Why Are So Many Bike Companies Being Bought at the Moment?
No matter what cycling publication you read, you've probably heard some version of the following story that has been regurgitated en masse in the past 12 months:
 | Basically the whole world shut down because of a killer virus and then when it started to reopen, everyone remembered that bikes are actually great, even governments, so we all rushed to our bike shop and bought all the bikes. Then there were no bikes. Even the people we buy bikes from couldn't buy bikes anymore... or the people they buy bikes from. Maybe one day soon there will be too many bikes because everyone's trying to build the bikes we can't buy, but for now they are all stuck on the other side of the world. So, if you want a bike now you'd better be prepared to pay more for it than before because all of a sudden everything is more expensive, including the things that go into making a bike and the space on boats to get the bike to you." |
While this may sound like a pretty terrible situation all round, it has actually worked out pretty well for some bike brands. So much so that we've seen a year of record sales, profits and stock prices for the brands that allow us access to them. A boom like this hasn't gone unnoticed by the wider world either. We've reported in the past month alone on Kona being bought by Kent and the Accell Group securing a $1.56 billion price from a consortium led by the KKR Group. Further back than that, Pon made a big play when it bought Dorel Sports, and both Canyon and YT secured big private investments. It's clear that money is flooding into the cycling industry, but what decisions are driving the sales of these bikes brands? Let's take a quick run down some possibilities:
There's money to be made As we outlined above, this boom is making money for brands. Investors want a slice of that pie for as long as it lasts. Hopefully this is a boom that they see lasting and investors hopping on board while the getting's good rather than hoping to flip a quick buck.
eBikes Sorry to break it to you if you're an eMTB detractor, but battery-powered bikes are driving the industry forward at the moment. While giant multi-nationals probably aren't paying attention to who is winning the EWS-E, they definitely are looking at the changing ways people are getting around cities. E-bikes, electric scooters and electric cars are the transport of the future and rather than start from ground zero, investors want to own companies that already have a foot in the door. Porsche buying a majority stake in Greyp and investing in Fazua is a perfect example of this.
Brands need the cash Brands currently have a lot of cash tied up in pre-orders and stock cash tied up in inventory - cash that could be used to get more sales, price its products more competitively or continue funding R&D, marketing and more. For small to medium sized brands, investment could be the only way they can actually capitalise on the promises of the bike boom.
Bigger brands can help with operations Those same brands may also not be equipped to deal with the current demand they're experiencing. When DT Swiss bought Trickstuff, it mentioned how it would use "its knowledge in business model development, IT infrastructure, supply chain management and production optimisation" to benefit the brake manufacturer. In Trickstuff, you had a brand with a great product that was falling behind in logistics and operations but that will now be buttressed by DT Swiss. With other brands, investors could grant them access to new markets, help them set up e-commerce or share technical information to help them grow.
Regardless of the reason for investments, is any of this good for cyclists? Well, sorry to dodge my own question, but really that remains to be seen. I personally believe if the bike boom is managed sustainably, it will lead to a better future for cyclists of all stripes. However, if we let the bubble burst, mountain biking could be looking at a slump similar to the one skateboarding had in the 2010s. Whatever happens, we'll be following the situation with interest and keeping you updated.
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This shit keeps getting better, tell me more!
You know, it's funny how the same folks that blindly supported the government shutting everything down and putting small businesses out of business are the ones who love to complain about things like crony capitalism and what not.
You're painting with an oversimplified brush that's too broad. The nominal value of corporate debt is also relatively meaningless (just like Federal debt) without taking other factors into account.
Also, the average American got many thousands in COVID funds in the past few years too. It's not just corporations who got handouts. And I know many small business owners who got tens of thousands in federal grants that kept them afloat (and able to pay their bills).
1st, the manufacturers/brands do not look to fulfil demand.. because they are adffraid that might get in a position where they are overstocked, if the bubble suddenly crashes; their approach is slow and steady with no risk taken. The positive side effect of this are the profit margins as production will not cover demand so, they never have to sell it cheaper.
2nd. the biggest lie world wide is the *fuel of the future* BS, regading everything electric. FFS, the batteries recycle really badly(not efficient at all) and the process of making batteries pollutes more than anything else. Basically the carbon footprint of any electric vehicle, on its life-cycle, for the majority of their users, is worse than another type of combustion motorized vehicle.
But, yeah, if you like BS marketing then, by all means, do believe the *green future* fairy tales and stories and pay up the price, when in reality, electric is cheaper to build/fabric.
I would be curious.. and woud ask myself.., where is that sustainable green energy is/comes from.. when, in reality, the whole effin' world is the middle of an energy crisis.. basically, for the current expanding needs, not the current and not the future solutions for energy are enough/sustainable, green or not.
I know nothing about those companies.
I do know that the government gives out money to corporations from public coffers without adequate public consultation, inflating the stock market, triggering inflation, which does not serve the interests of the working class. Don't have to be a Marxist to point that out.
And shutting down small business during the lockdown with a couple of cheques to tide them over, while their customers flee permanently to Amazon etc. was a decision that will never be undone and will have profound implications. Why would you think I support that?
Corrected:
"Basically the world governments shut their countries because of a virus and then when it started to reopen, everyone remembered that bikes are actually great, even governments, so we all rushed to our bike shop and bought all the bikes."
But... the fact remains that these deals aren't crony capitalism in any way.
I think it's safe to say almost every major issue we face is the directly correlated to this snowball effect of narcissist non-empathetic decision making by powerful people, going un-check by equally demented politicians.
Everything you just said is textbook millennial financial illiteracy and misdirected jealousy over your own lack of success... and that jealousy and ignorance is a far larger issue for society than your imaginary capitalist boogeyman. Just stop.
Point in case - since the USA has expanded with capitalism, there has been an unprecedented expansion in wealth, not only for the "greedy 1%" but also for the "greedy 99%" as well (as well as the greedy politicians). No other economic system ever put in place has had more of a wealth generating benefit for all involved as capitalism has, simply by taking advantage of the sin of greed.
@wyorider: the globe is pinned to USD
Maybe if you weren't spending so much time smoking shit laced with fentanyl you'd understand the simple math, and that the reality that it's accessible to all people isn't even debatable. You have every chance to profit to the same extent that Elon Musk does, a 10% gain is a 10% gain no matter who makes it.
In capitalism, there exists opportunity for everyone to accumulate wealth... In everything else, there is no opportunity. So, effectively, all you anti capitalist puppets without basic economic literacy are just mad that you haven't taken advantage of an opportunity presented to you that wouldn't even exist in any of the systems you think are so much better.
www.dailyadvent.com/news/f0ee1c5fcb80cb704eb9c3b508ff1a64-My-Wealth-Effect-Monitor--Wealth-Disparity-Monitor-for-the-Feds-MoneyPrinter-Economy-December-Update
game on for a literacy test. want to Teams it up? credentials? we can go a bit further than poking at each other.
bonus point for a correct answer on 3/15 and 3/16
I know, it sounds weird to professional hand out types like you that spend all their time ranting about how evil capitalism is because you're upset by all the shit you can't afford with the work you never did to reach the position you're not in.
Nice strawman attempt but, hate to break it to you, reciting terms isn't financial literacy.... and swinging that randomly out of left field in a desperate gotcha attempt just shows you lack the knowledge to actually mount an educate assault on the tremendous success of capitalism.
No worries though, I've no doubt that women from my area... or elsewhere, aren't interested in "breeding" with you, despite those what's those ads you keep clicking on tell you.
I hope this Bike Companies don't die the way Alta died because of Harley Davidson.
Progressive tax; bretton woods system;
The 'big reset' aka..we've kicked the can down the road so many times it too heavy to kick.
Get that $ while ya can.
If China ever sold all US debt, or even valued the yuan to gold like they have threatened to and they have been buying gold and gold mines for years now, the US would be a third world country overnight. It would be like VISA selling your credit card balance to the Mob, your life would change instantly!
You are flat out wrong. Do some research on how much wealth Elon Musk came from:
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/elon-musk-birthday-ceo-tesla-b1874017.html?amp
/not financial advice, don't sue me.
As benefits chip away, pay doesn’t keep up with inflation, and workplace moral/atmosphere keeps degrading employees will hit a threshold and simply quit long term careers to start their own or work for a small business.
Time will tell of course but we’re seeing it with railroad and Amazon employees just to name a few.
-This is where you reply saying something like my opinion is stupid and I shouldn’t have a voice on things I CLEARLY don’t know.
It was a very intentional distinction to only comment on what I felt comfortable commenting on. I’m just and ignorant redneck American though who believes the world is flat.
I think you're confusing some of the neo-socialist/anti-capitalist rhetoric for actual economic theory.
Do you think if we switched to socialism everyone is going to suddenly stop buying bottled water, disposable face masks, iphones, new cars, etc?
People act like capitalism is the only system that can be corrupted and it's hilarious. the disease is human greed, whether it manifests as symptoms of capitalism, communism, or fascism (looking at you Canada), it doesn't change the core issue: money corrupts what power doesn't. And when you have people in place to gain both, expect the worst.
www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA516-1.html
Cell phone: invented by a Russian scientist
Internet (and computers): trickle down from the US military
Carbon fiber: trickle down tech from defense and aerospace industry
GPS: trickle down from defense industry
Tell me again how Capitalism pulls itself up by it's own bootstraps....that's one of my favorite fairy tales!
But I appreciate you stopping by to show us all how poor the public education system is and how uneducated the anti-cap mob is, good stuff.
Granted the underlying issue is always corruption.
Your first mistake was thinking that I was interested in convincing you, or educating you... I'm just having a laugh at all the little failed f*ckups who love to cry about how capitalism is the worst. Apparently they stopped teaching history and economics sometime after I finished school and left all you clueless cupcakes unprepared for the facts.
You're hilarious... Walmart isn't locking up the steaks, or anything else, in my area.
And capitalism has hurt the US so much that our GDP is greater than the next two nations combined... and we have three individual states with a GDP greater than your entire country. You economically illiterate wannabe socialists have been crying about late stage capitalism and how the corrupt US is floundering and failing for generations, and you're still just as full of shit now as you were a generation ago. It's nothing more than a rallying cry for other economically illiterate failures like yourself.
You only betray your own ignorance of current events when you spout off like this, just please remember this conversation in about a year, and I hope, I really do that I am wrong and you are right, and I will apologize if I am!
www.newsweek.com/viral-video-shows-ribeye-steak-locked-chains-walmart-1678506
they're TV educated man, don't hope for any critical thought.
and ya you're right we've been increasing the debt year over year but I would say that's a facet of our corrupt politicians than the system failing, when you look at the fine print in these bills for expenditure it's almost laughable how "in your face" the corruption is. That first covid stimulus bill was an absolute cash grab from the administration, shame people didn't see it as such.
Do you know that how inflation is calculated has been changed over 15 times since 1980 to make it look better than it is, you cannot trust "official" numbers. It's like your FDA which gets 50% of it's funding from drug companies, you are letting the wolves run the chicken coop!!
Spot on... that's the big problem with just about everything these days, propagandist rhetoric being confused for facts.
Joe Biden isn't even the chief king of his own bodily functions, let alone an entire nation. He's a perfect example of whats wrong with letting idiots like you vote and none of his policies or promises reflect capitalism in action. The only show he's running is the 'politics for dummies' show that appeals to short attention span, low information types like you.
f*ck man, we get it... you're really stupid... you don't need to work this hard to convince us, we believe you.
One of the best quotes which applies so well here is" You don't know what you don't know" and you clearly don't know how your own country works, now that applies to most people in all countries so your no special in that regard!
Trump was as close as we've been to an executive branch giving full support to capitalist economic principles, at least since Reagan, and he was vilified at every turn, by every side, precisely because that interrupted the developed norm of corrupt self-interest through both houses of congress... but that's a political issue and not an economic issue, and one that's easily resolved. Term limits for all members of congress, problem solved. You get four years and then get the f*ck out and you wipe away all the Pelosi's and Biden's and Schumer's who've spent their lives enriching themselves through their connections, getting rich from lobbyists, and putting their own interests ahead of the people.
But again, that has literally nothing to do with capitalism and to even suggest that it would be improved in any other economic system not only shows you don't know how your own country works, it shows you don't know how anything works in any country.
like most theoretical models, human interaction is the downfall. .
so ya, TLDR f*ck the racist POS Joe Biden and his racist supporters
not supporting anything else you've been arguing but just as an FYI, that's a pretty hard point to effectively argue. not that you guys are actually trying to have a meaningful discussion lol
Fact check: Households with a net worth of $1 million or more averaged charitable donations of nearly $45,000 last year... households with a net worth of less than $1 million averaged less than $3000.
Tell us more about how few wealthy people give to the less fortunate.
How many jobs are the "peasant class" creating? How much income are they creating for others?
All of the systems are rigged by the elite at the top of the pile, the systems, all of them, are designed to work for them so they can exploit us as slaves, or did you not know you are a debt slave?
None of your taxes go to running the country, your taxes pay the interest on the debt, the government has to borrow to actually run the country.
"All of the systems are rigged by the elite at the top of the pile, the systems, all of them, are designed to work for them so they can exploit us as slaves, or did you not know you are a debt slave?" yes I know this, I learned it in 8th grade. Also I'm 100% debt free so, y'know not really a slave there.
"None of your taxes go to running the country, you taxes pay the interest on the debt, the government has to borrow to actually run the country." literally never made a claim otherwise.
You are a debt slave, or did you pay off the 30 trillion too? Who do you think pays that debt, you, your kids, your grandkids, and so on. The US debt will be defaulted on, it is not possible to pay off ever, all us citizens are debt slaves, actually all countries with central banks are slaves to their debts, why are you not shocked that your government does not control your money supply?
Take your own advice and read a book... but switch things up and make it one that's not an illustrated pop-up book written for children for a change.
Ok ya if we're talking national debt, then again, everyone who pays taxes is a debt slave. don't ask me my opinions on taxes lol.
"why are you not shocked that your government does not control your money supply?" again bc most of us learned this school like 20 years ago. The national debt isn't a new concept, nor is the concept of inflation, stagflation, or recessions. do they not teach economics in Canada??
You seem to be stuck on a disconnect between us saying capitalism is the best system and you thinking we're saying capitalism is a flawless system. No system made by men will ever be flawless but capitalism does the most to mitigate the inherent self-interest and corruption of men to preserve opportunity for all classes of citizen. It is an indisputable fact that capitalism has created more wealth for more people than any other system. Suggesting that's not the case purely because it also benefited those who were already wealthy is, at best, disingenuous, and more likely just pure stupidity. Every other system concentrates both power and wealth to a greater extent than capitalism, which I'm sure you would agree is worse... right?
You are confusing hype with facts, do you even know what the Bank of International Settlements is, because that is where your tax dollars are going!
www.bis.org
But going back to the debate above, I think the argument is framed very poorly by pitting “capitalists” vs “anti capitalists”. Doing so just creates apologists for an obviously broken system against those who would tear it all down, with no regard for how much good it has indeed done. One only need read the comments above to see that.
Of course capitalism in its basic form has elevated humanity above any other system tried or hypothesized. That doesn’t make it above criticism, especially in its current form. We, in the west, have been under capitalist regimes for hundreds of years but priorities have changed due to, well, politics. For almost 40 years the rules have been changing almost exclusively to the benefit of capital. The liberalization of financial markets, the mass privatization of public assets, the increased independence of central banks (and then the reversal of said independence to support asset markets), the expansion of the WTO and especially the inclusion of China on “most favoured nation” status, the dismantling of defined benefit pensions in favour of defined contribution, the increasing reluctance to enforce anti trust, the bailouts in the wake of the gfc, and the continued use of hyper aggressive monetary policy to support asset prices. This is just the above board stuff. As the influence of capital has grown, it has created an unhealthy inter connectivity with government that is harder to measure. As such, if you’ve been a good capitalist these past few decades and squirrelled away some investments, good for you but please don’t fool yourself into thinking it was “all you” and wasn’t helped by a MASSIVE tailwind of beneficial politics.
And please don’t suggest anyone could do it or that Elon musk and the 50k a year earner face similar opportunities to benefit from capital growth. Since we’re all econs experts here, we should remember that the marginal propensity to save is solely the function of income and wealth over large groups. And, going a little further into financial microeconomics, the ability to invest in longer term risky assets (such as equity) is a function of wealth. The 50k a year saver is less inclined to invest in the vagaries of the equity market if he may need to tap his savings in the case of an unexpected mishap. Elon musk can invest in long duration illiquid private equity projects, and always could due to daddy owning emerald mines.
Does that mean I think capitalism needs to be dismantled for some kind of resurrection of failed socialism now based on a vague notion of racial justice or whatever it is? Of course not, but I do think we need to look at how we’ve prioritized big capital to the benefit of the quarter of society who have been co-opted into the interests of big business through 401ks and the like. I do believe that what we have now in the west would rankle Adam Smiths notion of “capitalism” and could better be described as “corporatism”. Perhaps we need a little more real capitalism after all.
Wait, what was this article about again?
"The us government does not control their own money" Again, I know this, stop listing it as if it's a point that we're debating. "and you are so blinded by the propaganda for 20 years that you are actually trying to sell the system that has enslaved you, and my own country too." who says I'm selling the system? I'm saying corruption isn't relegated to the capitalist system, and that the inefficiencies in it's application are largely human driven as there is nothing in standard economic theory that says "Hey when you need to, borrow trillions of dollars from other countries in perpetuity"
If you took the time to research any economic theory you'd understand why your argument is baseless.
If you want to just plug your ears and say "capitalism sucks" then go ahead I won't stop you, I'm not arguing that it's a perfect system but to say it doesn't work is just silly at this point unless you can establish what metrics you find a system to "work" in.
btw just curious, is a computer broken just because the user doesn't understand it's functions?
or if that's too hard, just do this: provide an example of a system of governance or economic function that is corruptionless, or can manage massive economies to the degree of success that capitalism has?
you're confusing application with theory. if application dictates the validity of a theory, then nothing works.
even your theoretical existence that you derive from morals and values is likely compromised, so in essence, YOUR LIFE DOESN'T WORK EITHER!
And I'm not making fun of your head injury... I'm wishing you a quick and full recovery. I would hate to see someone stuck with the level of cognitive impairment you're demonstrating long term.
I never want to change anyone's beliefs, nor do I actually expect to, you could not change my belief's, I just like screwing around with people that take the bait!
exactly!
it has it's faults, I don't think anyone is arguing that. and I think you can make a good case to it being broken, but the why/how its broken is the rub. trying to educate people that just think capitalism as a system promotes corruption and poor economic practices, rather than being corrupted by human input, is maddening.
"I just like screwing around with people that take the bait!" unless you find your time to be completely valueless, I'd maybe hesitate to boast about that as the joke would be on you as much as anyone else.
The problem is not even ecologic or economic or climatic, it's philosophical, it's about humans thinking about their place in the world, to realise we're part of it, and that the world is not just a pile of resources at our disposal just waiting to be turned into wastes.
I think you're ignoring some pretty concerted and at this point global efforts to find solutions to the problems though, and while wind turbines and electric cars have their own downsides, it's a sign that we're beyond talking about the problems and actually searching for solutions.
Lastly, human ingenuity has literally been the catalyst for so many environmental saving graces over the centuries that you're being incredibly intellectually dishonest (or naïve) about the impact that it plays on improving our collective footprint. the list of wins is longer than the list of losses, but doom and gloom is a bigger ROI on ad dollars so that's all we hear.
but hey it's easier just assume you're right and everyone is dumb but you, I get it. and backing up your claim is the first step to either reaffirming or completely debasing your values, and I'm sure you're not willing to risk that blow to your self esteem.
cheers and godspeed on your intellectual dwarfism.
proper comment. Our 24/7 captain capitalist here could not grasp a simple China related fact.. but, he writes like he has, at least, two Nobel prises in economics; he's the definition of what us, outside NA d.vmb fveck 'murican. He might also be quite old and a little out of touch with current world state. Either way, a fvecking a$$.hole!
World electricity production is about 60% fossile based.
World global energy mix is about 80% fossile.
Will electric cars and wind turbine allow to turn this to near 0% ? I doubt it (even with solar and a few other things).
Fusion nuclear is supposed to be the answer, but it'll take several decades before we get there, if we get there, we're not even sure it'll work.
Is there enough material to electrify as many things as possible ?
Also I don't think I'm being dishonest. Human ingenuity may have done some great things (agriculture which led to settlement which led to shift from hunter-gatherer to civilization, though one could argue it also has quite a bit of negatives), or medicine, but all of progress since 200 years is based on : burning wood then burning coal then burning oil & gas.
Forests is Europe (at least in France) were in pretty bad shape at some point, slowly going the way of eastern island as we burned the trees to fuel steam engines, until we discovered coal.
To me what is intellectually dishonnest or naive is placing so much glory on human "progress" without aknowledging that it's based mostly on burning fossile resources that have been there for tens of millions of years and that are pretty much a single event in the life of the planet.
For instance slavery hasn't stop because man has supposedly become good, but because coal and oil powered machines are more efficient than slaves. Wait for things to get bad and your landowner will turn you into a slave peasant of kick you out of "his" land.
Also I don't think doom and gloom is all that we hear, we barely hear it, as said in the beginning, most people think we'll switch from combustion to electric and voilà. The news on TV tell you about global warming for 2 minutes, then for half an hour they'll tell you about business and consumption through advertorial.
The biggest narrative in our society remains the same : Success = making money.
And I agree we won't see a change, as long as this narrative doesn't change. We all need money, but we also need limits.
Not a single person who built something from scratch, who built a business from zero and got wealth out of it, isn't that arrogant. Traders and brokers are so, which one are you?
Yep.
You just hit the nail on the head!
Both... and we can see you're neither. Maybe an education would serve you better than the handouts you've become accustomed to, of course it may just be too late for you.
neah.. let me hope you're just a loud mouth asset trader because, those damn brokers are worse than ebola.. basically, the shittiest type of ppl in the world.. the equivalent of Putin, if Putin would have been born a middle(upper?) class 'murican.
continue with your excellent stories, I'm a fan!, you realize I actually find your comments mildly entertaining, right?
one serious question though(actually two).. and that is, why do you think ppl think you are a douche because of your money?..., and the second is, why do you think you are the only person in this world that aquired wealth?, not reffering to me, I can't afford a brand new Porsche but I am doing alright.. but, my dear ass(et) trader, why do you think you are the only one in the world with wealth? *kisses&hugs*
As for why you or anyone else on Pinkbike thinks I'm a douche... I am so terribly sorry if anything I've ever said has given you the impression that I give even the tiniest of f*cks about what you lot think of me. To be clear, I would be highly concerned if the low IQ flock of sheep that make up the majority of pinkbike users liked me... popularity is not an indicator for righteousness, morality, or success, and it's often contraindicative of each of those things.
1) you have plenty of time to spend on Pinkbike with over 22,000 posts in the forum alone.
2) you enjoy profanity and I believe you feel that makes you sound powerful.
3) you call people names that remind me of high school banter, from terrified teenagers.
4) you claim not to care what anyone thinks of you, yet the time spent here in the comments section seems to me to contradict that claim
5) you are a capitalist and feel that material goods and consumerism make you a better human being.
6) you assume anyone with an opinion different from your own is a less intelligent human, the classic trait of a narcissist.
Only one of those was a fact, the rest were just ignorant opinions you came up with because you're an ignorant person and can't actually refute any real facts so you're turning it into a desperate little ad hom attack like most folks with your subpar IQ are wont to do.
But, just for funsies:
1. Yes... 4.68 posts per day is extremely time consuming, it really takes away from my other interests!
2. I don't have any particular feeling either way about profanity... unlike emotional lil sheep like you, words don't hurt me and only represent accurately conveying thought. I'll call a f*cking idiot a f*cking idiot instead of a fool because those are different things. Not to worry, we already knew that basic language was a subject beyond your limited intellect so I can see how you got confused and turned it into an emotional thing.
3. Cool story about the names you were called from people you presumed to be terrified... good to know you've been a useless shithead your entire life and it's not a recent thing. Not sure how it's relevant but, good to know. Thanks for sharing.
4. Please feel free to quote the comment I've made that gave you the mistaken impression that I care about you or what you think.
5. I am a capitalist but, again unlike you clowns, I don't think material goods define anything apart from what I like to spend my money on... money doesn't define anyone, being poor doesn't make you virtuous and being rich doesn't make you evil, contrary to the assertions from your side of the isle. I'm a better human being because I deal with reality and facts and erase my ignorance when I find it instead of getting caught in my emotions and ignorance and digging in.
6. No, I don't assume that anyone with an opinion different from my own is a less intelligent human... I just assume that you morons are less intelligent because you've demonstrated yourselves to be so. But I'm sure you have a psychology degree that gives you a solid foundation upon which to try to diagnose someone based on a selection of comments on the internet, right? Surely you're not so much stupider than me that you would just be talking out of your ass while simultaneously complaining about my presumptions of intelligence, right? Cause that would be some really epic irony...
Unless your point was that you're an idiot and can't form a cogent rebuttal to the fact that Capitalism is, by far, the best economic system humanity has ever had then, sorry, but you didn't make a point.
"your" capitalism is too idealistic; it has no nuances and that makes me thing you perceive reality in a very un-realistic way.
I don't question your wealth or your econimic literacy.. I'm just saying you lack balance.
Your entire argument is that capitalism is bad because corrupt people do corrupt things which results in bad things. THAT is a position without nuance, and it's based entirely on the false premise that other systems somehow prevent this from happening... which is phenomenally unrealistic.
The fact is that there is corruption in all systems because men are corruptible. This is a constant, this isn't changing. Under every other system, the corruption is worse and there is less recourse for the victims of corruption. These aren't opinions, they're objective reality that's been supported by centuries of world history.
Man, you're just full of fantasies that you put a lot of belief in aren't you?
If your goal was to out yourself as a desperate, ignorant, lonely human who wants to troll the internet for reactions, you certainly succeeded but, again, these things were never in doubt so you really didn't need to put all that effort into it. But hey, good job lil guy.
That was poor, extremely poor, sentence structure.
If you really did'nt care you would not respond! Betcha can't just walk away, c'mon try!
Are you actually retarded or do you just role play as a retard online?
".....contrary to the assertions from your side of the isle."
I think you meant "Aisle" unless you really do believe you are sharing an island like a member of Cyprus Hill.
*that alone should earn you a Suspension shortly.
" incomplete senescence, and you misspelled "dovetail" as two words.":
Gotta love that, it's like watching someone try to pick their nose using someone else's foot!
Dude you really need to spend some time alone and maybe listen to what you are saying, you manage to refute your own arguments in your own posts without even realizing how hypocritical you are. I am keeping you posting for as long as possible, you are your own worst enemy, please continue to insult me, I need the laughs!
Oh an just one more point, only preteen girls still use emoji's dude!
GO RIDE YOUR BIKES AND SHUT THE f*ck UP.
Tell us more about all the time you spend with preteen girls, Chester.
By the way do you even know anything about bad Leroy brown, your namesake?
Better to leave this comment section for a while and just ride your damn bikes.. it clears the mind(I promise)!(and, for you, it seems that one is loooong-overdue)
by the way, do ask yourself why you write such complex answers and deep(in your imagination) analyses if you have no plan in educate or enlight others?, because, buddy, I hate to breake it to you but, if you are doing this just for yourself, just to see yourself debating and commenting.. well, I have news for you!, what I mean is, you will need much more than just bike rides to clear or solve that; and no, there is no shame in asking for help so, have the courage to do it, to take the first step!, I promise, you will feel much better in time. Good luck!
And you wonder why I have no regard for your opinions and think you're unintelligent wastes of air and space.
But I'm glad you've got a lot of experience with asking for help, you'll need it as you search for a teacher to help you overcome your intellectual disabilities. Good luck with that!
He is clearly avoiding something too difficult to confront in his life by hypocritically pointing out others perceived failings, and the worst punishment I could think of is to just let him live his life, he seems to have no idea what a black little hole he is trapped in.
Doesn't it get hard to breath with your head that far up your own ass?
Stop caring and responding, I dare you!
i DaRe YoU tO sToP CaRiNg AnD ReSpOnDiNg!!!
Although you are a super-annoying Conservatard, I didn't narc on you for your childish and sometimes offensive name-calling. Not being able to use all the spicier terms that rattle around in your skull must really pucker up your Freedom Hole.....
Imagine thinking "conservatard" was an insult these days... with the damage the left has done, globally, it's flattering that I'm immediately identifiable as strongly conservative.
I don't think you understand, nothing you post on this website matters, nothing any of us entitled mountain bikers post here matters. If you want to educate people on economics, or politics, go to an website about economics or politics.
Don't you get tired of being wrong? It's really gotta suck to run your mouth as much as you do and not even accidentally get anything right.
You're a fairly clever bot, but #youcantwin
You couldn't be a more banal liberal if you tried.
Come on, tell us some more about how the resounding success of capitalism hurts you, unless you're late for work as a Walmart greeter.
The world will burn before the US turns into a third world country, and no matter what happens to the US your shitty little country will always be even worse off. Just sit back and hope Truday doesn't f*ck things up too badly and you get to keep riding our coattails.
You will never believe what is going to happen to you, even once it has, same thing is goin to happen to my country, just on a smaller scale. Say goodbye to that pool in your backyard and hello to your Chinese masters.
The US cannot manufacture anything worthwhile any more, China does all the heavy lifting in that department, your military is a joke, and Russia can make fertilizer during a world wide shortage, but the US can't. The US is much like your own President, can't wipe it's own ass even with help.
Oh yes and it is spelled Trudeau, or are you going to blame that on auto correct too?
Honestly, not that you had any credibility to lose but, if you had... you'd have lost it all suggesting the US military is a joke, particularly while sitting in Canada of all places
And I know how it's spelled, but Trudy doesn't deserve the extra keystrokes.
US politics is useless, your country is run by un-elected bankers, you can't make computer chips in the US, your largest fertilizer plant just blew up, you produce less oil than you use, and your overall manufacturing capabilities are down 90%o over the last 50 years. Wake up dude, your landlord sold you out, you just have not been evicted yet!
Did you know about 80 to 90% of pharmaceutical drugs used int he US are made in China? Do you ever read anything other than your own words on Pinkbike, no you probably get your info from FOX news.
Holy shit, dude is there anything you're actually knowledgeable on or are you just blindingly stupid in every aspect of life? Tell us some more military info you picked up from leftist propaganda networks that has no anchor in reality... this is good shit!
The largest fertilizer plant in the US isn't even in the same state as the one that blew up and that's a non-event in terms of US capacity... our military could easily hold off any five nations trying to invade... we produce less oil by choice (thanks to shithead lefties like you) but could easily ramp up domestic production as needed and we also have sufficient strategic reserves for that to be a non-issue, and us outsourcing manufacturing and the pollution to overseas shitholes like China isn't reflection of manufacturing capability, just manufacturing policy today, and only about 2% of all US pharmaceuticals are imported from China.
joking aside, the real problem with you is the same as when facing a death of a friend or a relative.. it is not hard for him, it is hard for the others..., and it is the same when one is stu.pid; I know you don't realize but, you've become a little tedious. Very hard it isn't... but, it is less fun than it used to be.
You have yet to offer a single relevant or cogent perspective, but you want to talk about being stupid... I suppose I'll have to defer to your expertise in that regard, I certainly don't have your lifetime of experience being stupid or how it impacts those around me. I'm sure it has been very hard on those around you, it's bad enough on the rest of us just trying to read your broken English.
For the rest of.. basically all.. you're a effin' dvmb pr.ick!(and I never said I invented that meme.. but, it does not mean I can't use it on little dummies like you)
but we all know the truth... x32 was the better jet. Politics won and now f35 is in use.
It says *2rd*..; originally, I meant to say 3rd but, let's not get ahead of ourselves. 2nd is sufficient for a dummy like you.
And no, the x32 was not the better jet... it was the cheaper jet.
and no, it wasn't. In fact, due do dummies like you in your dod, you have an uber-expensive underperforming plane in service. What should have happened did not so, as a typical dummies do, your dod choose 1 (uber expensive)tool for every job instead of having specialized tools for each type of job. Basically, it should have been two briefs.. and for ctol, the x32 was the better jet(and nicer to look at).
The X32 was underpowered and would struggle CTOL or STOVL with a full loadout, employed an antiquated direct-lift thrust vectoring system that was prone to prop stalls, and was unable to meet the JSF's aerodynamic requirements for the Navy's STOVL variant... failing to meet one of the core requirements of the entire JSF program. And the entire premise of the program was to combine the CALF and JAST projects and design a singular platform to handle multiple roles you moron. If we need a CTOL fighter, we have the F22 which is still far superior to either platform, and anything any other country can field. And while neither jet is a great looker, the X32 was definitely the uglier of the two.
Come on buddy, keep talking... eventually you'll have to get something right just by pure statistical chance.
f22 is not what you think it is and the x35 platform is dumb af with little possibility in the way of evolving. Of course, it had better stovl capabilities and..so what?, in the end, it got the x32 avionics and the running costs are so high I bet the DoD wished they never contracted the damn thing in the first place. If I would run a project that would require 50% increase in capital in the first stages of deployment, you can bet your dummy brain that I would have so many boots deep up my a$$, I wouldn't be able to walk normal for months.
This clarifies to me the way you manage to acquire wealth and I can bet your dropped balls you did it just before, or right after(as a consequence), 2008. That's why the arrogance.. you, basically, cheat people for their money and, in your weak imagination, you felt like that was something to be proud of, right buddy?, #teamyou!, #yougogirl!
and also, jets are made to fly, not to look good ij a fvecking hangar. In flight, the x32 was gorgeous.
p.s. infinite monkey theorem..., that's the best you could do?, my G.O.D.. and you were accusing me of running old jokes.
As for where I acquired my wealth... it's a consistency thing, like most things in life. I average 23% return annually over the last 16 years, and I'm up 52% over the last twelve months. But, I've never cheated anyone out of anything and that you would even suggest investment appreciation involves cheating anyone only highlights how incredibly stupid you are, irrespective of whether we're talking 2008 or 2022. But yeah, I'm proud as f*ck of my success... and I have no sympathy for incompetent, ignorant, poors like yourself who can't understand economics or manage to build anything for yourself.
Now I can't contradict your extensive personal experience with boots in your ass so I'll defer to you there but, as far as the X32 goes... it would have met with even greater overruns and delays than the F35 given that it would have been even more difficult to build sensor integration as specified into the more antiquated systems of the 32 vs the 35. Similarly, readiness would be worse off since the underpowered and failure prone engines would have been more heavily taxed on each flight and required even more service... but all that really isn't relevant since the end result is that it was an entrant that simply did not meet the requirements. I'm sure that you're big on failing to meet the basic specifications of the job you were hired to do; failures like you generally fail in multiple areas after all. But, back here in the real world where results matter, if you don't meet the requirements then you don't get the job. The 32 was a low budget pig with outdated tech, missing on key requirements, and absolutely no advantage over the 35... when you approach a cutting edge project with the same direct-lift thrust vectoring you've been pushing since the 1960's then you've already failed to understand the assignment.
Now... while it's fun watching you continually demonstrate deep ignorance on a variety of topics, at least put some effort into it if you're gonna keep going. You're so caught up in talking about putting things in your ass and thinking about my balls that you're not even offering anything worth debating about anymore.
23% on the clock YoY, my G.O.D., you're the fvecking genius this worlds needs to rise up from mud to sheer brilliance... ahahaha. To bad no one knows about you or else, we would all be saved.
Do note that I said nothing about efficiency rate of your investments as I don't care about them no, I just said you cheat/deceive people in order to get advantages for yourself.. as your profile screams that from a mile away.
And I don't give a fveck about your dumb speculation on what might have happened vs what, in fact, actually happened. #goyouyourself!
bye bye dummy!
Bonds are a gong show and about to collapse worldwide, I know this other gentleman with whom you are corresponding will come in raging about this and that and how dumb I am, all meaningless prattle as you can all see by his past posts, all fluff and no stuff. If you are into stock and bonds, you have drank the Kool Aid, or are in on the con.
The people that don't see the changes coming will be the ones most shocked. The ones that feel they are the most intelligent will never question a system that they feel rewards(bribes) them, they believe their success is because they are smart, but in reality is because they are obedient to the system.
This guy is an @$$hole and that's why I keep poking him but those are two different things.
You're the only one speculating on what might have happened... the fact is that the 32 failed to meet design requirements so it failed. Period, full stop. Your idiotic nonsense about how it would have been better isn't anchored in reality, like most of the dumb shit you believe.
the evidence confirms that f35 is a fvecking failure and, from your posts, we can all see that you are an @$$hole thus, I've been right all along on both accounts.
US, France, UK and maybe Germany lead the world is aerospace design. The rest of the world just steals the intellectual data…..cough cough China
i'll be back when inflation hits 13% to call you a f*cking retard again, and again, and again
PS - Not a goddamn thing about capitalism has caused this inflation so, I'm still right and you're still a moron. Thanks for stopping by to share.
Why are bike companies selling out to larger corporations? ....Money.
Why does YT not have a Worlds racing team this year? .....Money.
Why did Pinkbike sell out to Outsider? .....Money.
I don't think it's generally a bad signal and would in fact consider myself "bullish" (if you will) on the trend. If the industry can learn to start optimizing costs and processes, we should see those outputs on the consumer side in the form of cheaper bikes, shorter supply times, and bigger R&D investment.
The money has joined this industry over a decade ago.
But the bike industry was one of the fastest growing industries during the so-called pandemic, that's why some turbo capitalist vulture funds are highly interested in buying it up to milk it to death.
Imagine expecting cheaper bikes from this... lmao
If Pon Holdings (GT buyer), Carlyle, etc. snatched up MRP, Box Components, and some small biz tire company, they could own the entire process of building a more than capable bike for less than $200M and then use their weight to drive supplier's pricing off a cliff so that it costs 35% less to build a whole bike and get it out the door.
So I'll agree that efficiencies are challenging to solve for existing bike companies when we're talking about $200m investments, but an amount like that is a rounding error for Carlyle.
It all comes back to greed. Out.
PE companies are staffed by people who are good at making money. That means they don't know or care how a product is made or who the end user is. They'll leverage a brand for money, split up a brand for money, sell a brand for money. What they won't do is "eliminate redundancies and reduce costs", unless you mean putting single ply TP in all the bathrooms, What they will do is kill an industry, then glut themselves on the carcass of that industry like the vultures they are.
What they won't do is look at the long term health of any company on a 10-15 year timespan.
We all like to think we're "in the know," but we're not.
Besides, if you really wanted to you could just contact a Taiwanese manufacturer and brand your own components. State Bicycle Co does that with their 1x11 groupset and they aren't setting the world on fire.
PE companies are just parasites BTW
*Mind=Blown*
Unfortunately, the goal of a successful business in a capitalism system is profit first and foremost. As bike comps are gobbled up by large holding companies, they’ll quickly show to be a drag on the overall bottom line.
For niche markets like specialty sporting goods, consolidation is seldom good for the industry or the consumer.
Or the reader.
But please, tell me more about how your financial failings and poor understanding of basic economics isn't your fault.
Anyway, there are countless people who recognize capitalism as the best system we have who still seek to mitigate the negative impacts. But, when you lead by claiming capitalism is f*cked and we need to scrap the whole thing you’re going to run into a lot of people who think you’re the raving lunatic you are.
Especially when your grand example of capitalism’s evil is a bike company being bought by another company.
But my personal position doesn't change the factual reality that capitalism is, by far, the most effective economic system humanity has invented and one that benefits the overwhelming majority of people... both directly and indirectly.
You don't have to like it... shit, you don't even have to accept it... but those are the facts irrespective of your personal failings or beliefs.
It's a distinction that matters.
The fact that they still are even with the regulation we do have should tell you not that the regulations are too severe but that they are desperately inadequate.
I guess what I'm saying is people with a high concentration of wealth seem to find ways to receive exceptional treatment under the guise of regulations.
If I read you wrong, well it wouldn't be the first or last thing today I'm wrong about.
We like to glorify sustenance farming, but it sucks. It really really sucks. "Competition from corporate agriculture" has done nothing to make that worse. If anything the diffusion of Western technology has improved things for 3rd world agriculturalists.
If you life a rural life in a 3rd world country your #1 goal is to move to the city and get a factory (sweatshop) job. In the country girls are illiterate and controlled by their male family members. In the city at a factory job they can get an education, they can own things (like a bike or scooter) and live on their own. Factory jobs pay dramatically more than farming, and are an important step in a 3rd world economy maturing into a post-industrial economy like ours. People fight for these jobs.
@Patrick9-32 I agree, we saw something closer to pure capitalism during the industrial revolution, and during that time we saw the greatest rise in the standard of living of the common man than at anytime in history. In a single generation, the infant mortality rate plummeted. Before industrialization, you had a 50% chance of dying before you were 18. After it dropped to less than 10%. Nutrition amongst the poorest skyrocketed. Increased worker productivity from industrialization helped end slavery for the first time in human history. Literacy rates skyrocketed. The list of improvements to humanity from the Industrial Revolution fills volumes of books.
We're certainly no anti-capitalists, but we should be able to objectively look at the faults, shortcomings, and outright wrongs of a given system.
Literally nothing about capitalism is "based on insatiable greed" and the extent to which greed drives capitalism is less than in any other system.
The bourgeoisie intelligencia need to be even more brainwashed in American society, so they will prop up and support the system created by the 1% ruling class.
That means you homes.
Small farms vs subsistence farms.
Existing capitalism vs fairytale capitalism.
The major problem with capitalism today is the amount of government involvement that has ensured anything but a level playing field. Post WW2 west Germany had a good system of capitalism (not to be confused with the Marshall plan).
But let's be fair and say there are victims of EVERY economic system. Let's agree that communism is a cancer and NOT the solution for the common man.
Can you name a single example of somewhere that a Western company "off load their labor to developing nations... leaving them worse off "? If you look at the vast majorities of cases, like Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam since Doi Moi in the 80s, foreign investment has dramatically increased the standard of living for the poorest. The one place where you are probably 100% right is De Beers Diamonds; that company's run by Satan himself. But it is the exception, not the rule.
The West does prevent development of 3rd world countries, yes, but its the Western Governments who do this. Free markets, trade, and open exchange didn't overthrow Iran, it was the CIA and Western governments. Government intervention is the antithesis of capitalism.
South Korea began to industrialize after WWII, so roughly 1950 (there isn't good data from before that year anyways). Their infant mortality then was 197 deaths per 1,000 births. Thats 20%. It took them until 1997 to reach 10 deaths per 1,000 births. If we look at the USA, it took 90 years (1905) to get from ~200 deaths to 10 deaths per 1,000 births. It took South Korea half as long. Now they have fewer deaths per 1,000. Why?
South Korea was opened to Western Capitalism is why. The same story can be found in Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam after 1984, American Samoa, Hong Kong, Venezuela (until Hugo Chavez & the CIA ruined their economy), etc. It took the West 200 years to industrialize, and once foreign economies opened up to the West the diffusion of Capital and technology caused these countries to industrialize three times as fast. None of these countries are perfect, in fact some are quite terrible. Many of them were "opened" to the West not by trade but by conquest. That really, really, sucks, but its better than the alternative.
Most countries that haven't industrialized yet are still poor for three main reasons: 1. Western governments prefer to bomb them than allow free trade (Iran, which actually used to be industrialized, for instance) 2. Local governments are too corrupt so you can't reliably open a factory without it being seized by a corrupt official, like most of Africa. 3. Government isn't corrupt, but can't effectively protect your property and investments, like trying to start a mill in Northern Mexico where the cartels will just come and rob you.
Despite these problems, the 3rd world is still economically growing at an amazing rate. The UN Millennial Goals project projects that global poverty (defined by living on less than $1.90/day in 2005 USD) will end by 2030 (actually, this was a pre-COVID estimate, now the UN and World Bank have revised this to 2035). Every single day, 250,000 people in 3rd world countries cross this threshold out of extreme poverty on their way upwards towards the middle class. This is unprecedented growth, unseen before in Human history, both in the rate of growth and the number of people affected.
Sorry for the rant, already too long, but I could go on for hours (its what I studied in college).
Iran was only controlled by a prime minister because British and Russian intelligence coordinated the overthrow of the Shah in 1941 over concerns about Nazi sympathies, so in reality they were just reverting their previous meddling... Mossaddegh wasn't some hero making Iran a better place, he was just a poster boy for entitlement programs and taxation so leftist clowns love him. In reality, one of the greatest economic eras of Iranian prosperity was following his removal. Your professors told you he was a hero because he was a leftist, period. The truth is, Iran wasn't all that f*cked up until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
These governments may have acted on behalf of their constituents (guess what; we aren't government constituents, megacorps are), but thats not capitalism. Others in this thread have made great comments about the
pitfalls of government/corporate collusion.
The "late-stage capitalism" argument is that all industry will eventually coalesce into single monopolies that get so heavy society collapses. This only happens when government has the power to interfere in the markets, whether its mandated COVID lockdowns that precipitated the largest transfer of wealth to billionaires in history, or CIA assassinations of other government officials. None of that is capitalism, making "late-stage capitalism" misleading as it should be called "late-stage centralization" or "late-stage command economies".
Also returning to the original post, this recent consolidation and enlargement/enrichment of billion (and now trillion) dollar companies , at the expense of smaller startups, is mostly due to government COVID lockdown policies. These policies are enforced by government regulation, and are not the effects of Capitalism. They are the effect of government action, the antithesis of capitalism.
@badbadleroybrown i agree that the 79 revolution was very bad. The reason we got there was the capitulation to western business corrupting Iranian society. Do you think liberal arts professors are inherently wrong? Do you think I haven’t done my own research and reading on this?
Both of you, I may not be as strong an economist as hamncheez Keynes over here but you two twist yourselves into pretzels to deny that capitalism has ever created conditions for oppression. I’m not against capitalism but an ounce of critical thought will show that capitalism has caused problems for many people around the globe.
As others have said, I'm not sure theres an example of "pure capitalism" in history, nor would such an example be Utopia where high pivots and gearboxes have no drag or effect on climbing, but dang the closer a society is to capitalism the fewer people starve to death and the fewer Journalists there are in prison.
You're not a strong economist, you're not a strong logistician, you're not a strong thinker in general... you're not even a strong parrot in repeating the stupid shit you heard from useless LA professors.
@hamncheez it seems to me you are moving the goalpost and diving into the minutiae and nomenclature and not seeing my point. I don’t think you are making a good case that the west has never oppressed people economically (which if you deny even the possibility of you are just wrong.) free markets can be a good thing but people have used older established free markets to come in and exert force on newer recently free markets and dominate them. The casualties of this are people In the developing world.
I would love to hear however the well founded and completely fact based takes I’m sure you have on the legitimacy of the 2020 election
I think he's right for the simple fact that an economic system is, imo, based on a set of psychological principals and values. One thing you see in central and eastern europe is how opportunistic people are here. It's died down a bit over the years, but unless you had lived in their government-run reality show, there's no way to appreciate the feeling of freedom of finally being able to try their own hand at running their lives. Now, what has happened since then is what you would expect: whoever was connected, or whoever succeeded worked hard to crush any competition. They do things like make a bunch of money then buy out a small well-run establishment (e.g. kebab stand, mechanic's, bakery), then immediately cut costs, reduce quality, coast on past-earned reputation as long as they can and then off load the heap of shit they've reduced the business to. And it's not just savvy business people doing this, not by a longshot. The people in city governments tend to hold office for a VERY long time. The government knows who's doing well and people in government NEVER become poor.
I'm not trying to lecture you, and I hope it's not received that way, it's just a perspective you might not have had.
I already acknowledged your ignorance, you don't need to keep trying to hard to prove it... you've convinced us.
"I don’t think you are making a good case that the west has never oppressed people economically "
Telling a foreign leader to fire the prosecutor investigating your son for corruption or you will withhold $1 BILLION in loan guarantees is 100% economic manipulation and oppression. Its just being done by government, not Capitalism.
BUT - I still expect Pinkbike to call out excess bike industry costs: From bike companies, to clothing and components. It's all excessively expensive:
- $35 for brake pads?
- $300 - $500 for a full face helmet?
- $125 for riding pants?
Try and imagine if any of the above was sold at Costco, all of it would be 1/2 the cost.
Hope they keep it in mind when hop back in the car and pass you at 120km/h on a narrow road scraping the color of your grips.
Pun Intended?
45 Sworks Kenevos = Athe.rton bikes
100 Sworks Kenevos = Cu.be
200 Sworks Kenevos = Ye.ti
300 Sworks Kenevos & 2 Levos + 2 Unnos = Big S
314 apple 13 PRO & 11 Sworks Kenevo = Shim.ano
1. To maximise their ROI means we have to pay more for our bikes and bits for them
2. At some point these investors will decide a different sector is going to give them a better ROI and so will divest. What happens to the companies then? Are they strong enough to stand that shock.
Consumers, on the other hand, just see the end product. Bikes! Sweet! And that is awesome, but it's important to remind ourselves, as consumers, that we're not owed companies started by others. During covid, some of my favorite, long-standing restaurants owned by locals had to close down. I was bummed at first, but, I reminded myself that ultimately, these are people with real lives and it was easier to understand. That's the "downside", so to speak, of small businesses and it has nothing to do with politics, economic philosophy (capitalism, socialism, etc.). As consumers, we don't fully grasp the near all consuming grind that is owning and running a small business. And that burden falls on the shoulders of less people in a small business. That's where "big corporations" have distinct advantages.
So my philosophy is to be grateful for the successful run of a small company you like. I was a big Turner guy for most of my life. While it was sad to see Turner get out of the FS MTB game, it was totally understandable when you personalize the company which was, essentially, Dave Turner. You're lucky if you get a good 10-20 year run in any small business. Enjoy it while it lasts and wish them well when they get out.
Because greedy rich bastads sucks ass.
And if you're a founder who's been working long hours, taking small paychecks, and seeing your passion become plain old work work, cash the eff out. You've seen things go up and down and it's not looking like there's any more up on the horizon. Enjoy some time off and (if you even still want to) go for a bike ride.
Bad ,Bad Leroy Brown,
the disrespectfulest Prick in the whole damn town
Search for: "shake hands" "close deal" "businessman"