Vertical limit: surviving compression fatigue

Vertical limit: surviving compression fatigue Consumers of cycling products have been taken for quite a ride during the last two decades. Bicycle brands, their distributors and retailers, demonstrated a remarkable endurance and capacity to sustain a profitable, trust-based supply chain model that ultimately could not resist a swell in capitalistic desire urged forward by the … Read more

Vertical limit: what just happened?

Vertical limit: what just happened? The emergence of e-commerce in the bicycle market was an affront to almost every aspect of an industry business model that had for years thrived on handshakes, muffin-toting sales representatives and the seductive embrace of high margins. Though online stores had essentially evolved in full public view, a majority of … Read more

Vertical limit: 10 years on, the first cracks appear

Vertical limit: 10 years on, the first cracks appear Year 2001. Taiwanese OEM production hummed along, retail prices were buoyant, and cycling was enjoying an upswing in popularity across the Asia-Pacific region. However, as the new millennium s first decade matured, so too did a trio of inter-related trends that would upset the bicycle industry … Read more

Vertical limit: bicycle industry supply chains

Vertical limit: bicycle industry supply chains 2011 is a fine time to be a consumer of cycling equipment. Brands and their downstream re-sellers are clambering over each other to cut through the noise created from market re-structuring. Many players in the bicycle industry have been left stranded as they ve failed to adapt to a … Read more

Vertical limit: bicycle business under pressure

Vertical limit: bicycle business under pressure Accessibility used to be all that stood between a bicycle brand and a consumer. Today, it s more complicated. Multiple business models co-exist, creating a plethora of purchasing options for consumers. It is both exciting and confronting. Every node in the supply chain, from factories to bicycle retailers, must … Read more