edwong3

I noticed that Citizenbike have raised their prices on all the models.

Portable & Folding Bikes

Could this be a direct consequence of the higher tariffs due to the "trade war" between the U.S. and China? Has anyone noticed any price increases on any other brands that come from there? Or maybe there is another reason such as higher labor costs, higher transportation or maybe Citizenbike feels their products are worth the price hike.

Please if you are going to post your observations on this topic, keep politics out of this. We want a civil and adult conversation, not a mud slinging match. Thanks.

linberl

Tariffs.

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Duty on bikes & parts arriving after October 1st will be 41%. Last year it was 11%, I don't think anyone can eat this much duty. Customers will pay more.

Thanks
Yan

SalsaShark

I try to keep my duty intake at 0%, personally. 😂

edwong3

So I guess the impact of the duties will be felt more starting next month (October).

On a different note, I went to your website and was pleasantly surprised by the prices on your bikes. The Nova is still sub $300 US while the 8FS 8SP is sub $400 US. Hopefully, in spite of the rising tariffs and or duties, the prices on these models will remain affordable. We can only hope.

tcs

The yuan is down 9.3% vs. the dollar in the past six months.

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The current duty rate is 36%, it jumps 5% in a few weeks. I am nearly sold out of Nova bikes. The new models arrive at the end of the month, and there will be a price increase. Due to slow sales I am streamling my lineup. I will continue with the 9FS, but the 8FS will be discontinued after it sells out.

I have talked with friends in the industry and it seems sales are down 20%+ for this group. Therefore, I believe the recession is already here and there should be some insolvencies in the next year.

Thanks
Yan

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Factory prices are normally provided in US currency, since no one in the USA can hold Yuan ( in the USA ). Therefore this would have a minimal affect on costs.

Many companies got screwed with boats on the water when Trump announced this stuff. It negatively affected their business model ( with no notice ).

I am selling out of most bikes & restocking only the best sellers. I don't want to have high inventory during a downturn.

Thanks
Yan

Pinigis 

Where is the 41% number found? I am seeing 25%.

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The 25% jumps to 30% on October 1. This is in addition to the 11% standard duty. All together it adds up to 36% today and 41% starting October 1.

Thanks
Yan

edwong3

And of course the end user (consumer) is going to have to cough up the additional cash if they want to buy these items. It puts the retailer in a tough place because they will have to raise prices in order to neutralize the higher costs to import these products and risk alienating some of their customers. I feel for you Yan and all the other sellers and have nothing but respect for meeting the challenges "head on" when trying to run a profitable business while providing great quality products and service.

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I don't think anyone will be profitable in this environment. These duties change on a daily basis with no notice...really hard to plan for a future that changes daily. Thankfully I have a teaching appointment to care for my family.

As I mentioned earlier I expect the market to compress ( via insolvencies ). I think euromini is at high risk ( having launched recently ). Bike Friday is always at risk. I love Bike Friday, so I hope they will be ok. Tern has so much drama with the frame debacle, they will always be high risk.

I have positioned us to be viable during a downturn. However we will have a trimmed lineup. I am discontinuing the 8S, 8FS, 8C, mini, and minib. I am considering trimming even more.

Thanks
Yan

linberl

Bike Friday recently acquired a lot of funding/investors. And since they can use US steel and make their frames here, it's components only that will see the tariff increases. And they have connected more with US component manufacturers as well (those that exist). Furthermore, their customers are already paying a premium for a custom bike USA made and will support whatever increase comes along. It's a different mindset from purchasing something like Euromini.

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Linberl,

Everything you said is true. However BF got funding because they were not so solvent. The CEO said this on their site a couple years back. They have cut down on their business many times to reduce costs ( they used to make strollers ). I don't think an economic downturn ( even with high import duties ) will be good for them.

Thanks
Yan

CSG

One could choose not to buy Chinese products. I do my very best to avoid giving my money to that country.

bargainguy

Bike Friday Strollers? Got a pic or a link? I know Alan is involved in utility carts, but never heard of a BF stroller before.

edwong3

With so many (the majority in fact) consumer products coming from China, good luck with that task.

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I meant trailers. I & use the terms strollers & trailers interchangeably.

Thanks
Yan

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BF & Worksman ( trikes ) are the only USA folder manufacturers. I don't see a difference buying Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese. Therefore I think consumers are essentially screwed.

Thanks
Yan

joey buzzard

There's a few wee little differences.

Neither Taiwan nor Vietnam is holding hundreds of thousands of their own citizens in concentration camps for starters.

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Are they similar to the camps on the southern USA border?

Thanks
Yan

joey buzzard

Yeah, there's some striking similarities between the camps on the U.S.A.-Mexico border and the camps in China. To the shame of both countries not only do these camps exist at all, but in both cases they contain prisoners who are generally of a different ethnicity from the officials who ordered them locked up.

I'm not going to heap praise on the U.S.A. It's always had plenty of faults. But China is a totalitarian state. I think it's reasonable to weigh this into consideration when purchasing products. I personally do buy goods which are made in China sometimes. But I'll always have a think about it. For example, one of my favourite threads here on forums is this: https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-b...nterested.html. I read the whole thing start to finish a few years ago, absorbed in the magic of an idea bantered about in a public online forum getting turned into a tangible and rather stunning product. Of course production for this version of the Swift folder is in China. I noticed that the factory is located in North-Central China away from the large bicycle industry centred in and around Shenzen. I've been tempted to buy one since I read about it. But I always hesitate. Titanium is often used to build sophisticated weapons such as aircraft and missiles. How can I rest assured that I'm not investing in a totalitarian country's war machine when I buy such a thing? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of U.S. arms manufacturers either, and I realise that whenever I do business with an American company a portion of the transaction generally goes to the U.S. government in tax. But if I were to buy a Bike Friday (just as an example) I'm pretty confident that the company doesn't make weapons of mass destruction. That's important to me.

CSG

Thanks, I'm doing just fine with it.

bargainguy

Did BF actually make any trailers or strollers other than the metal frame trailer kit which allowed a suitcase to be towed?

I thought trailers were more Alan Scholz's thing, because he started Burley Designs. Burley definitely made trailers, but not under BF's auspices to the best of my knowledge.

https://www.burley.com/about-us/

edwong3

Not wanting to be a party poo-per, but remember what I said at the start of the thread to keep politics out of these discussions, or at the very least this topic since it is so controversial. We're all in this together and finger pointing is so wasteful and non productive.