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-   -   Saw this severing of Specialized's ties with a LBS (https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=1238510)

helmet4000 09-10-21 05:07 PM

Saw this severing of Specialized's ties with a LBS
 
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5e4058ba6b.png

Such a strange business practice...

TMonk 09-10-21 05:15 PM

well that's not nice. doesn't exactly make me proud to be a specialized bike owner... in my defense, it was purchased at cost since it was a team bike - provided to the elite team by our sponsorship shop. I could have given it back for free, but I was in need of a race bike at the time.

I've read of other stories like this and it doesn't make me super inclined to give them my business.

GlennR 09-10-21 05:19 PM

I bet there some history between Specialized and the new owners.

genejockey 09-10-21 05:20 PM


Originally Posted by GlennR (Post 22224741)
I bet there some history between Specialized and the new owners.

The new owners also own Cervelo, Santa Cruz, Focus and several other bike brands.

WhyFi 09-10-21 05:28 PM

Think we'll see some coverage on NorCalCycling's YouTube channel?

Sy Reene 09-10-21 05:42 PM

Interesting wording in the letter.. "If you decide to cancel your order at Mike's and order a Specialized bike elsewhere, we totally understand, and we will issue prompt full refunds."
So, if you want to cancel your order at Mike's, and not order a Specialized bike anywhere?

genejockey 09-10-21 05:43 PM


Originally Posted by WhyFi (Post 22224754)
Think we'll see some coverage on NorCalCycling's YouTube channel?

I just hope Team Mike's Bikes sponsorship continues. I love his videos about individual and team tactics ("Don't chase your teammates!")

njkayaker 09-10-21 06:27 PM


Originally Posted by Sy Reene (Post 22224765)
Interesting wording in the letter.. "If you decide to cancel your order at Mike's and order a Specialized bike elsewhere, we totally understand, and we will issue prompt full refunds."
So, if you want to cancel your order at Mike's, and not order a Specialized bike anywhere?

Meh. So, they said it in a less than accurate way.

It’s not likely they can ask for proof you ordered a specialized bike elsewhere.

They can’t legally force you to accept another bike instead of the specialized bike you ordered.

Meh. Meh. Meh.

Steve B. 09-10-21 06:32 PM

Specialized had a contract with Mikes Bikes. Mikes Bikes is essentially no longer. They don't have a contract with XX company, so how is this unexpected ?

Hapsmo911 09-10-21 06:39 PM


Originally Posted by Steve B. (Post 22224830)
Specialized had a contract with Mikes Bikes. Mikes Bikes is essentially no longer. They don't have a contract with XX company, so how is this unexpected ?


^^ This..

If they took deposits at the dealer level not the manufacturers fault if the business sells and the new owners cant make a new dealer agreement...

Russ Roth 09-10-21 06:44 PM


Originally Posted by Steve B. (Post 22224830)
Specialized had a contract with Mikes Bikes. Mikes Bikes is essentially no longer. They don't have a contract with XX company, so how is this unexpected ?

Pretty much this. When new owners take over a shop they have to establish new contracts with the bike brands and if their credit isn't good enough or their business plan isn't strong enough the bigger brands will have no problem dropping them. What makes this different is we live in a time when a shop can have 400 customers waiting for a new bike from just one brand where most shops were getting orders fulfilled weekly a couple years ago.

mschwett 09-10-21 07:33 PM

the coverage of this is pretty one-sided. i'm a customer of both specialized and mike's bikes (although not together) and IMO they're both relatively responsible and fair companies from a customer standpoint, with the caveat that like all companies, their primary motivation, as required for self-preservation, is profit.

as i understand it mike's was also in discussions to sell themselves to specialized - and likely several other suitors. obviously that didn't come to pass, and they sold themselves to PON, the parent company of several other bike brands. mike's is pitching this as a surprise that specialized responded the way they did, but there are two sides to every story, and in business most of us will never know the confidential details. they (mike's) HAD to know specialized would respond when they were acquired by a competitor.

i'm not sure how i feel about specialized dabbling in direct to consumer. probably necessary to compete with canyon and vanmoof and so on, but hopefully this doesn't hurt the true LBS too much. secretly, i'm semi-pleased that perhaps the aethos i have on order at my LBS will arrive sooner, since Mike's has always gotten a disproportionate share of specialized bikes based on their long relationship.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f869fe194b.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...05996c7e06.jpg

Sy Reene 09-10-21 07:48 PM


Originally Posted by njkayaker (Post 22224820)
Meh. So, they said it in a less than accurate way.

It’s not likely they can ask for proof you ordered a specialized bike elsewhere.

They can’t legally force you to accept another bike instead of the specialized bike you ordered.

Meh. Meh. Meh.

Where's the money sitting that the 400 customers put down? With Mike or Spesh?

guachi 09-10-21 08:24 PM

Mike's Bikes was purchased by a competing bike manufacturer. What did they expect would happen? Mike's Bikes really screwed over their customers with this move.

zandoval 09-10-21 08:36 PM


Originally Posted by njkayaker (Post 22224820)
Meh... Meh. Meh. Meh.

Exactly said!!!

Was Mike's a Bike Shop or a Dealership?

There used to be a difference but I am so outta the loop I do not know...

Sy Reene 09-10-21 10:11 PM


Originally Posted by zandoval (Post 22225013)
Exactly said!!!

Was Mike's a Bike Shop or a Dealership?

There used to be a difference but I am so outta the loop I do not know...

It's perhaps easy to be indifferent to what this is all about. But forgetting about Mikes/Spesh for the moment, I have the impression that there are a LOT of deposits or maybe even full payments on bikes out there on preorders for future delivery. Out of curiosity, since I'm not one of those people, where is the money -- with the shop or forwarded on to the manufacturer to secure the order? What if any recourse is there for the buyer if the shop stops being a reseller of the brand bike he preordered, or, alternatively the shop goes out of business and closes its door? If none of the deposit/payment is sitting with the manufacturer, why did the shop require it?

Darth Lefty 09-10-21 10:19 PM

Spesh is a great big company that has done some tone deaf things in the past.

Mike's (and its bought-out predecessors) is a smaller company that I have been happy with.

Who to support? Well, there's a "LBS" Mike's in my town that has participated in Tour of California and otherwise been a local bike hub, and who cares about Spesh, they will be fine either way.

softreset 09-10-21 11:24 PM

I can't speak to Mike's or how Specialized does it (with shops that buy their bikes) but the shop I worked at was net 30 for any "over the counter order." I don't recall if Project One bikes (it was a Trek shop, but not a Trek owned shop).

Over the counter - A SKU'd bike from one of the manufacturers we carried.

I know the owners told me that they would commit to X number of units via their pre-season shopping, that typically occurred in May-June for the upcoming model year. The model year was typically August 1st - July 31st. I also recall them saying that if they bought X number of a certain "tier" of bike they got a better pricing and also to maintain their tier of pricing they were required to buy X number of certain models, often sight unseen (colorways not known). We also had to have so many "halo bikes" on the floor. At the time I worked there it was the SLR 10 which had just come out, ironically of the three we brought in on the first wave they all sold very quickly.

So to answer the question, the money stayed in the shop. Also, we were a 100% paid in full on any bike or color we didn't actively stock. As well as "low volume sizes" (typically anything that wasn't a 54 or 56cm in men's or a 47-52cm in ladies). Trek had a few stinker colorways over the years I worked there that we didn't want to sit on if the buyer got remorse.

njkayaker 09-11-21 04:20 AM


Originally Posted by Sy Reene (Post 22224943)
Where's the money sitting that the 400 customers put down? With Mike or Spesh?

Doesn’t matter.

They (Mike’s or specialized) can’t keep the money and not deliver the bike that was ordered.

It’s a contract.

It’s not likely that it says we don’t actually have to give you the bike you ordered.

PeteHski 09-11-21 04:27 AM


Originally Posted by guachi (Post 22224996)
Mike's Bikes was purchased by a competing bike manufacturer. What did they expect would happen? Mike's Bikes really screwed over their customers with this move.

I think they would have expected to honour the 400 orders already taken, but not accept any new orders. Seems like a dumb move by Specialized as some of those 400 people who ordered will be pissed and probably order a different bike.

chaadster 09-11-21 04:52 AM


Originally Posted by guachi (Post 22224996)
Mike's Bikes was purchased by a competing bike manufacturer. What did they expect would happen? Mike's Bikes really screwed over their customers with this move.

Yes, this is all there is in this story, and the wording Mike’s chose for the letter in the OP reveals as much.

There is simply no way Mike’s could not have expected this, so they are simply lying and shifting blame to Specialized for Mike’s taking a buyout deal, and probably a sweet one at that, but I don’t know if they were in debt or what.

Anyway, no shocker at all, and I would not be surprised if retaining Specialized preorder and deposit dollars for conversion to Pon brands purchases, as Mike’s is clearly trying to do rather than refund, does not net a bonus (or other profit incentive) for Mike’s owners/sellers.

I don’t begrudge Mike’s making money on the sale, but blaming Specialized for their own decisions seems childish. And to the extent Specialized may in fact be the devil in all this, well, Mike’s got in bed with them a long time ago, so again, it’s just simply impossible to believe they did not see this coming, so the whole thing reeks of their dishonesty. I mean, I’m not even in the biz, but I saw what Specialized was doing with the company store model 20 years ago; I saw the impact on my LBS selection, on its workforce, and ultimately the closure of the business. It’s the same story for a lot of shops across the country, that I know too, but Mike’s wants us to believe they had no idea what Specialized would do? Liars.

PeteHski 09-11-21 12:53 PM


Originally Posted by chaadster (Post 22225234)
Yes, this is all there is in this story, and the wording Mike’s chose for the letter in the OP reveals as much.

There is simply no way Mike’s could not have expected this, so they are simply lying and shifting blame to Specialized for Mike’s taking a buyout deal, and probably a sweet one at that, but I don’t know if they were in debt or what.

Anyway, no shocker at all, and I would not be surprised if retaining Specialized preorder and deposit dollars for conversion to Pon brands purchases, as Mike’s is clearly trying to do rather than refund, does not net a bonus (or other profit incentive) for Mike’s owners/sellers.

I don’t begrudge Mike’s making money on the sale, but blaming Specialized for their own decisions seems childish. And to the extent Specialized may in fact be the devil in all this, well, Mike’s got in bed with them a long time ago, so again, it’s just simply impossible to believe they did not see this coming, so the whole thing reeks of their dishonesty. I mean, I’m not even in the biz, but I saw what Specialized was doing with the company store model 20 years ago; I saw the impact on my LBS selection, on its workforce, and ultimately the closure of the business. It’s the same story for a lot of shops across the country, that I know too, but Mike’s wants us to believe they had no idea what Specialized would do? Liars.

It's the cancelling of 400 existing orders that I don't really understand. I got the impression that's what surprised Mike's Bikes too.

Mojo31 09-11-21 01:03 PM


Originally Posted by Sy Reene (Post 22225107)
It's perhaps easy to be indifferent to what this is all about. But forgetting about Mikes/Spesh for the moment, I have the impression that there are a LOT of deposits or maybe even full payments on bikes out there on preorders for future delivery. Out of curiosity, since I'm not one of those people, where is the money -- with the shop or forwarded on to the manufacturer to secure the order? What if any recourse is there for the buyer if the shop stops being a reseller of the brand bike he preordered, or, alternatively the shop goes out of business and closes its door? If none of the deposit/payment is sitting with the manufacturer, why did the shop require it?

Your contract to order and buy a bike is with the shop that sells it to you. even if the shop pays that money to the manufacturer for some purpose, the manufacturer does not owe the consumer they money. Those 400 customers that ordered thru Mike's have a beef with Mike's, not Spesh.

Dancing Skeleton 09-11-21 01:20 PM

Specialized should have delivered on the existing orders, and not taken new ones.
This shows no respect for its customers.
They have a history of aggressive business tactics,
remember their attack on a coffee shop, as if they own the word "Robaiux"?

I'll never buy a Specialized bike, although they are awesome.

philbob57 09-11-21 01:20 PM

Specialized accepted the orders. Customers have a monetary problem with Mike's only if they don't fork over full refunds promptly.

If I were one of the 400 who pre-ordered a Specialized bike, I'd be very wary of Specialized. If Spec's action delayed my getting a bike, I do my best to spend my money elsewhere.

Mike's isn't owned by Spec, nor (presumably) is it a franchise (i.e. like McDonald's). They presumably sell other brands. If their agreement with Spec prohibits selling certain brands, I'd consider the agreement to be a restraint of trade that may be a violation of law; it's certainly a violation of free market principles.

I'm not in the market for a new bike, but Mike's letter certainly has turned me off Specialized, which is probably what they intended.


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