Layoffs at Bell, Giro, Blackburn While Vista Announces It Will Hold Onto the Brands

Jul 24, 2019 at 13:22
by Richard Cunningham  
Bell 4Forty


In a recent post, Bicycle Retailer announced that Vista Outdoor reduced the workforce at Bell Sports, Giro and Blackburn headquarters in Scotts Valley, California, by 14 employees from a range of positions including engineering, design, testing and marketing. Layoffs included longstanding managers, which suggests that the positions will be permanently closed. Reportedly, the explanation was that Vista was downsizing the brands to better fit the current landscape.

The news comes on the heels of Vista's 170 million dollar deal to divest itself from firearms - which, BRAIN reported, will be used to pay down debt. Presumably, some of that cash will help prop up Vista's cycling brands

In an announcement earlier this year, Vista reversed its decision to sell off Bell and Giro, saying that they thought they were undervalued at the time, maintaining that the brands were capable of returning to category leadership roles. The new plan is long-term restructure, after which the Vista team will reassess whether they will retain the brands or again offer them for sale. As quoted in the BRAIN story, Bell CEO Chris Metz says:
Aggressive trail riding on the Grafton Mesa Trail ouside of Virgin UT

"We came to clear conclusion as a team and as a board that we are much better off holding this asset and continuing to improve it for a period of time. That will be a multiyear period of time. We see that much upside in the business. At this point in time we’re excited about holding it; we think it’s the best thing to do for driving shareholder value.”

Scotts Valley is located just up the hill from Santa Cruz and is an equally expensive location to run a business. Bell and Giro's neighbor, Fox Racing Shox, recently moved its new headquarters to Hall County, Georgia, and much of its nearby Watsonville operation to Reno, Nevada, saying that hiring and keeping skilled workers was made difficult by California's hyper-inflated cost of living.

With Fortune 500 corporations vying for industrial space in Scotts Valley, the writing may be on the wall for any cycling brand taking up space there. If that proves true, and Vista holds to its stated course, Bell, Giro and Blackburn's remaining staff should not get too comfortable in their chairs.

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Member since Mar 23, 2011
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115 Comments
  • 113 3
 "We came to clear conclusion as a team and as a board that we are much better off holding this asset and continuing to improve it for a period of time. "

Translation, we didn't get the offers we hoped for trying to sell the asset on the used market.

Kinda like when you post something in the PB BuySell section and the best offer you get is some used PS3 games and a promise to pay up the rest when the kid gets his next allowance.

Also this is what he wanted to say.

"We came to the clear conclusion we're going to fire some people and double down on cutting every cost we can in order to make the crappy bottom line look better so we have a hope and a prayer to get a better offer next time we list this POS in the PB BuySell."
  • 25 5
 Shoot...I guess they were under the gun...
Goin out with a bang..
Time to drop the hammer on the employees..
Looks like they're losing sight(s)...
  • 11 1
 I'm curious who they sold the firearms companies to. It would be pretty smart (in an unethical sort of way) to just make a new company and sell those assets to themselves, in the hopes that it would end the boycott of the outdoor brands, so that those companies could return to higher values, and then they could either keep both or sell Vista for more money, while still keeping the firearms companies (under a new parent company).

Am I conspiracy theorist, or just cynical?
  • 6 0
 "...we think it’s the best thing to do for driving shareholder value.”

Expect the costs (quality) to go down, or the price go up. Probably both. The beauty of the stock market!
  • 2 2
 @scary1: I saw what you did there
  • 18 1
 The brand, like Fox, is a bit confusing. Originally Bell merged with football helmet maker Riddell, then sold off their motorsports divisions, only to reacquire them, but the auto racing divisions remained independent companies licensing the name. Then Bell-Riddell merges with Easton Sports to become Easton-Bell. Then concussion lawsuits scares the beancounters, so they rebrand Riddell as BRG Sports, and sell off the action sport divisions to gun ammunition conglomerate Vista Outdoors for $400M, of which they borrowed $300M.

Now Vista is just a long line of corporate spin-offs starting way back with Honeywell, then Alliance Tech, with a long history of munitions, aerospace and defense systems...all vying and dependent on military contracts (hilariously Alliance was only the Pentagon's 17th largest contractor). They finally spun-off their 'sporting' ammunition division - police, personal - business as Vista Outdoor.

I think there is value in choosing to support private companies like Evoc, POC, TLD and yes, ironically Trek and Specialized, that still have founders or family involved and haven't been ravaged and chopped by corporate conglomerates - i.e. Bell, Smith, Oakley, GT, etc.
  • 1 0
 @skylerd: You're not far off, just flippedish. They sold Savage Arms back to Alliant.
  • 1 0
 I retract my above comment. I crossed the datelines on two separate stories.
  • 3 1
 @hirvi: Vulture capitalism in a nutshell
  • 6 0
 @motard5: your final point, choosing to support private companies is pretty narrowminded if you ask me.

The only difference between those companies, and companies like Bell, Smith Fox, Oakley etc is that the original owners of the brand decided to stick with it, and not cash in on the hard work they put in.

The 'private' companies you listed have all financed growth through banks - it's pretty much exactly the same as getting investment. The only difference is that you have to pay that money back, rather than giving up a % of your company. For some owners, they would rather cash out and not deal with the stress. I don't think that's a bad thing.

Behind almost EVERY cycling brand is a bunch of hard-working individuals that somehow stumbled into the bike industry and stayed because they want to help make/sell/market rad bike products. They aren't there for the money. They don't chose who owns their company - they don't chose what other companies that VC invests in.

Those same hard working people exist in Bell, Smith, Oakley, GT just like they do in Evoc, POC and TLD. Those people still have mortgages to pay families to feed... Just because the company they work for is owned by a VC does it mean that they shouldn't get your support? I think it's kinda unfair that you are asking people not to spend their $$$ with certain brands just because the original owners decided they wanted to sell...
  • 1 0
 @scary1: never get out of guns during a Republican cycle. What's next, getn out of bikes bc only Ebikers break laws?
  • 3 0
 @whaddasquid: sometimes a CEO of a private company can make more ethical but less profitable decisions that the board of a publicly owned company wouldn't allow. But who has time to research all this.
  • 33 0
 Coming in hot with that last sentence, eh?
  • 3 0
 No kidding.
  • 50 0
 Maybe the remaining employees shouldn’t be bringing any green bananas to work.
  • 18 0
 @whitebirdfeathers: I have never heard that expression before and it’s hilarious.
  • 3 0
 @PtDiddy: same, I had to say it out loud for a second...hah
  • 4 2
 Totally rude and I'm sure very unappreciated by the folks still there.
  • 3 4
 @jwrendenver: The last sentence or the banana joke? I doubt the employees care about either.

I have been at a job where we were getting laid off every Friday and eventually my Friday came. Having a sense of humor about it was one of the best ways for us to handle the stress. I wish I could go back just to use the banana joke. My coworkers would have laughed.

We are a culture of offended people these days. We get offended for others that aren't offended in the first place. It's really offensive to me.
  • 3 0
 @PtDiddy: You shouldn't be so offended.
  • 1 1
 @Grimes1405: I got down voted! now I am really offended!!! Sorry I have to go find my safe place. I'll be there for a while so I shall bring some green bananas.
  • 2 1
 @PtDiddy: No disrespect intended but your shtick sounds like every other aging comedian out there that is running out of jokes and pulling the "we're such a soft society" routine out for another spin. The last sentence of this article doesn't offend me, but it's also pretty uninspired.

That you doubt the employees care is fine, but you seem reasonable enough to acknowledge that maybe some do, and that the final sentence in this article is a bit silly.

For your next bit, make fun of millennials. They're soft AF.
  • 1 1
 @Grimes1405: Tough crowd.
  • 29 3
 10/10 would not hire this CEO to do PR for my company. As a born and raised southerner, I don’t even care about the gun thing. But this guys language smells of terrible leadership and is probably the reason they are in a bad enough situation as to need 14 less corporate positions.
  • 21 1
 I think the gun thing is indicative, at some level, of the way this company operates. They acquired the firearms manufacturers as a money making move, then ditched those companies so they could virtue signal. It's not like they had some change of heart over business practices or moral principles. Combined with this sort of language, it just makes me think he's a weasely type who tries to save face no matter what.
  • 1 0
 @trialsracer: couldn’t have said it better myself!
  • 10 0
 @trialsracer: it appears the firearms business was propping up the marquee brands Bell and Giro. 14 less jobs the price of doing business in California. The CEO is the one that needs to go......buck stops in his office. I hope the board of directors realize they need to ditch this idiot.
  • 8 0
 In a solid economy, when the brands you have managed have lost value and can’t run without purging staff, you are a crappy manager and definitely not a leader. I hope these great cycling brands can be freed of this idiot.
  • 1 0
 Is it just me or does this article appear to have been significantly edited from the time it was first posted yesterday?
Hoping the CEO doesn't run the brands into the ground.
  • 1 0
 @trialsracer: Not sure I can blame them for "virtue signaling" when people demanded they divest themselves of their firearm holdings and major distributors dropped them forcing their hand.. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Sounds like the cycling/outdoor segment of their portfolio was really the one on the chopping block when people started boycotting over their involvement in firearms, but had no takers. They were forced to sell the firearms portfolio in order to stay solvent, as that cash propped up the rest of the company. CEO may not be great, but it sounds like the choices were this, or let the whole boat sink, in my opinion, he made the correct decision.
  • 13 1
 Their CEO salary: www1.salary.com/Christopher-T-Metz-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-VISTA-OUTDOOR-INC.html

$6.1 million dollars last year.

Ho-ly
F*CK

CEO of a sporting goods company, making that kind of dough. America is severly broken.
  • 6 1
 @yakimonti thanks for posting this. Perfect. Eat the rich.
  • 7 0
 Yeah, with a reduction to a $4.1million salary, they could have afforded to keep all these 14 employees, and he'd still be living a luxurious lifestyle. I am not against entrepreneurs who create something experiencing huge enrichment, but in situations like this, I am always suspicious of how much value the CEO is actually contributing to an old an established and storied company. It often seems like it is more the old boys network of the board of directors simply doing some quid pro quo to keep each other rolling in dough.
  • 1 0
 He also appears to be a total muppet. How some of these people get into CEO positions is beyond me.
  • 12 0
 I'd be sad to see Blackburn go. A ton of their products are pretty unique in the space, almost the entire Outpost series is cool as heck.
  • 6 0
 Huge fan of Blackburn. Seeing them go backwards or go under would really suck.
  • 5 0
 @onemanarmy: Every Blackburn product I've had since the mid 90's still works. Just good, reliable stuff.
  • 7 1
 Man, this story just keeps getting more complicated. I don't think anybody at this point is naive enough to believe that this is all that's going on. Just a matter of time before we find out the next weird detail that Vista's been sitting on.
  • 9 0
 They make a nice product, sucks to hear this news. Wishing the best for those that got walking papers.
  • 5 0
 This is sad news. Laying off engineers that design helmets is a bad move for a helmet company. I’m guessing that’ll impact innovation at the very least. Shame, because my Bell Super DH is the best helmet I’ve ever owned. It’s my third helmet in that series and each has been better than the previous gen. They’ve protected me many times without suffering concussions. Even after cracking them upon impact resulted in no bodily injury or loss of cognition on any level. Really good helmets. Too bad people’s head safety is in the hands of corporate bean heads who know nothing about the equipment their companies actually make. Pathetic.
  • 1 0
 Even if the helmet brands aren't the core business of the parent company, helmets are the core of those brands. You only need to look at how much research investment is going into the brands that, to my knowledge, are showing the biggest growth. POC and Kali are writing the book on improved helmet standards, and other than incorporating MIPS, the Vista brands seem to have stagnated in their R&D. A total shame as I love my Sixer; its light, cool, comfy and I've yet to test it in anger, but I trust it to protect me from devastating my skull in case of an off.
  • 12 7
 Can one of my fellow countrymen please explain to me in a non confrontational and logical way why it is so important in this country to have unlimited access to guns and ammo? A quick look at statistics states over 30,000 gun deaths in the US annually. This is simply not viewed as a problem requiring any type of a political or law enforcement solution by numbers of our populace. 70,000+ opioid deaths? Problem. CEOs and other top officers of the companies that manufacture said opioids are currently embattled in court over the fact that in order to up the sales of opioids they’ve actually encouraged the sale of said drugs not caring where they end up. We have laws that prevent gun manufacturers from facing any such legal challenges. Other countries with stricter gun laws don’t face this issue and are certainly not ruled by tyrants. Tokyo is one of the most heavily populated cities on the planet yet 5-6 year olds take the subways to school by themselves with zero crimes committed against them. Australiain citizens voluntarily allowed the govt to buy back their assault weapons after one mass shooting. Haven’t had a problem since. New Zealand? Same deal. One crazed madman attacked worshipers in a mosque? Their done with guns. The Dutch are so safe that they can drop their kids off in the woods with a compass and an emergency phone in the dead of night and tell them to find their way back to camp. It’s a cultural ritual for them. Zero threat of violence. Let’s try that here in this country. Nope. What do these other societies have that we don’t? Sanity regarding access to guns. None of the above listed countries are ruled by dictators confiscating weapons. (That’s the argument so often given as to why we need our guns here. As if anyone wielding an AR15 could stand up to a pair of A-10 planes attacking their compound or whatever) We have a unique issue with guns and gun violence in this country. No other country has a problem with their schools getting shot up by gun wielding crazed students or madmen. It’s a uniquely American sport it seems. So if our govt. can’t do anything about it. A boycott seems the only answer. Yes I support REI decision in what they did. Doesn’t anyone see the irony that conglomerate that makes safety equipment has to use their division that makes weapons to prop up the sales of items designed to keep people safe?? I would argue that if you run your company correctly you should be able to sell enough helmets to stay in business. Bell helmets are excellent. I know I’ll just get snark and down votes. But honestly can someone answer me with logic and sense on this issue not vitriol? BTW my local school had an assault rifle shooting while my kids were attendant. I know of which I speak.
  • 5 3
 2nd amendment. please research the gun deaths that you point out......most are done with illegal guns by gangbangers. show me evidence of a LEGAL, LAWFUL gun owner with his own REFGISTERED gun killing someone (not in self defense). you can't. I would like to see fast cars, fast food, hammers, knives and prescription drugs outlawed first.....since those kill more poeple annually than ILLEGAL guns do. and by the way, the only item listed above that is a protect RIGHT, is to own a gun for self defense. the problem we have in this country is a lack of morals, ethics, a stable family unit, and god for bid I mention this.....religion. all of these contribute to a degredation of society and a lack of care, love and protection of human life. when you have libertard dumbocrats supporting aborition and saying it is ok, is the start of human beings caring for and holding sacred, human life.
  • 3 2
 @bigbird: I will contradict you on this, even in the US if you are going to be murdered it is most likely to be by by your intimate partner. When those people have guns they murder with guns. Most/many are legal guns owned by people who are not career criminals in any way. I don't know if banning assault weapons would make any difference for this type of killing, it often happens in the US with handguns people have for self defense or sporting long guns.
I do agree with Fattyheadshock that an army of concerned citizens coming out of the mountains armed with AR15 copies is not going to successful confront a modern military.
Badly spelled, capitalized name calling in a post is often as sign the reasoned debate is not on the agenda though.
  • 4 3
 @bigbird: Who cares how the guns are acquired or if they are registered? Easy access to guns, WAY too many guns, and guns capable of mass shootings are the problem, weather legally or illegally acquired. And no, most gun deaths are not gangbangers with illegal guns. Nearly 2/3 of gun deaths are actually suicides. Funny you mention religion, as most western countries with MUCH lower gun violence are actually much LESS religious that the US. Don't you think it's a problem that the second leading cause of death for children is guns? I sure do!
  • 7 1
 ~2/3 of the deaths are suicides. Many more are accidental deaths. Then homicides, mostly young males in city centers related to other crimes.

What is not reported on is the number of legally possessed guns used for self defense that doesn't result in a shooting. That has happened to me, there's a very good chance 3 guys would've beat the crap out of me for the crime of being in their neighborhood while walking my dog. They didn't, because the skinny unassuming guy happened to be a former cop carrying a pistol.

Owning firearms is a constitutionally protected right. Try to whittle that away as much as possible, and you can replace it with pressure cooker bombs or heavy trucks driven in pedestrian areas.
  • 5 2
 Okay simple non confrontational answer: IT'S NOT A GUN ISSUE. IT'S A MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE. And until we get health care like the rest of the civilized world the problem will continue.
  • 4 2
 SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED
  • 3 1
 @tooladdict: So why then do people keep fighting against laws that would help reduce the amount of guns that are legally being sold to people with mental health issues? Also it is a gun issue.
  • 2 0
 Majority (almost 2/3 of gun deaths are suicides - this is the biggest issue). I see it as a mental health issue. What you see in the media is a huge movement to ban assault style weapons (rifles for further classification) which according to the FBI caused 374 deaths in 2016. For comparison knifes and sharp instruments caused 1604 deaths. Look at the stats and do not rely on media for your only source. If you further dig into the stats you will find that gun deaths (minus suicides) are a very small portion of deaths in this country (they just happen to get the most coverage). Opioid use, traffic accidents, heart failure etc have much much higher rates of death. I am a firm believer in the 2nd amendment, it is a major reason we have the country we live in today. The government should enforce the laws on the books correctly not create more useless laws(hint - they don't always, especially when it comes to background checks). I think it would be one thing if we never had guns, but we do and they are very important to the protection of this country.
  • 2 3
 @bigbird: Right to bear arms was already guaranteed by other means in the Bill of Rights. The 2nd Amendment was actually added to ensure that certain segments of 'society' would be armed and able to kill indigenous peoples and escaped slaves and to protect the interests of the wealthy and powerful who were busy exploiting the new country.
  • 1 1
 Your school didn't have an assault rifle shooting, it had a regular rifle shooting. It might have had an assault person shooting, but the rifle was just a regular one. By definition, an assault rifle is a select-fire weapon designed for combat. Modern semi-auto rifles are for sporting use, regardless of how "scary" they look.

Not trying to diminish the atrocity of the crime committed, just trying to educate people on correct firearm terminology.
  • 18 11
 Should had held onto Savage Arms. One of the top producers and sales in the US.
  • 7 3
 Our populace continues to ignore the fact that our beloved government and their 'don't let the door hit you in the ass' attitude towards business, continues to elect and re-elect the same raging a*sholes over and over and over, who in turn purposely lose big business taxes, and place that burden on us, the idiotic citizenship. We in turn show them how much we dislike this way of governing, by again, electing, and re-electing the same pricks over and over again.
I guess it'll take a lot more of us losing our jobs over this, before we finally pull our collective heads out of our asses and do something about it
  • 4 0
 I am very truly sorry for the 14 employees who lost their jobs. I hope they received awesome severance packages and help in future endeavors. For those who say it was because of a certain retailer, note that Vista outdoors’ main revenue is not from cycling products, but firearms related products (ammunition, cleaning equipment, optics, and soft goods). I hope Vista can find new ownership for their cycling brands so that Bell, Giro, and Blackburn can grow and Vista can focus on its profit centers. Disclaimer: I thoroughly enjoy mountain biking and shooting sports.
  • 9 6
 They sold off SFA because a unnamed, outdoor, megabehemouth retailer dropped the bike brands until they were out of guns. Not too hard to figure out who the behemouth is.....
  • 2 0
 Just say it...REI dropped them. As soon as they sold the fire arms division, REI welcomed them back within hours.
  • 18 13
 i bet those 14 employees won't be shopping at REI in the future. i really didn't like that strongarm move.
  • 9 7
 why the negs? are there peeps that liked REI's move?
  • 1 0
 @savagelake: Im not a fan of REI's move to ban brands that have anything to do with guns or the gun industry. Some of the biggest outdoor brands got wrapped up in this just because they are associated with hunting....and they don't even sell weapons or parts for them. Lame, REI is turning into a very left granola eating company. Sad actually, i used to really love REI but it has faded for me over the years. Also for Vista to do this just to appease REI may be a bad move in the long run.
  • 4 0
 ooof.... I'm old enough to remember back when Bell was basically the only helmet company out there people knew about.. motorcycle and eventually bicycle.
  • 1 0
 Skid Lid!
  • 3 1
 Just purchased a Bell Super DH helmet from Jenson. Hearing about lays off tells me it’s going to be last Bell or Giro product that I buy. Less engineers means less R&D and dated products. Fire the CEO or cut his/her salary never touch your engineers. Good bye Bell and Giro.

Stupid companies try to cut cost yet instead destroying their one key asset!
  • 3 0
 Many of the favorite brands out there do not have in-house engineers or ID people. Or if they do they're there to essentially approve ideas and do project direction because they can't handle it all by themselves. Many of them outsource. Example... Fox.

Even fewer have on-site testing abilities. An even fewer have testing abilities to the scale of Bell/Giro.

Beyond that... these companies are working on stuff 2-3 years before it comes out. That means the engineers you're supporting by buying that DH are could have been gone for a year or two.... or the ones there already produced products for the next few year. Or better yet... maybe they didn't lay off any engineers.

See what I'm getting at here? You're choosing to not support a brand when you really have zero idea wtf is really going on.
  • 2 0
 I've never been to a graveyard yet and read a headstone that said I wish I spent more time at work. Hopefully all these people that lost their jobs enjoy their free time and find a better way to make money without being a slave to the system.
  • 1 0
 How do you know that these people didn't love their jobs?


All the assumption in these comments is almost comical at this point.
  • 6 1
 Should have stuck to their guns
  • 11 7
 Last American to leave California, please bring the flag!
  • 11 5
 You mean the American flag right? Leave California in California! Razz
  • 9 7
 Build a wall around California!
  • 4 5
 but leave their commie, socialist ideals IN commiefornia.
  • 4 2
 I'm retiring to the Santa Cruz area (near Scott Valley) next year. It's an awesome place--rugged coast, redwoods, perfect weather and some of the best riding around. Btw, CA is the 5th-largest GDP in the world, so we're doing fine!
  • 1 2
 @dirtvert: 5th largest in the world, and homeless litter the streets,
  • 1 2
 @Bman39: send all the illegals and homeless to California. They’re fine!
  • 1 0
 @Bman39: Really? All the streets?! 15% of those are vets. Many others are homeless because of health/mental issues. Are you hating on them? Most big cities have a lot of homeless. CA just has the weather to allow them to survive year round.
  • 1 0
 @dirtvert: it has nothing to do with your politicians promising free everything, that could not be it , , just so happens , the big cities where its epidemic are all deep democratic control , that's a fact,
  • 12 12
 I’m truly sorry for those people losing their jobs but I refuse to buy stuff from a company that’s linked to a gun company specially leaving in SoFlo where gun violence in schools is getting out of hand. Y’all might argue that that is not the company’s fault what people do w their products but they are pushing back on restrictions and new laws against guns so yeah they are responsible for this as well.
  • 8 14
flag mtbikeaddict (Jul 24, 2019 at 19:59) (Below Threshold)
 I must've missed this, was a Savage used in one of the major shootings?
  • 1 0
 Poor management, nothing else. The outdoor recreation market is booming and Vista is not benefiting from it. Look at Merdia's stock, Fox's stock, Yeti's stock, etc. They're all making a killing. Vista stuck in the dust.
  • 2 1
 To this 14 employess who were laid off, please contact me we are really looking to hire your kind of profile soon in our new company which is on to launch very interesting products into this range of market.
  • 3 3
 WOW! The MOB made their voice heard and made the lives of 14 people (unrelated to gun violence) more difficult!

How brave...

The 2nd amendment is on its last breath! Only 393,000,000 guns to collect and Utopia will be achieved.
  • 2 0
 amen brother!
  • 1 0
 Yeh love how that works, boycotting the small company's to hurt the big company. Small company employees get layoffs and possibly lose great products said employees had a hand in providing to the public! The ones paying the price are the employees and any outdoor enthusiasts that used their products.
  • 1 0
 It is like stabbing yourself in the back
  • 2 0
 That's 14 people this round. Not counting the ones that happened in the last 1-2 years... and possibly the next 1 or 2 rounds. Doesn't say they're not finished laying people off. I said this when all this news first broke and all the sheep in this comment section were talking about it being awesome. And F guns. And F bell and all that amazing stuff. I said then that the people being effected would be the employees that need these jobs. Looks like I might have been on to something.
  • 1 0
 I love how all of my bell helmets fit. My recently purchased carbon motocross helmet fits equally well. I also like the recent Fasthouse graphics. Bummer to think the core of the company in in turmoil.
  • 1 2
 @seraph same! Love Bell/Giro, please don't hurt them! Big Grin . My Giro Hex is a miracle, and my Transfer... Fab Very few people have any idea how hard it is to find something that even somewhat fits my huge oddly shaped head.
  • 1 0
 Read the linked article. They literary summarized the quote from Dan Robins the "Head of Marketing". I'd say thats a pretty decent fact check...
  • 1 0
 Wonder how much of the Stevens/Savage staff got let go under their new ownership...
  • 2 0
 Always looking for good people at the bike shop...
  • 1 0
 This really sounds like someone who is connected to the bike scene and cares what is happening...not.
  • 1 0
 Already knew it was a shit group, it's confirmed. Sad for the employees and the bike brands.
  • 1 0
 Holy moderated comments Batman! What happened to half the threads in here from yesterday?
  • 1 0
 What sort of threads seem to be missing? Were there any common themes? I am just curious as to what viewpoints or attitudes PB is trying to discourage.
  • 3 0
 Looks like part of the article was updated as well.
  • 1 0
 @thekaiser: The article was updated and the tone is slightly different. Especially since they took out the response from REI.

Most of the comments were pro/anti gun bickering. Although it seems as though more of the pro-2A comments have been removed or just whole threads deleted, which was probably easier. Some of the top comments appeared reasonable support for guns, which quickly became a sh#t show.
  • 9 9
 itd be a shame if Giro and Bell went out of business, some of the helmet work they do is very ‘impactful’.
  • 7 2
 FFS, can we please MIPS the puns in the bud for once?
  • 1 0
 I have to say that these comments are great in various ways.
  • 5 4
 FOX SHOX should purchase Giro.
  • 2 1
 All the while...the CEO gets a raise... speculation of course
  • 1 0
 California hippies, , better find a new strain.
  • 3 6
 they still make ammo, i'm still not buying their products.
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