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60m vs 300m in Europe who previously weren’t having to pay extra taxes on the items they bought from CRC.
All guess work but I'd be rather surprised to see CRC doing more trade into Europe than into the UK especially given the likes of all tricks, mantel, bike discount, bike24, rcz and so on were often less expensive than crc.
Add to that that when Signa bought crc, bikester and fharrad gave "them" an EU presence in group too.
I'm not feeling so smug about my bargain eMTB with the Bafang motor now. Warranty issues were always going to be a PITA, but at least there was a warranty. If they go pop I'm guessing there will be zero Bafang back up in the UK.
If they could just hang in there until my return gets there this week and they add the vouchers I used back to my account and I reorder a larger size helmet and it’s dispatched.
I do hope they get through this period and prosper, but really hope they can manage maybe another week as a minimum 🫣
Surely brexit has had a hand to play in CRC’s demise.
Talking to a mate the other day. He ordered a new bar from CRC for 70€. Got stung by Italian customs for 180€.
Now he uses the German sites. I’m sure lots of other folks in Europe do the same now.
I used to use CRC a fair bit, but not once since brexit.
It sure is French resident(not French not Brittish). Delivery delay's are up a lot(so can only be used for stuff needed in almost two weeks now. and pricing is a lot less good. Note uk prices are not same as charged to continent and spread seem to have increased quite a bit. Looked at several of the recent PSA unavailable to me(when I change origin the deal is still live for UK) I used to be mainly CRC planet X and Merlin for my cycling stuff now I shop french and Germany mainly
Don't forget Merlin has German owners now. A shrewd move by them into the UK marketplace. Covering lots of bases no doubt.
https://cyclingindustry.news/german-cycling-giant-purchases-mail-order-specialist-merlin-cycles/
new CRC website is utter bobbins
Merlin has German owners now
That went under ze radar.
We own both a Nukeproof and a Vitus bike so a little worried if things go belly up, warranty and availability of spares will be affected, already had to warranty the frame on a 3 month old Mega. I’m not so worried about secondhand value of bikes as they’ll be kept for some time.
The vitus is new and covered by the 30 day return policy, so seriously considering returning it and buying something else..
nukeproof aren't a CRC own brand, you can buy them loads of places so should be fine.
Vitus is a little different
Are you sure, I was under the impression that nukeproof is owned by sigma also?
nukeproof aren’t a CRC own brand, you can buy them loads of places so should be fine.
Vitus is a little different
Nukeproof is owned by hotlines isn't it (as I believe is vitus?) I did a bit of cursory goggling on this the other day and whilst the registered address for hotlines and crc is the same I couldn't see anything to say one was owned by the other (or more to the point that Signa bought hotlines not just the retail side)
Edit:
The Nukeproof website is owned and operated by WiggleCRC Ltd.
WiggleCRC Ltd is registered in the United Kingdom at
1000 Lakeside, Suite 310, Third Floor N E Wing, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO6 3EN / Company No: 02667809 / VAT No: GB884 2571 94
You can contact us by writing to the business address given above or by email to info@nukeproof.com.
Would suggest nukeproof is owned by chiggle
for what it's worth, my Vitus Escarpe is very, very good.
The best Dh bike i've ever owned, also reasonably happy being stomped up hills.
(ease off a bit, sit and spin, and it's a very good climber)
Twitter/X rumours of a major UK bike brand filing for insolvency this morning. With the £150million credit withdrawal earlier this week I'd not be surprised if it was Wiggle/CRC.
Yes Nukeproof is owned by Hotlines, who were owned by CRC, who were bought by Wiggle, who we now call Chiggle, but they're owned by Signa, who are being de-funded by another Signa.
Keep up. It's quite simple.
They look to still be taking orders as I type which would suggest not.
nukeproof aren’t a CRC own brand, you can buy them loads of places so should be fine.
All part of the same CRC/Wiggle/Hotlines/Lifline/Prime/Nukeproof/Vitus empire (probably more I've forgotten too).
Hotlines as a distributor sells stuff to LBS's from a mix of their one in-house brands and stuff they import from others .
Wouldn't order from them right now that's for sure, lots of chat about announcements today/tomorrow...
Twitter/X rumours of a major UK bike brand filing for insolvency this morning.
For those of us who don't Twit/X, who is saying this?
Random people who heard a rumour or people who might have first or at least secondhand knowledge?
Twitter/X rumours of a major UK bike brand filing for insolvency this morning. With the £150million credit withdrawal earlier this week I’d not be surprised if it was Wiggle/CRC.
Wouldn't need to be able to see the future to have worked it out - they literally said this would likely happen in the PR.
After many years of mutually trusted collaboration and reliable financing between the Company and SIGNA Holding,
SSU has relied on the binding and unconditional nature of the Equity Commitment Letter to continue to draw funds to meet its near-term obligations and for its going concern assessment of the Company and its subsidiaries.
I've got a few Wiggle orders that I wanted to return: total value over the 4 orders is about £800.
Should I risk sending them back? I'd hate for them to go belly-up after I've posted the items and before I get my money back!
I'd hold onto them for the time being, you can always sell them on and get more money back than you would as a nobody in the queue to the administrators.
Definitely don't send anything this week, i'm in the trade and we certainly aren't sending anything at the moment.
Very strong rumors that there will be something announced today/tomorrow.
I’ve got a few Wiggle orders that I wanted to return: total value over the 4 orders is about £800.
Begs the question of how it why but, that aside...
If I were you no, not yet. I'd hang on until this time next week at least.
The withdrawal of the equity agreement will mean some major restructuring at the least. That could mean anything eg. Bikester goes but the rest the group is floated off the back of that though to the whole group isn't there by Monday.
If you don't return the stuff you can at least sell it. If you return it and they go pop you may never see it or the money again.
(FWIW suspect their stupidly generous returns policy and warranty liability won't have helped here)
And to think, I queried an issue yesterday, and the spare part to rectify said issue was sent out to me same day, CRC customer service can be very good. Would be sad to see them go, especially as I have a warranty interest….
Ordered forks and tyres yesterday, arrived this morning. That's the last order I'll make until things are a bit clearer!
Looks like my 'your order has been despatched' email which came through this morning could have been good timing then!
Hmm they've just got the E-Mythique in stock in a couple of the models, weren't yesterday....must resist
I’ll be sad if it goes. I’ve used them lots over the years, great shipping and returns policy for sizing and choosing kit over the years of three growing children. Never had any issues with customer service.<br /><br />
Seems like another victim of a false and hyped market during the pandemic, and now reality bites.
Im going to guess that any purchases made now, with CC or PayPal, would be protected anyway?
Hmm they’ve just got the E-Mythique in stock in a couple of the models, weren’t yesterday….must resist
I wish I hadn't read this comment. Now I MUST RESIST TOO!
Im going to guess that any purchases made now, with CC or PayPal, would be protected anyway?
Assuming you tick the relevant boxes in terms of item costs etc yes.
Seems like another victim of a false and hyped market during the pandemic, and now reality bites.
IMHO (and it really is opinion only) whilst the pandemic won't have helped it's likely what tipped everything not the main cause. The main problem is people won't pay for stuff*.
There's a constant race to be cheapest, margins are squeezed to razor thin because if Google says you're 2p more expensive than the next shop you don't get the order. That needs huge turnover to keep it viable.
The pandemic meant supplies were very difficult to maintain which meant maintaining that turnover was very difficult. Post pandemic the supplies have started to recover, in some instances meaning huge glutts of stock but, if your business relies on having tens of thousands of items to sell at cost +1% that's not terrible so long as there's a market...
...But, everyone is suddenly tightening their belts, discretionary spend has tanked and the market for moderately expensive toys with it.
Now they're left with huge overstock and no market to sell it to with and a history of tiny margins on huge turnover meaning they have no buffer, need external liquidity which was fine when you could stick £150m in to pay suppliers knowing its coming back over the next x months. Now there's no visible prospect of repayment so that external liquidity is pulled and no buffer means the company can't service it's day to day bills without huge borrowing. Interest rates from the open market are higher than their margins will allow them to swallow and sales are tanking so even if they could afford to borrow, few people want to lend.
*that's a longer conversation and not really relevant to this thread.
The main problem is people won’t pay for stuff*.
Mainly because Chiggle, in an effort to dominate the market and drive competitors out of business, were subsidising prices, and thus making them artificially low.
Mainly because Chiggle, in an effort to dominate the market and drive competitors out of business, were subsidising prices, and thus making them artificially low.
Nah, it's not just a "bike" problem and it's a lot older than chiggle but...
*that’s a longer conversation and not really relevant to this thread.
😉
CRC customer services have just been very helpful locating & sending the keys which were missing from my recent ebike purchase
Just ordered some pedals to go with it, hopefully they arrive as they're half the price of anywhere else
Wiggle/CRC entering self administration
Source? This comment might look very out of date very quickly but couldn’t see any news anywhere.
Mark Sutton is well connected, I'll be suprised if he's wrong.
Wow, it could really happen.
It's a well written article - I thought these points were interesting:
"A contributory factor to the loss of a competitive edge and thus profitability could be the moving of the business out of Northern Ireland where it would have enjoyed cut ties from the Brexit deal that effects a business based in England."
I hadn't immediately thought of the impact of CRC leaving NI.
And
"Needless to say, as the bike industry’s largest online platform, the ripple effects of any wind down of the business will touch just about every business in the supply chain, if not directly, then as a consequence of subsequent stock sells offs."
A shame
Why did they leave NI?
Did Royal Mail / other couriers offer them a discount to relocate to Birmingham?
If you’ve got returns, hang onto them as there’s a chance of them having some value whereas send the stuff back and you’ll be added to the growing list of unsecured creditors who may at some point in the future get something like a penny for every pound owed.
Lack of parent company guarantees probably means that many suppliers will now demand cash-up-front as the impending fire-sale will probably see a few losing their shirts.
Although they’ve announced self-liquidation I expect to see if they can find new backers, I doubt anyone in their right mind would want to pick up the tab for their debts when they can wait a while for the pending fire-sale of assets and stock.
If/when the bankruptcy sale starts, the market is going to be flooded with cheap stuff which makes life harder for other distributors and retailers as demand dries up and interest rates stay high.
Likewise, I won’t be placing any orders either as there’s a high probability they’ll take your money but the goods might not turn up.