LeBron James & Partners Invest $30 Million in Canyon

 I ride Canfield bikes. Peace

 @EvoRidge: Nimble 9 for the win! Best hardtail ever

 Investors are here for the returns

 @timfountain: someone said my name?

 @cavitand: Yes. That is the definition of investing! But returns for Canyon mean good things for the cycling world in general. They have proved the DTC model works really, really well. Everybody else is playing catchup. Hopefully this investment will further validate the business model and encourage bicycle manufacturers to think of the customer--not politics over sales territories--first.

 Maybe he was sick of their warranty policy

 His chinese nike slaves now makn bikes.

 @nickfranko: Comment win sir....kudos.

 @jrocksdh: LOL in contrast to the Chinese slaves making the Iphone or Galaxy that you probably used to post this message? Or bike frames or bike components?

 @timfountain: I didn't know you had a Nimble 9, I'll have to pay more attention when I am at Atwood!

 LeBron sure knows how to buy some "crack & fail" brands.

 @EvoRidge: Pick a canfield and feel superior about it? Its a real disease. There should be a help group for it.

 @cougar797: I am indifferent either way with the Canfield Bros. That said....seems a good bit of drama going down with those two. Van Halen vs. Van Haggar so to speak? Haha

 @EvoRidge: made in the same factory as canyon

 @mknott9: Does canyon have its own factory or do they hire out elsewhere? Curious.

 @cougar797: most likely a Asian Factory (Taiwan, Vietnam, China. etc..). Could be wrong, but I believe same factory Polygon is made?

 @bman33: Its Taiwan for sure. Its printed on the bottom of my canfield bikes. Just wonder what group that is? I personally hope its giant. Their stuff is solid.

 @cougar797: Canfield stuff is great, had a Jedi way back when. I know the brothers 'split', but the Canfield stuff still seems super solid

 @cougar797: Made in China, office is in Taiwan.

 @jrocksdh: Bahaha

 Not being rude but who is he?

 @pen9-wy: A famous basketball player in the US. He has some controversial opinions supporting China explicitly (NBA's larges growth market) while also championing 'woke' principles at times which can be also controversial and /or hypocritical ...depending on who you ask. Great basketball player (some say the best of his time), but also can be 'whiney' at times. Again, depending on who you ask. I am sure this explanation will get plenty of love and hate. So be it. Rubberside down folks.

 @matadorCE: where is my south korean stuff made...
Anyways...well never forget how he treats LEO(cops) and Taiwan.

 Will their race teams be comprised of riders who can’t finish in a big spot unless they are helped by 3 other superstars?

 @jrocksdh: that dental floss thin blue line.

 Woohoo! Best trail bike ever! @timfountain:

 @bman33: cheers! Thanks for repsonding and explaining without mocking my ignorance

 ^^ comment win today!!

 Two free throws are awarded, but zero warranty claims are

 And canyon sponsored riders will now sob uncontrollably when they don’t get a podium finish. And when they do.

 Him on a bmx would be like an average sized person on one of those novelty tiny bikes with 4 inch wheels.

 Actually, he would have been a kid 30 years ago and probably had a BMX like most kids.

 @bigtim: You do know they do 22” bmx nowadays, he’d be fine :-)

 Give him a 26" dj with a rigid fork. That would be the scale equivalent of a bmx for LeBron lol

 They will hire bmx engineer

 Brad Simms = bmx background + canyon + Lebron = EBIKES

 I thought I saw him riding a BMX bike the other day. Turned out it was a 29-er.

 @slayerdegnar: Brad Simms = BMX background + canyon + LeRoy + Partners(China) = EBIKES

 36" Canyon spectral coming

 For those that haven't seen it, Lebron had a custom cannondale made back when he played for cleveland.

www.roadbikereview.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lebrons-Custom-Cannondale.jpg

 XXXXXXXXXL

 @pbfan08: With a custom Lefty! I can tell right off the bat, 260lb+ Bron should be on 200mm rotors minimum!

 @pbfan08: A number of basketball players like to ride bikes. Shaq and Bill Walton both have custom 36r's made for them.

 I don't believe Giant has or needs these types of investors.

 As if, yeti or ibis wouldn't have taken a 30m investment.

 Yeti has been up for sale ("looking for investment opportunities") a few times over the last 5-6 years and nobody was interested. Last time was for $15M if I recall correctly.

 @GTscoob: seems like a better return for $35 million

 Trek is privately owned and run by the same family that founded it.

 @Henary: If they don't want to give up a big chunk of control, then they might not.

 They couldn't just let Ibis do the work

 @Henary: Not if their business is running OK without it. Investors have demands and dilute the earnings.

 A wrench pmsl

 I found canyon really good in Australia. I've had 2 warranty issues and they sorted it straight away, it's easier than a bike shop because you just leave the part at your front door and they pick it up and drop it back off.

I've had bearings seize in my norco,whyte, scott, giant within a season because of wet conditions.
The plastic headset isn't great but it works and is a cheap part to upgrade.

Did they hang up on you because you were being a dick? You wrenchs don't like canyon because you can't sell them and it pushes people to do their own maintenance and they realise how easy it is to be a bike mechanic.

 @darthsarge: they have plastic headsets? That's an automatic hell no.

 Worst bike, worst person to ever play basketball a marriage made in hell.

 How about his recent hot take on the Brittney Griner situation for starters. The list goes on and on from there.

 There's just that lil thing about Taiwan lol

 It’s not that complicated… dominant athletes take their sports seriously and come off as aloof… and unless you like the team they play for, you look for reasons to make them bad people. I do it all the time.

 From Cleveland, he brought that town it's first championship in forever and he dumps money/time into his hometown down the road. I don't hate the guys.

But....here are some other opinions.

The whole "I'm taking my talents to Miami" deal.

The fact that he can't win without a super-team. Jordan either carried his teams or forced them to be better.

He doesn't seem to have a killer instinct like Kobe/MJ. He's soft in comparison.

He whines on the court ALL. THE. TIME

He rags on America even though America made him rich.

He quit on the Cavs in the playoffs before he left for the Heat.

This one might be unfair...he's been given the absolute best genetics anyone has ever seen in basketball yet he hasn't won nearly enough championships.

To his credit, he's a family man, gives back a ton to his hometown. I think it's really a case of he had the highest (almost unfair) expectations placed on him and he didn't deliver on the court.

But he soft......

 And the flopping. Soooo much flopping.

Bro you're 6'9" 270 lbs. Tiny little point guards aren't knocking you over.

 @thewanderingtramp: no idea why we are talking about racism... racism is very real. But saying the only reason you don't like someone of another race is because you are racist... is dumb, and it makes things worse.

Personally not a huge fan of Lebron, but I respect him. The fact that he wants to invest in bicycle companies and is a big fan of bikes is cool. He is sort of soft. I'd take Jordan.

 "The Decision". If there was ever an example of self-importance, that is it.

 @greenblur: Jordan didn’t start winning championships until they built a good team around him, pippin and Rodman were easily in the top 10 players in the NBA at the time.

 @unrooted: Jordan raised Pippins game. Pippen is a very good but not HOF player without Jordan. Pippen thrived because Jordan attracted double teams/lane traffic, which gave Pippen lots of room to roam (90s NBA defense way rougher than today's).

Jordan won three rings without Rodman.

 @greenblur: yah…Pippen, Rodman, Kerr, Kucoc, Grant all trash. Jordan had no help.

 @greenblur: don’t forget the fake hate crime/graffiti incident lol

 @greenblur: boring sport though isn't it? Except last 15 seconds

 @pen9-wy: very, I went to one pro game when I was actually into basketball and it didn’t look like anyone was even trying until the last minute of the game. All professional sports in America are very boring. I think all the stop and-go might be why so many Americans are giant tubs of lard, they can cram extra food and beer into all the stops.

 @ElDebarge: Jordan would drop 50/night in today's NBA.

LeFlop would get mauled in 90s NBA.

 @greenblur: You're knowledge of basketball seems to correlate well with your knowledge of mountain biking.

 @greenblur: king leflop haha

 @seedless: I grew up near Cleveland, watched Jordon teabag the Cavs all thru the 90s. Cavs probably would have won a few titles with no MJ.

Love LeBron for bringing a title home and all the work he does locally.

MJ still better tho....

 @greenblur: not saying LBJ is better than MJ, but saying MJ had no help is just uneducated.

 @unrooted: Cool story. I’m more a Lone Pine but Big Pine is cool I guess.

 @ElDebarge: that’s why team sports are lame, even the greats are debated. Try doing that with hill or goat

 @thewanderingtramp: 57 now.

 Nah, just more expensive/lower costs, generally anything which will increase margins

 LJn Brms

 @dirtmcleod : I see at least one person hasn't seen The Office.

 It will crash? Based on what?

 @txcx166: lithium (minerals) etc sky rocket without change in battery tech, you honestly believe batteries for bikes (will have priority? Or bike companies be able to keep the price bearable for the average consumer?

 @mcozzy: I bet I could crash one!

 @wvanlogg: you honestly think battery technology isn’t going to adapt to keep up with infinite demand?

 Idk man, I crash at least once a month lol . I’m getting better though
@mcozzy:

 @wvanlogg: Nope. Most, if not all of the ingredients for batteries are actually quite common. Now that demand is there, more mining is coming online. Seawater extraction for Lithium too. And recycling is a really big deal, with about 90% of a battery recoverable. See Redwood Materials as the perfect example of a company that's going to make bank off of this.

 @wvanlogg: solid state batteries in 2-3 years. WIll filter down quickly. Light ebikes with huge range then. Lithium is already being phased out in car batteries

 @endorium: As much as I would love for that to happen, my bet is solid state doesn't really come along for a while yet. And Lithium based batteries are here to stay for many many years. Too many big promises in that arena, with the historical track record being small but steady incremental improvements.

 @deez-nucks: Just like all the other technology, when demand increases and supply can't keep up, we have tremendous motivation for new tech to replace the old tech. (Coming from an ME who knows nothing about ELE) It will be interesting to see the developments in semiconductors and battery tech as a whole. Those markets imo have the greatest pressure on them to increase production and tech/ manufacturability/ sustainabiltiy

 @txcx166: In the UK if the government decide to change legislation for example for them to fall under powered vehicles etc ,need insurance etc , could probably kill the market dead.

 @txcx166:

Seller “Buy my ebike, used for 1 season- bargain at £10k”

Buyer “Does it have transferable warranty on the motor/battery?”

Seller “no”

Buyer “How much is a replacement motor/ battery”

Seller “£1000/ £400”

Buyer “does the latest version of this bike use a compatible battery/ motor?”

Seller “no theres a new version out, completely different design”

Buyer "can I just buy an off the shelf replacement motor?"

Seller "No, each company has their own proprietary design for battery & motor, that they upgrade pretty quickly and aren't backwards compatible "

Buyer “will you take £500?”

Seller “but it cost me £15k!!” …..

 @thewanderingtramp: I doubt the UK is a large % of e-bike sales…but I’d be stoked if every country had similar rules, and states could require annual licensing fees!

 @wvanlogg: Cost of Nissan Leaf with 60kW/h battery ~$45k, cost of S-Works Turbo Levo with 0.7kW/h battery ~$20k.... Proof the bicycle industry will pay price premium for battery capacity.

 @Kimbers I can’t put a Yamaha motor in my Honda either and it’s still worth nowt when I come to sell it

 @nzandyb: or proof we are getting absolutely rinsed for battery cells I reckon the bike industry will soon need to follow the automotive model where your bought in to a brand and tied in to a brand including servicing

 Or get in and cash out before ebike licensing and insurance kicks in and kills the segment. Already talk in the insurance industry. Too many kids getting hurt for this not to happen.

 @nzandyb: I know you're generalizing to make a point, but the biggest factor in the price difference between a nissan leaf and a specialized mtb is most likely the economy of scale. Find out how many of those 60kWh batteries are produced every year and compare that to the number of batteries produced for the specialized turbo levo which was maybe the first of its kind.(disclaimer: Idk anything about either battery just putting in my 2 cents) Overall, yes, Specialized and every other bike company will charge as much as they possibly can to make as much of a profit as possible cuz... companies.

 @Mike-Jay: I crashed that piece of shit and stepped away

 @nzandyb: it’s not hard to come up with a cheaper bike and more expensive car in your comparison. All you did was highlight the value of the Nissan and the lack of value in the SWorks (or any SWorks really).

 @Mike-Jay: Exactly. I was rebutting the point that bicycle manufacturers are going to be left high-and-dry because of mineral demand in the automotive industry... raw materials for batteries are LITERALLY commodity traded, whoever is willing to pay the most money for the materials will get them. Lets instead compare the Nissan Leaf to a $2000 Radpower E-Bike (arguably a bicycle equivalent to the Leaf) the Radpower is ~5% the purchase price of Leaf, but it has a Battery with 1% the Leaf's battery capacity. Lets for arguments sake say that the entire purchase price of the Leaf is the Battery (the rest of the car is free when you buy the battery): you'd be paying $45k for a 60000wh battery = $0.75 per watt/hour. The Radpower on the other hand you're paying $2k for a 600wh battery = $3.33 per watt/hour... and the Specialized Turbo Levo you're paying $26.67 per wh.

 Please, expand on this thought of yours.

I'm curious as to how you think he sucks so bad that he is just a sucky person.

As a basketball player?

Do I think he is the GOAT?

Nope, I'm an MJ kind of guy, but Lebron is still an incredibly talented, generational type player.

As a person?

Nope. I may not agree with all of his political views and actions, but I massively respect Lebron putting his money where his mouth is. You would be hard pressed to find a celebrity or athlete that has given back to their community, especially children, more than he has.

 They still exist. In fact, I'd say there are more than ever before, producing much better bikes than ever before.

 "big" investors checks out lol

 I don't miss that "flair" when Mr. Arnold still worked from his local bike shop. It was in no way better than today.

 No ones stopping you going into your shed right now and building a bike.

 don’t come with environmental reports though

 Ah yes, "flair." You can still ride one of those bikes, whichever you're referring to. I'm sure they're still out there.

 There are so many more smaller brands now than ever before. We are living in the golden age of bikes.

 @phutphutend
The Shed falacy

 Shed and garages bikes or "boutique bikes" as they are called, are unfortunately just too expensive for most people versus mass produced products.

 $30MM is not a particularly large investment compared to the size of their global operations and balance sheet (TBC I have no specific knowledge, I'm just speculating). On its surface if you were to take the Lebron James' name out of the equation this deal doesn't make sense given its size, and Canyons own words. IMO this was done mostly for a splashy press release, and to make inroads with a relatively underserved demographic.

 What do you think about Propain?

 There's still plenty of those out there. Go support one of them. I do.

 @bearkoff: I prefer butane

 Bikes built in a Shaq is where it's at.

 @jaytdubs: big wheels cost big money ya know

 @jaytdubs: They were acquired in 2021 for around $500ml. Post money valuation around $805m Euros.

 Lebron has done more good for this country than you will ever do. Let that sink in.

 @packfill: I'd rather the sink wait outside.

 @packfill: right, like all his catering to genocidal China?

 @coloradohaze: how did he cater to genocidal china?

 @packfill: the only reason I’ve heard about not liking Lebrun was after he blatantly backed China to keep the nba on Chinese Tvs.

 @unrooted: yeah, I'm sure you go out of your way to not buy things from china. it's seems like there's a white portion of this country that only cares about civil rights when it's politically convenient for them. other than that, they couldn't care any less about what goes on in our own country.

 @packfill: did I say that I give a shit? I couldn’t care less about the NBA or China. Why care about shit that you have zero control over?

You’re just a moron who thinks everything has something to do with race. Retard.

 That's pretty funny

 Actually making a good product and customer services negates investments and marketing but that needs at least 1% of work done, whereas more money=yay!

 Auto flopping feature is included with upgraded package and costs extra.

 Like dirt jumping in basketball shorts and a jersey has ever gone out of style, lol

 ...and Moustache doesn't?