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Can you draw a straight line from the motorsports foray to this? I’m going with “yes”.
Dorel Industries has bought Cannondale Bicycle Corporation, the corporation announced Monday.
Dorel (www.dorel.com), headquartered in Montréal, owns Pacific Cycles, the parent company of Schwinn, GT and Mongoose. The purchase is reported as an all-cash transaction valued between $190 million and $200 million. Source: velonews.com
Are we about to see Cannondale in big box stores?
As a result of the acquisition, Dorel’s recreational/leisure segment, which includes Pacific Cycles, InStep, Playsafe and Roadmaster, will be split into two separate divisions. The Cannondale Sports Group, which will target the independent bicycle dealer and be separate from the mass-market line, will include Cannondale, Sugoi, GT and the company’s other premium bicycle brands, presumably Schwinn and Mongoose.
You got that? Cannondale Sports Group (CSG) will be in independent bicycle dealers (IBD). And Cannondale (C) will be right up there with Schwinn and Mongoose in the “mass market line” (SHIT).
Oh, such fun.
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FYI, the way I read the press release on the Dorel site was that the Cannondale brand was going to be a part of the Cannondale Sports Group (along with Sugoi GT), which is targeted to the Independent Bike Dealer. Pacific Cycle will be a separate division that is geared towards the masses. My interpretation is that Cannondale will remain a brand found in bike shops and not on the shelf in the local big-box store.
As a very happy Cannondale rider, I really hope I’m right!
“Are we about to see Cannondale in big box stores?”
They’re already sold at REI.
As a puchaser of a Mongoose branded bike just before they were bought out by Pacific, and having had numerous warrentee replacements on the bike cheerfully handled by Pacific, I fail to see what the problem is. Just because they sell BSOs to WalMart because WalMart won’t sell decent bicycles doesn’t mean they are a bad company. It doesn’t raise them too high in my esteem, but my personal dealings with them have all been handled to my favor up until the bike was trashed in the wreck. Yeah, getting hit by a speeding pickup truck isn’t covered under warrentee. BFD
Opus
I think you misinterpreted the last part of the press release. While Dorel didn’t phrase it very clearly, it sounds more like Cannondale will NOT be sold in big-box stores.
I had some fun with the press release, to be certain. I don’t think we’re going to see Cannondale right up next to Schwinn down at Wal-Mart any time soon.
But, still, if you were a Cannondale dealer (and there are a lot of ‘em) how would you feel about the devaluation of the brand that is coming down the pipe? Cannondale could end up being a bit less than it once was, just like GT et al. How much of your showroom are you going to dedicate to that brand now?
…ahh yes, cannondale…where old hockey sticks go to die & are reborn as bikes for wealthy americans…
The brand is only going to be devalued if people continue to spread the false rumors that it will be available at the big box stores soon. I would hate to see the brand reputation or the shops suffer just because people don’t feel like checking the facts before they start posting things…
Big Jonny, I understand that you were trying to have some fun with it….but now comments like these have spread to every bike forum out there!