A couple of months ago I dared write a relatively optimistic report after visiting the Core bike show here in the UK. The general consensus was that sales - particularly across parts and accessories - were looking more buoyant. The vast stockpile of unsold, Covid greed bikes and gear didn’t seem to be casting as much of a shadow as it has for the past couple of years either. Yes, you can certainly still find some things being closed out for half price or less, but if you look at the details they’re now in odd sizes, colours or just weird stuff that would probably have had to been sold off cheap anyway. Kind of like the stuff we were getting rid of when we took over the old Polaris building and its ‘interesting’ inventory. As a result, brands were starting to risk showing new products they’d been sat on for ages while the backlog cleared. Pricing them to make a profit, rather than just to keep the lights on for another week.
Practical performance, lower pricing.
It seemed like some companies had learned their lesson about pushing hard on the hi tech and high pricing too. Just when everyone thought SRAM were totally committed to wireless tech they introduced their excellent new Eagle 90 and Eagle 70 cable operated Transmissions. These have all the high stress shifting accuracy and toughness of the wireless AXS Eagle Transmissions, but they’re controlled with a good old fashioned metal string. This not only means they are far cheaper with no worries about electrical or flat battery issues, but they’re almost completely rebuildable. You can even switch out a couple of key parts and convert them to wireless (or vice versa) if you want, which makes the system upgradeable and sustainable in a way we’ve never seen before. While the, err, eye-catching ‘are you battery operated or are you just pleased to see me?’ design of the new RockShox Reverb AXS dropper post has come in for some abuse, it’s cheaper than its predecessor, available in more sizes and easier to service.
These introductions came on the heels of several excellent bikes I tested at the end of last year from Calibre, Boardman and Voodoo. All of which delivered impressively sorted, durable and very enjoyable ride experiences for under £2k. Even my conclusion on the £3k Whyte I tested was that while it was great, you’d probably get an equally good ride from the £2k version. I’ve got more bikes coming from Cube, Voodoo and Merida that look awesome value on paper too. Add the fact that the sun was out and the rain mysteriously absent from most of the country for two months and 2025 was looking like a much more optimistic prospect for the bike trade.
Too good to last?
Then again, some brands seem to be deliberately going in the opposite direction. Fox’s Transfer Neo wireless dropper post is almost twice the price of the Reverb AXS, and their latest 36SL and 36 forks are their most expensive trail forks ever. Specialized’s recently launched Levo E-MTB has the same motor and battery across all levels but you only get to access full power potential on the £12.5k S-Works model. So even if you spend £10.5k on the Pro model, you’re still getting a deliberately down tuned experience.
There’s already trouble bubbling up from the latest tariff threats by the Trump administration in the US too. Thankfully while figures of 90-110% have been thrown around in the headlines, so far we’re only seeing 10% surcharges being added by Trek and Specialized. That’s only in the US currently too, as that’s obviously where the tariffs are being added. Given that they’re a global businesses though, we can perhaps expect them to spread the increased import costs across their entire customer base to stop an even bigger spike in their home US markets. The same applies to suppliers who are looking at much lower profits selling into the US which they might try and recoup from the rest of the world. That comes on top of Merida taking a $105 million hit on their stake in Specialized due to poor retail performance the previous year. Speaking of other big brands, Giant have also reported a 60% fall in profits for 2024.
Smaller brands are still suffering as well. Revel are the latest manufacturer to shut their doors and sell off their stock to try and clear a $9m debt. UK frame and component craftsman Coal bikes is closing down, and artisan frame builder Ricky Feather has announced he’s planning to make 50 custom frames over the next 30 months and then hang up his award winning torch for good. A lot of other small brands are also cutting right back on inventory and in some cases freezing forward ordering to try and preserve cash that might be needed to cope with tariff costs. Others are moving increasingly online, either cutting out distributors to deal direct with shops, or adding straight to customer sales channels. Marketing, advertising, team and ambassador budgets have been cut massively by a lot of companies too. All in the name of increasing efficiency, reducing costs and trying to preserve profit, often for outside investors. But as we know the trouble is with feeding outside investors is that means less investment going back into the business and ultimately mountain biking as a whole.
The answer? Go riding, not shopping and it’ll sort itself out.
At the end of the day though while the industry might still be struggling, actually riding your bike has never been better. Even with the Welsh trail centre facilities closing, there are still more purpose built places - both official and unofficial - to ride than ever before. Long distance routes - whether they’ve got signs and guidebooks or they’re just a downloadable GPX - are popping up everywhere to feed the increasing need for solo or group adventure. And if you want to make new friends then the explosion of ‘gravel biking’ means there far more off-road events to sign up for. That includes everything from long distance challenges to festivals and having ridden a few of them, many of the trails are definitely more like old school mountain biking not ‘gravel’. But who cares, because what matters is that more people, of a more diverse demographic are getting out into the wild for a ride. And while specialist media might be struggling, biking is definitely getting more mainstream coverage, whether that’s the controversial Warner Bros / Disco TV deal, or newspapers talking about Cycling UK routes.
So, while the industry still might be wobbly at the moment off road cycling as a whole looks really healthy. And by definition if there are more people riding then more people are going to need supporting with bikes, kit, and clothing in the long term. I just hope the industry moves towards promoting a less extremist image than the current ultra distance racing or 90 foot back flips culture. But that’s a whole other feature for another time.
