerings so it's harder to convince myself to change, even with some of the bargains about.
Think most industries are struggling with the aftermath of Covid, either due to pass along costs, or self inflicted stupidity, i play golf as well as cycling, prices have gone up and up, no real justification, but unit sales are falling, reductions are pretty much wholesale across ranges now, nobody buys full price unless they're rich, secondhand market is busy compared to buying new.
It's the same with cycling for me, before Covid, and during Covid it was going well, cycle to work was giving it a shot in the arm for the UK, as well as more people going out on bikes for leisure, but not as much now i think, C2W isn't being used as much at my place, bike prices are a nightmare, heavy discounts are the norm, not sure how they get the market back to be honest.
The only other sport I'm into is backpacking. The niche, ultralight end of things is really vibrant, tons of tiny, cottage industry type brands popping up all the time
Or, how are things in the /motorbike
Poor, very poor. Plenty closing down, massive discounts from retailers, same as bicycles really.
Slightly skewed by an aging demographic compared to MTB.
From the outside, what I saw was an industry that banged the prices up loads during COVID and sold shedloads to people. You might say the sold their next 1-2 years of pipeline..... Which is only going to lead to a fallow period. Still, at least they kept that cash in the business, rather than pulling it out as dividends....
Motorbikes aren’t that bad actually, weeksy. There’s too much used stock around, and there are some good deals about on certain new models because the new ‘24 models have just been announced - but most dealers have had a good year.
The paddlesport industry is down quite a bit and other similar watersports like windsurfing, foiling, kite surfing etc are also seeing much lower demand. I wouldn't want to be sitting on a bunch of inflatable SUPs right now....
Lol at Eventing being used as an example....years ago in another life the finance company I worked for sponsored all the top level eventing venues like Blenheim. The top prize in the 3 day event was around 20k which sounds great till you realise some of the horses cost 75k........and then they get carted around in 100k horseboxes. Its not a sport thats short of cash.
I think the biggest issue is that the number of bikes sold during covid effectively pulled sales forward a year or two.
Some people bought bikes who wouldn't normally buy them but also a lot of cyclists bought new bikes put of their normal rotation - they had time and many had spare money as they had holiday funds to spend. Almost everyone who had the slightest incling to buy a bike did.
Business analysts should have seen a big lull coming. I guess noone wants stand up in front of the board and be the one who says next years sales targets should be lower than last years.
I know tons of people who dpent big on their hobbies. There must be knock on in those industries too.
I have a mobile catering unit. The industry had a boom in sales of mobile catering units, horsebox conversions, vehicle conversions etc etc. The used market is now flooded with over priced units at covid-tax prices and they are not selling. Many thought it was a quick way to make a buck but found it harder work than it appeared. Now they don't want to take a hit in their investment. Much the same as those trying to sell used bikes.
My wife competes at dressage. Depending on the venue a competition entry is around £20 give or take. The prize money for the winner is about £25.
Sounds like nowt, but if you sell a horse that has £150 winnings to its name it can be worth multiple times it's value without
Gym / fitness kit prices is in freefall. Over lockdown when everyone wanted kit then any old rusty weights were £4/kg and companies were springing up to sell rough and ready plasma cut weight plates, bumpers imported from China, literally anything that you could make or get your hands on was selling for top £.
Then post lockdown there was a bit of a boom for the likes of Mirafit, Wolverson, Jordan etc as there was a bit of a backlog of gyms putting off refusbishment projects.
But since then, even shops have been selling new bumper plates <£2/kg and you can hardly give a squat rack away. A lot of entrepreneurs who set up companies over lockdown importing stuff with their logo slapped on have been left holding stock of cheap bars and plates that no one wants.
A bit like cycling, although I guess in cycling it's impossible to create a brand from scratch over lockdown so it's more established companies who over-ordered than new companies springing up then disappearing.