Cannondale is bankrupt

[Michael Tordoff]

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=PR&Date=20030127&ID
=2266611&Symbol=US:BIKE

and an earlier report that contains a little hope for the bike division at:

http://209.11.49.239/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_conte nt_id=1804453

 

[Zoot Katz]

Scratch Fab's hope of riding for their team.
--
zk

 

[One Of The Six]

Chapter 11 is for reorganization. While it does not look good, they are not finished yet.

"Michael Tordoff" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=PR&Date=20030127&I D
> =2266611&Symbol=US:BIKE
>
> and an earlier report that contains a little hope for the bike division
at:
>
>
http://209.11.49.239/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_cont e
> nt_id=1804453

 

[Sc Hiker Biker]

Another victim of Walmart's success. Even Schwinn has given up the ghost and put their bikes in
Walmart stores. People see a nice looking bike at Walmart with cool colors for 100 bucks and then
see the cheapest bike at a LBS for $500 with a lame paint job and wonder.... how can it be 400 bucks
more?? and then they buy the cheaper bike.

This might also be a reason http://www.bicyclesb2b.com/htm/editor/jays/articles/Jay02_01.htm

They claim 24 percent fewer bicyclist in 2000 than in 1990 but also give good news for bike
shops. But talking to my LBS leads to me think that bicycling is stagnant at best in the area
where I live at.

 

[bobqzzi]

Too bad, but completely inevitable. I have no idea how they ever convinced a loan officer to give
them money to get into the motorcycle bussiness.

I'm sure the bikes will continue on under new ownership.

Bob

On Mon, 27 Jan 2003 15:55:58 -0500, "Michael Tordoff" <[email protected]> wrote:

>http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=PR&Date=20030127&ID
>=2266611&Symbol=US:BIKE
>
>and an earlier report that contains a little hope for the bike division at:
>
>http://209.11.49.239/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_conte nt_id=1804453

 

[Fabrizio Mazzol]

"Zoot Katz" <[email protected]> wrote in message .look.ca...
>
>
> Scratch Fab's hope of riding for their team.
> --
> zk

Don't worry about him, there are many teams that need his UCI points to give them a better shot at
getting a invite to events such as the TdF.

Anyway, I still look good on my team Saeco CAAD frame even if the company bites it. I just wish the
stupid company I have to work for would go belly up before this season starts so I can get some
better time on the road.

 

[Bran Everseekin]

SC Hiker Biker <[email protected]> spake thusly on or about Tue, 28 Jan 2003 02:46:33 UTC

-> Another victim of Walmart's success. Even Schwinn has given up the ghost -> and put their bikes
in Walmart stores.

didn't you hear Schwinn is only a sticker on the bike shaped toy now? Pacific took them down in 2001
along with the GT brand. hrmm if pacific buys cannodale there will be a flood of crackandfail
branded hiten steel bikes at walmart

--
I hurt before the ride so fibro gives me a head start on the rest of the pack. silver lining?
[email protected]

 

[Jon Isaacs]

>Another victim of Walmart's success. Even Schwinn has given up the ghost and put their bikes in
>Walmart stores.

>People see a nice looking bike at Walmart with cool colors for 100 bucks and then see the cheapest
>bike at a LBS for $500 with a lame paint job and wonder.... how can it be 400 bucks more?? and then
>they buy the cheaper bike.

Cannondale's Bankruptcy has nothing to do with Walmart or even with their bicycle division. It is
the result of an silly venture into the motorcycle market. They lost big time there.

And as far as bike prices go, I don't know about your LBS, but the ones I frequent have decent entry
level bikes for somewhere around $200.

Certainly Walmart makes an in road into these sales but there is much more going on than that in the
market place.

It is also important to remember that Schwinn went under in the early 90s and from that point on
were basically marketing company trying to capitalize on the name. Jon Isaacs

 

[Matt O'Toole]

<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

> Too bad, but completely inevitable. I have no idea how they ever convinced a loan officer to give
> them money to get into the motorcycle bussiness.

No loan officers, investment bankers. And in the mid-90s, you could get those guys to fund
*anything,* or so it seems.

I'm not too famiiar with Cannondale, but I watched Schwinn and GT do one stupid thing after another
for 10 years. The real surprise was that they lasted as long as they did.

Time for the bike industry to put the adults in charge.

Matt O.

 

[Make Way For Th]

On Tue, 28 Jan 2003 03:29:14 GMT, "Fabrizio Mazzoleni" <[email protected]> from Shaw Residential
Internet wrote:

>I just wish the stupid company I have to work for would go belly up before this season starts so I
>can get some better time on the road.

Raid the office supplies more -- every little bit helps.

--
http://home.sport.rr.com/cuthulu/ human rights = peace a clip damages in an evil bottle
11:11:04 PM 27 January 2003

 

[Eric Murray]

In article <[email protected]>, Jon Isaacs <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Another victim of Walmart's success. Even Schwinn has given up the ghost and put their bikes in
>>Walmart stores.
>
>Cannondale's Bankruptcy has nothing to do with Walmart or even with their bicycle division. It is
>the result of an silly venture into the motorcycle market. They lost big time there.

Going into the motorcycle market in itself wasn't silly, doing it incompetently was.

Cannondale shouldn't have started by making their own engines (suzuki is quite happy to sell good
engines to anyone, and a number of other makers could have been persuaded). They compounded that
error by making their engine wierd just to be wierd, which added a lot of development and debug
time. Their pre-production bikes got great press but there was a long delay before production got
going, and sales went elsewhere. Then their QC sucked. Bikes broke left and right, causing a number
of recalls. While they were busy trying to make a bike that would run right, KTM and Yamaha caught
up and passed them with reliable lighter and faster four-strokes.

Cannondale didn't stop at shooting themselves in the foot, they kept blasting away until there was
only a stump remaining.

Eric

 

[Chris Phillipo]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> In article <[email protected]>, Jon Isaacs <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>Another victim of Walmart's success. Even Schwinn has given up the ghost and put their bikes in
> >>Walmart stores.
> >
> >Cannondale's Bankruptcy has nothing to do with Walmart or even with their bicycle division. It is
> >the result of an silly venture into the motorcycle market. They lost big time there.
>
> Going into the motorcycle market in itself wasn't silly, doing it incompetently was.
>
> Cannondale shouldn't have started by making their own engines (suzuki is quite happy to sell good
> engines to anyone, and a number of other makers could have been persuaded). They compounded that
> error by making their engine wierd just to be wierd, which added a lot of development and debug
> time. Their pre-production bikes got great press but there was a long delay before production got
> going, and sales went elsewhere. Then their QC sucked. Bikes broke left and right, causing a
> number of recalls. While they were busy trying to make a bike that would run right, KTM and Yamaha
> caught up and passed them with reliable lighter and faster four-strokes.
>
> Cannondale didn't stop at shooting themselves in the foot, they kept blasting away until there was
> only a stump remaining.
>
>
> Eric
>
>

Don't forget that when they did compete in racing they chose series that no one has ever heard of
like Mototard and open class motos. If you ever see either of those things on ESPN you know hell has
frozen over. If they could have make something for the 125 or 250 class riders they might have had
some press, then again I don't know if the bike blowing up in ever moto on live TV would be that
great for business anyway. I really think that whoever ownes/operates the company was looking for a
tax writeoff or was dying of something and had no one to leave the business to.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Kinon]

Mismanaged, for sure. But if Cannondale goes under, so what? There's lots of alternatives, and lots
of competition. Weak, poorly managed companies should
die. Does Cannondale make anything so unique that we'd all be worse off without it?

"Michael Tordoff" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=PR&Date=20030127&ID
> =2266611&Symbol=US:BIKE
>
> and an earlier report that contains a little hope for the bike division
at:
>
>
http://209.11.49.239/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_conte
> nt_id=1804453

 

[Terry Morse]

"Kinon" wrote:

> Does Cannondale make anything so unique that we'd all be worse off without it?

AFAIK, Cannondale may be the last builder of stiff Al frames with oversized tubing. They're also one
of the last builders to have a touring model, maybe the only one with an Al tourer.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>, Kinon <[email protected]> wrote:
>Mismanaged, for sure. But if Cannondale goes under, so what? There's lots of alternatives, and lots
>of competition. Weak, poorly managed companies should
>die. Does Cannondale make anything so unique that we'd all be worse off without it?

Yes they do - they are the only company that will honor a lifetime warranty on the frames of
millions of cyclists. And they are also a key factor in repairs of some of their proprietary designs
- headshok parts anyone?

--Paul

 

[Chris Phillipo]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> Mismanaged, for sure. But if Cannondale goes under, so what? There's lots of alternatives, and
> lots of competition. Weak, poorly managed companies should
> die. Does Cannondale make anything so unique that we'd all be worse off without it?
>

Actually I think they make many unique things that we're better off without
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Chris Phillipo]

In article <MOy_9.31498$A%[email protected]>, cnhyf-
[email protected] says...
> In article <[email protected]>, Kinon <[email protected]> wrote:
> >Mismanaged, for sure. But if Cannondale goes under, so what? There's lots of alternatives, and
> >lots of competition. Weak, poorly managed companies should
> >die. Does Cannondale make anything so unique that we'd all be worse off without it?
>
> Yes they do - they are the only company that will honor a lifetime warranty on the frames of
> millions of cyclists. And they are also a key factor in repairs of some of their proprietary
> designs - headshok parts anyone?
>
> --Paul
>
>

Well that's what you get when you buy into something like that. Imagine how the people with $15,000
Cannondale motorcycles feel. There may be as many as 10 of them out there.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> Actually I think they make many unique things that we're better off without

We used to sell Cannondale, and there are a lot of very good reasons why we stopped. However, even
though we don't sell them, I think we're worse off without them around. Diversity and choice
aren't such a bad thing, and I think it takes that diversity to keep many people interested and
excited in what cycling has to offer. So whether it's Cannondale or anybody else on the chopping
block, it's not something that brings me any joy or hope of increased sales for the remaining
brands. Quite the contrary.

Same thing happens when too many shops go out of business (as is happening around us). No one shop
is going to be right for everyone, and it takes a certain number of shops in an area to really
support cycling and make it convenient for people. For most cyclists, it's a choice, not something
they're required to do. It competes with all manner of other ways to spend their time & money, and
if it's too difficult for them to find a shop that can get their bike repaired (or even sell them a
new one), they'll find another way to spend their money.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"Chris Phillipo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> > Mismanaged, for sure. But if Cannondale goes under, so what? There's
lots of
> > alternatives, and lots of competition. Weak, poorly managed companies
should
> > die. Does Cannondale make anything so unique that we'd all be worse off without it?
> >
>
> Actually I think they make many unique things that we're better off without
> --
> _________________________
> Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Chris Phillipo]

In article <[email protected]>, mikej1 @ix.netcom.com says...
> > Actually I think they make many unique things that we're better off without
>
> We used to sell Cannondale, and there are a lot of very good reasons why we stopped. However, even
> though we don't sell them, I think we're worse off without them around. Diversity and choice
> aren't such a bad thing, and I think it takes that diversity to keep many people interested and
> excited in what cycling has to offer. So whether it's Cannondale or anybody else on the chopping
> block, it's not something that brings me any joy or hope of increased sales for the remaining
> brands. Quite the contrary.
>
> Same thing happens when too many shops go out of business (as is happening around us). No one shop
> is going to be right for everyone, and it takes a certain number of shops in an area to really
> support cycling and make it convenient for people. For most cyclists, it's a choice, not something
> they're required to do. It competes with all manner of other ways to spend their time & money, and
> if it's too difficult for them to find a shop that can get their bike repaired (or even sell them
> a new one), they'll find another way to spend their money.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

In the future, all bicycles will be Trek, resistance is futile.

--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Spoking]

Well said, Mike. I agree.

Mike Jacoubowsky posted...
> > Actually I think they make many unique things that we're better off without
>
> We used to sell Cannondale, and there are a lot of very good reasons why we stopped. However, even
> though we don't sell them, I think we're worse off without them around. Diversity and choice
> aren't such a bad thing, and I think it takes that diversity to keep many people interested and
> excited in what cycling has to offer. So whether it's Cannondale or anybody else on the chopping
> block, it's not something that brings me any joy or hope of increased sales for the remaining
> brands. Quite the contrary.
>
> Same thing happens when too many shops go out of business (as is happening around us). No one shop
> is going to be right for everyone, and it takes a certain number of shops in an area to really
> support cycling and make it convenient for people. For most cyclists, it's a choice, not something
> they're required to do. It competes with all manner of other ways to spend their time & money, and
> if it's too difficult for them to find a shop that can get their bike repaired (or even sell them
> a new one), they'll find another way to spend their money.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>
>
> "
>
>

--
Spoking <^> _|_