Since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cycling industry has been in turmoil. That’s been particularly evident here in the UK where, alongside increases in shipping costs, we’ve been grappling with the fallout from Brexit.
We’ve seen huge businesses fail and either return under new ownership, or disappear: Wiggle CRC collapsed and is now under the ownership of the Frasers Group in a much-reduced capacity.
7Anna, the parent company of innovative bike makers Rondo, NS Bikes, Crème and Octane One, have faced bankruptcy after distributors and suppliers went out of business. VanMoof failed after being one of the most-funded electric bike startups in the world.
Legendary mountain bike brand Kona nearly folded, only to be bought from its parent company by the original founders. The Accell Group, owner of Raleigh, Lapierre and Ghost among others, has faced losses exceeding €390 million. Restructuring and job losses followed.
Even the biggest brands in the world seem to be struggling. Trek has seen many layoffs and cuts in production. Rapha continues to struggle to turn a profit, even if it says things are improving. ENVE was sold into private equity by its owners in 2024. Canyon saw a 6% drop in revenue in 2025. Even Giant’s profits are down 15.5%.
We’ve also seen expert premium distributor Saddleback (UK supplier of Castelli, Sidi and others) call in the administrators.
Clearly, the bike industry has a problem.
Boom and bust
The pattern of boom and bust in cycling has been around for as long as I can remember. In my lifetime, we've had the BMX boom, mountain bike boom, then the rise of the MAMIL and the massive boost that gave to road bike sales.
Most recently, it was the boom in sales during the pandemic. That was essentially caused by production in Asia shutting down, and at the same time, people wanted bikes (getting out and exercising was one of the few freedoms we had during lockdowns). The result was bike shops and brands simply sold out of everything they had, and at full retail prices.
The cycling industry thought we were in a new utopia where everyone wanted bikes. But what really happened was everyone who wanted a new bike in 2021 and 2022 bought one, effectively reducing sales in 2023.
This led to massive overstocks, meaning big discounts. As a result, the big brands are quite cash poor and overstocked – and keeping that inventory costs money.
The bigger players can absorb discounts more readily to try to improve cashflow, so the pressure is on the smaller brands that are trying to compete.
A new way
On a recent trip to Belgium to visit Belgian Cycling Factory, home of Ridley, Eddy Merckx, Nukeproof and Aeres, I saw how the company has transitioned away from mass-production and into a new hybrid model that builds bikes to order and not based on sales predictions.
This is a more sustainable business model. It means BCF doesn’t have thousands of assembled bikes in boxes. Instead, its warehouse is a parts-picking exercise.
As well as moving away from forecasting sales, BCF has made another change. Most brands have model-year bikes, where the design remains largely unchanged, but they’ll change colourways from year to year.
I’ve always disliked the idea that I could buy a new bike in the spring, but by September when new year models start to arrive, that bike is already ‘old’ or ‘out of date’, losing value and cachet in the process, when it’s essentially the same bike.
Usually, bike designs have around a four-year cycle, and BCF now has two colours in each model called 'Lifetime Colour Code’. They are usually the simplest black and white models and go unchanged for the whole life cycle of the bike – no more model years.
BCF also owns its own paint shop, so its bikes can be custom ordered in your choice of paint, at nominal or no extra cost depending on the model.
Both Orbea and Ribble offer a similar semi-bespoke approach that moves away from model years.
Moving away from stack ‘em up
BCF shows how the cycling industry can move away from the mass-produced 'stack 'em up and knock ‘em out' mentality. That’s why we’ve had a continual cycle of boom and bust, and I’d like to see other brands follow BCF’s lead.
Less overproduction will make the industry safer, and see our bikes retain their value better. Less overstocking also means less waste, less panicked discounting and less financial exposure for the brands.
Perhaps that would even result in a reduction in retail prices, with businesses less exposed to debt from pre-ordering framesets and components for forecasts that have often been proven wrong.
