Bike industry failing?

Ian F said:
. I've noticed "retirement planning" channels are somewhat popular right now - or maybe it's just me since I'm hoping to be on the tail end of my working career over the next few years.
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Everything on YouTube is targeted to you and what you’ve searched or looked at online. Retirement channels have always been there, but they’re just showing up on your feed now.

But to your point, that may be why MTB channels are dying. Nobody is searching for them anymore.
 
Steve Vai said:
Yeah. But the prices of what did come through went up to compensate so revenue stayed the same. We had our best year ever in 2025. And yes, MTB is dying but that has more to with the group itself and not supply. Like, how many rides do you have to get buzzed by an e-bike with a blue tooth speaker before you start doing something else 🤷
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I call BS.

The numbers are for the US industry, not one shop located in "Hedge Fund East, NJ." The cited article in Pinkbike says dollar volume is down 16%. That is reality. Do you have another source?

And the bluetooth buzz number is eight, 11 for Cannibal Corpse.
 
Steve Vai said:
Hedge Fund East has grown a minimum of 10% YOY since opening. We cater to the CEOs and Bankers making bank ass bonuses from everyone else’s suffering. I have the Employee of the year water bottle and jelly of the month club membership to show for it 😂
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This is the other thing - it is hard to go to spend money in the bicycle industry when the staff/industry beats the turd out of the customer for making money or having a different political belief that they do - and boy did the cycling industry get vocal during COVID. I am not saying they all do, but it is a theme. The COVID/Bike shop thread on here aged like fine milk - how many shop owners would like that kind of business again? No wonder the manufacturers tried to cut some shops out of the equation.

I too worked in a bike shop for several years and realized it was not going to pay the bills for how I wanted to live . I hope to maybe retire from what I do someday and possibly work in a shop or something similar, until then I go to work and pay the bills.

Six years of 60+ hour weeks and being essential during round one of COVID doing seven 13’s for weeks on end to hand out PPP and hear someone say “it must be nice” when I buy carbon wheels with some nice hubs while they reek of weed and stare at their phone for the majority of our interaction. Great business model. Maybe bartenders should start to remind patrons of cancer, DUI risk, hangovers, high blood pressure with each sale.

The motorcycle shop greets me with a smile and does whatever they need to keep my business. I want to spend my money where it is appreciated.

Some of these shops / vendors sounds like panhandlers alley in Portland.


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goldsbar said:
It has felt like MTB is dying, at least in NJ. Tons of NICA kids but I'm not sure what that really does. They seem to exit the sport right after school just like football/baseball/soccer/basketball kids.
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I'm curious where you drew this conclusion? The NJ NICA league has steadily grown since launch, and we are seeing more collegiate racers, more alum coaches, etc. National trends are similar.
 
KenS said:
I'm curious where you drew this conclusion? The NJ NICA league has steadily grown since launch, and we are seeing more collegiate racers, more alum coaches, etc. National trends are similar.
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But does it transition into more riders post-college? I think he's saying that yeah there's tons of NICA racers but the majority of them move onto other things. Which isn't really that weird, life gets in the way and priorities change.

It's also one thing if you ride with NICA or Collegiate racing team then post school you no longer have that group to go ride with.

It's been 3 years since I moved out of NJ but judging by cars-in-the-lots I didn't notice any change pre-Covid and post-Covid before moving. Can't go off of those during-Covid #s when everyone discovered the outdoors.

Road riding on the other hand did seem to be dying a slow death. And literally, see the average age of road riders?
 
Santapez said:
But does it transition into more riders post-college? I think he's saying that yeah there's tons of NICA racers but the majority of them move onto other things. Which isn't really that weird, life gets in the way and priorities change.

It's also one thing if you ride with NICA or Collegiate racing team then post school you no longer have that group to go ride with.

It's been 3 years since I moved out of NJ but judging by cars-in-the-lots I didn't notice any change pre-Covid and post-Covid before moving. Can't go off of those during-Covid #s when everyone discovered the outdoors.

Road riding on the other hand did seem to be dying a slow death. And literally, see the average age of road riders?
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In reality, NICA demographics would need a solid 20 years of data to say with any certainty. And even then, so many other factors will play into any case study.

From an anecdotal point of view...

1. You do shit with your kids when they are young
2. They get older, and don't want to do said shit with you anymore
3. Then they go to college and no shit gets done, because beer
4. They graduate and get jobs, real money, and they eat more good food
5. Then they get fat
6. Then they look for an activity to help them be less fat, see "do shit" statement from item 1

All you can do is plant the seed. NICA is currently planting a shit-ton of seeds in the environment. Will these grow in time? Logically it would follow. But in reality, it'll take years for us to see what grows from that.

I mean the alternative is that we can cancel NICA and spin up a Burger King & Video Games league.
 
Norm said:
I mean the alternative is that we can cancel NICA and spin up a Burger King & Video Games league.
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My view is, there's no downside to NICA. From a MTB rider who wants to see a lot of mountain bikers I'd love it if the kids carry it into adulthood. But even if they never ride a bike again, there's no downside to them being on a team, riding, the competition etc etc.

We just don't need to count on NICA being the savior of mountain biking or whatever. It's just like Covid riders. Not going to stick for the majority but even if one out of twenty keep riding, that's great.
 
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