It has been a rough month for the bike industry. First the news of GT letting their athletes go and then Rocky Mountain Bicycles restructuring to avoid bankruptcy. This news has led people to start questioning how 2025 will look for the bike world. Is this the end of the bike industry? Are companies over or under reacting? Or are companies not reacting quick enough? Who makes these predictions?
Back in college I was your typical broke college kid. My diet consisted mainly of Tina’s burritos and Jack in the Box 2 for 99 cent tacos. Side hustles were my specialty, and one day when I was browsing the internet I saw a small ad for people who wanted to make some extra money taste testing at Taco Bell. I loved Taco Bell and also was desperate to make some extra money so I clicked away and filled all the information out. I wasn’t sure if this was a scam or not, but back then I was a little more inclined to take risks, especially for $50.
Upon arriving at Taco Bell’s HQ I quickly realized the taste test was not a scam and this was a legit opportunity. Over the next hour, I would be brought in and asked to taste multiple different cheeses and rank them based on color appeal and which one looked more appetizing. Some other metrics included consistency and smell. After only 60 min I was out the door with $50 dollars in hand, and so were 100’s of other people. This was a full blown operation. I would later go on to do this a few more times, each time with different tests based around looks and color appeal of the food.
Now why am I telling you guys this slightly embarrassing story? To emphasize how big corporations outside of the bike industry are not leaving anything to chance. Most decisions by large corporations have been run through so many different studies; from taste tests to market research, so much testing feedback is gathered before the product is ever introduced. On top of this, teams full of market specialists are studying everything, from traffic of an intersection for a potential location to what the market trends are for new products.
Now the real question is, does the bike industry have this? Are companies currently under or over reacting to how the market is doing? Have they been studying trends or is this a slam all the brakes, we didn’t see this coming situation? How many people are involved in picking a bike's colorway before going forward with a new bike model? How many variables are being left to chance and how much of a chance are bike companies taking?
These are all very good questions and something I would be very interested to know. Adding to this is what other variables are there? Say bike sales start to go up again after a stagnant year or two of little sales, how long does that have to keep going before the market adjusts again? Direct to consumer companies probably are in the best position here as they see the money right away from a bike sale. However what about brands who go through shops where credit is involved? Most bike shops have some form of terms with the brand. If sales start again and shops start to see an increase in revenue, how long does it take for the brands to start seeing that growth in sales?
This whole opinion piece is starting to feel like one big question, but that kind of sums up the state of the bike industry currently. How prepared are bike companies and what is 2025 going to look like is the question on the minds of a lot of people right now.
Whatever ends up happening, I just hope I don’t ever have to taste test at Taco Bell again, as there is no way that could have been healthy.
-Mo Awesome
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