Re: anemic industry's retrenchment continues

On 2/3/2025 8:06 AM, AMuzi wrote:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/longstanding-us-brand-closes- another-company-makes-layoffs/ar-AA1ycvIb

This is interesting in that I see bikes as things that people need and want. The amount of variance among consumers for bikes is quite large. Here is my take.
1.
  People like myself who are serious cyclist. They ride usually for recreation and even performance. They tend to be knowledgeable about bikes and can do much of there own work or the basics. To me this group is not huge but does draw some serious technical innovations. The money spent here is quite out of proportion to the number overall percentage of the industry. This folks draw the big $$. Naturally some in this group can afford and have others do there mechanical work.
2.People who ride bikes purely for fun off and on and probably only in really nice weather. They might be retired or just get out around the neighborhood. This group is large in number but probably not in demand for new stuff. This group though relies heavily on having maintenance and work done by shops or mechanics places that do bike repairs.
3.
People who ride bike for real transportation and need. They use these bikes for work sometimes and to get around. In effect they use a bike like someone like myself would drive a car. They need to keep on going repairs and parts, the whole gambit of things related to keeping the bike running. They probably can do some of there own work but not always. This group is actually I believe a pretty heave consumer of cycling industry but the do not draw the attention. This might not be the picture of the industry in US but in other countries huge,
To me if you are in the bike industry and want to survive you have to have a target market and know your customers and needs. In turn they need to know what you have and turn to you for items. I love high performance fast recreational cycling but I believe on the whole that is not much of the real industry.
Am I wrong?
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Deacon Mark