Santa Cruz CEO Joe Graney Out at Pon Holdings

Jan 25, 2024 at 10:12
by Brian Park  
Joe Graney at Santa Cruz Bicycles. Photo provided by Santa Cruz.
Joe Graney at Santa Cruz in 2015. Photo: Santa Cruz.

Multiple sources familiar with the situation have confirmed to us that Joe Graney, the CEO of Santa Cruz Bicycles and COO of Pon's North American bike operations no longer holds those positions.

Reportedly Folkert Lamsvelt, President and CEO of Pon's Pacific Cycle Inc and VP of Pon's bike lifestyle brands, has been tipped as his successor. We are told that Joe will remain in the Pon orbit in an advisory capacity for a period of time.

We're still working out some of the details, but this is a seismic shock in the bike industry. Joe Graney has had a massive impact on the sport, driving the product direction of Santa Cruz and helping lead its ascent from scrappy upstart to one of the biggest mountain bike brands in the world. He's an industry veteran, from his early days as an engineer at Trek, joining Santa Cruz as a contract engineer in the early 2000s, rising through the ranks to COO before being promoted to CEO in 2016. In 2015 Santa Cruz was bought by Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings, and he took on the additional role of COO Pon's North American bike business.

We've reached out to Joe, Folkert, Pon, and Santa Cruz for comment but have not heard back by publication time. This is a developing story and we will update as more information comes to light.

Author Info:
brianpark avatar

Member since Dec 29, 2010
215 articles
Must Read This Week
Bike Check: Evan Wall's Haro Greer Prototype Enduro Bike
45404 views
Pinkbike Poll: Riser Bar or Extra Spacers Under the Stem?
42385 views
First Ride: Canyon Neuron:ONfly - a Lighter 140mm eMTB
40775 views
Review: Zerode G3 - A Belt Driven, Gearbox Equipped DH Bike
37291 views
Sam Hill Says He's Not Done With Racing
31091 views
YT Industries Announces Vans Collaboration
28848 views
Amer Sports Sells ENVE to Utah-Based Private Investment Firm
22275 views
Video: Greek BMXer George Ntavoutian Rides World's Largest Full Vertical Bike Loop
21183 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup

171 Comments
  • 223 4
 Incoming CEO talks to the outgoing CEO. Outgoing CEO says "If you ever get in trouble, there are three envelopes with instructions in the top desk drawer. Good luck." Trouble eventually happens and the Incoming CEO opens the first envelope which reads "Blame the previous CEO". Later down the road more trouble happens, so he opens the second envelope that reads "Take the blame yourself." Finally, another incident happens and he opens the third envelope which reads "Make Three Envelopes".
  • 35 7
 In Soviet Russia, bikes ride YOU
  • 8 7
 Original quote is from the movie Traffic.
  • 14 0
 @Jamminator: it actually predates that by decades, typically with a story about Russian politics (hence my joke). Here's an example from 1982: www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/01/15/a-tale-of-two-letters/e1f65aa4-66ce-4991-8a1b-840fc6956766
  • 3 0
 @tbmaddux: yea my dad told me this story in the 70s
  • 140 9
 8 years as CEO/BU Head of a giant publicly treaded company is a hell of a run. Kudos.
  • 28 46
flag lowkeyokeydokey (Jan 25, 2024 at 10:54) (Below Threshold)
 I'm pretty sure Santa Cruz beat specialized, trek and giant in MTB sales for a few of those years so super kudos on that as well.
  • 58 0
 FYI Pon is not publicly traded.
  • 12 46
flag wolftwenty1 FL (Jan 25, 2024 at 11:09) (Below Threshold)
 @parallaxid: close enough.
  • 46 2
 @wolftwenty1: not really. Being publicly traded exposes you to far greater scrutiny and pressure. Regardless, helluva a run.
  • 20 3
 @lowkeyokeydokey: I would be blown away if that were true.
  • 56 1
 @lowkeyokeydokey: not a chance they out sold any of those brands.
  • 40 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey: Perhaps in specific segments, but SC don't have any of the entry level, high volume models the really big brands sell. There's no way they outsold Trek, Spesh or Giant overall.
  • 37 12
 @notsosikmik: Total units, no way. But for high end mountain bikes (>$5,000 USD retail) absolutely. Santa Cruz has been quietly eating everyone's lunch in that category for over a decade, Specialized and Trek very much included. The widespread idea that SC is even remotely a niche brand has zero basis in reality.

Graney leaving signals the final step in the transition to a completely different era for Santa Cruz. A sincere thanks to the man for always vocally calling it like he sees it. The brand will be diminished in his absence.
  • 7 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey: unfortunately I'd have to disagree. All of the big 3 produce a gigantic amount of mtbs. Basic entry level hard tails and flashy paint and suspension forks kids use to smash down steps are still one of the highest earners for a brand.

Zero r&d or advertising and the bikesare guaranteed to sell atChristmas
  • 6 9
 @notsosikmik: @ratedgg13 @Fix-the-Spade They outsold some (if not all) of the big 3 in the US MTB market at least two years. They by no means came close to total sales revenue across platforms or global sales in the MTB market, but I do know they won out a couple years here in the US. This is circa 2018/17, I haven't really been in the loop since then though
  • 7 2
 @DirtCrab: when are we gonna start seeing SC hybrid e-bikes for commuters, cruisers for the country club, and single speed 42 : 10 kids bikes with coaster brakes. C’mon PON you know you want to
  • 13 0
 @chacou:https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-US/bikes/skitch

They are already there.
  • 2 0
 @scnorcal: I'm thinking more like www.specialized.com/us/en/roll-30-low-entry/p/216879?color=349803-216879 or www.specialized.com/us/en/riprock-coaster-20/p/200230?color=322153-200230&searchText=96520-6009
so much market opportunity
  • 1 0
 @chacou @scnorcal: lol that's perfect. The other burning question: does the Jackal finally get dropped from the line, or does it get replaced as some weird e-dirt jumper? Inquiring minds demand answers!
  • 6 1
 @lowkeyokeydokey: Maybe in US market, but definitely not in global market, and even then likely only in high end sales as noted by @DirtCrab and @Fix-the-Spade
  • 13 2
 @ratedgg13: this statement is absolutely true for mid to high end MTBs according to the last data I saw. Santa Cruz has outsold Trek, Specialized, and everyone else in the $3300+ MTB segment for 5ish years if not more, in the US at least.

The others have been playing catchup for YEARS and Santa Cruz has still been brilliantly marketing themselves as some scrappy underdog with actual brand culture.
  • 2 1
 @ratedgg13: Yeah, my bad for not being more specific.
  • 1 0
 @scnorcal: the flat bar skitch is perfect.
  • 17 8
 @lowkeyokeydokey:


"they outsold Trek, Spesh and Giant!!"
"well, they outsold them on the expensive bikes"
"well, they outsold them on the expensive bikes, sold in the US"

to win your argument you're going to get to the point of "they outsold them on the expensive bikes, sold in the US, with the first letter of the bike model being an H"
  • 8 1
 @biker245: Again, two comments above yours, my bad for not being more specific.
  • 1 0
 @wolftwenty1:
  • 9 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey and others it's probably a moot point and we'll never know. Even if SC didn't outsell the other big brands, the work that Joe and others did can't be described as anything less than spectacularly successful. Look at all the other bike brands trying to raise their heads above water and become a sustainable business, through decades of shifts from good times to bad times, and it's clear there just aren't many seats at the table for the $2500+ MTB market. And that's the amazing accomplishment that should be noted - Santa Cruz definitely is one of the top 5 in that arena, and was able to do what 10's of others bike brands couldn't. I hope Joe lands somewhere that can appreciate his talents!
  • 2 3
 @lowkeyokeydokey: If that's the case, I wonder why their bikes were always on blowout sales every year then...........
  • 16 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey @DirtCrab Genuine question here, how do you know that? Revenue or units? How are you privy to that info? Working as an economist with a multimillion dollar research budget at publicly-traded company tracking our publicly-traded competitors I have a hell of a time getting this kind of info. The best we get is approximate revenue and units for our competitors based on modeling our own data against incomplete POS data and whatever we can scrape. I’m surprised that with apparent certainty you know with category specific accuracy what units and revenue are for a collection of private bike brands.
  • 2 1
 @lowkeyokeydokey: was @lowkeydokey already taken?
  • 12 2
 @Hayek: This data is available from what was called NPD and is now Circana. They pull actual sales data from many participating retailers and then make it available via report format to the industry. Retailers that participate get it free, brands have to pay a subscription fee. You can segment by bike class and price point to see that yes, Santa Cruz was quite the heavyweight in the full suspension MTB segment over $3000 for many years now, punching waaay above what people would expect. www.circana.com/industry-expertise/sports
  • 11 1
 @bicycle019: Circana is the POS data I referenced above. Hundreds of thousands of my research budget annually goes to the crap shoot that is their data. Participating wholesale retailers sell their data to Circana, but that doesn’t include a dime of DTC revenue data, includes some but not all of the thousands of small speciality shops, etc. It is a drop in the bucket (40% for my org) of a brand’s overall sales unless they sell directly in traditional retail channels. Then we have to work with Circana’s product architecture which is vastly different than our own and our competitor’s. We have to deal with the incompleteness of this data on a daily basis. It’s something, but it’s nothing we can take at face value.
  • 16 0
 Must have been hell indeed. As a bike lover from The Netherlands, I hate the PON Group. They were originally a car company, not giving a fuck about bicycles - and with their influence in the car lobby directly negatively impacting cyclists. It's only when they saw some potential profit to be made from it that they started to work themselves in that market. It's a soulless, big greedy company, who still don't like cycling but don't mind profiting from it. Buying up nice businesses and robbing them from their soul too, as in this instance. Fuck them.
  • 1 0
 @Hayek: They get market share analysis, those are not derived from financial reports but coming from "marketing" reports , means sourced from the market - retailers, dealers and then extrapolated into market shares reports. Always shown as volume, value and per segment / per region. They are done by companies like Nielsen etc. and then manufacturers are buying them.
  • 1 1
 @Hayek: I was working for some of their competitors at that time.
  • 4 0
 @Hayek: Agree that DTC sales are not captured by the Circana/NPD data, lucky for the US bike industry that until recently it's been a pretty brick and mortar focused business for the complete bike category. Their reporting has been that SC has been one of the top brands in the FS bike category for many years now. I would not take their total $ sales that Circana/NPD report as fact but the relation of #1 to #2 and #3 is pretty good. Like you I have spent many years as a power user of their data and know the limitations of it. Wink I do feel confident agreeing with the assessment that SC is not the small boutique brand they are often portrayed as.
  • 2 0
 @Hayek: From 2012-2020 I worked in marketing for THE world's largest SC dealer. It's also the largest dealer for a number of other high end brands you know. Info on total SC units sold comes from multiple annual sales meetings with SC execs. Info on Trek/Spesh is drawn from my former employer's internal reporting, and confirmed through the grapevine against sales data from employees working in dealer support for both companies. NDAs prevent me from saying much more about this.

Like any dataset, mine is also incomplete. But it's neither speculation nor pulled from publicly available information.
  • 2 0
 @WhateverBikes: It can work surprisingly well having dead-eyed grifters as owners. Ohlins is improbably owned by Tenneco, the car exhaust outfit that previously bought and ruined Marzocchi. Maybe Tenneco learned a bit, and maybe Ohlins had more muscle.
  • 1 0
 @Fribble: There will always be exceptions I guess.
But usually things only change for the worse. There's a reason most of the times the original owners leave the company that bought them after a short while.
  • 71 1
 For more on the story check out the website Ponhub.com
  • 3 0
 *Fap Clap* Nice one
  • 5 6
 unless you're in a handful of US states which the site is currently blocked in...
  • 65 11
 I am pondering when his replacement will cruz into the office
  • 44 2
 Who knows, right now it's all a Blur.
  • 51 6
 @moabenchilada: they should hire a woman for CEO, not another tall boy.
  • 19 3
 I guess they are going to try to PON him off to another company.
  • 16 2
 Sad to see he will no longer be in his Hightower overlooking the company....
  • 18 2
 Surely will get heckled
  • 14 2
 Hopefully he’s not sent off with a Bullit
  • 19 2
 he took the Bullit for the team...
  • 7 2
 @succulentsausage: How about a Juliana if they don’t have any stigma(s).
  • 7 1
 If he had a Nickel for every boardroom coup he had to defend.
  • 6 1
 I've got nothing for Tazmon.
  • 2 0
 I wonder if Graney will hand over the keys to the company Roadster.
  • 1 1
 @succulentsausage: Juliana?
  • 10 0
 After a pretty Super 8 years, I’m sure he’ll have no problem getting his next gig
  • 7 0
 Now the old CEO must wander the earth like a nomad
  • 4 0
 @slow-cal: He will take some time off to Ponder what to do with his time.
  • 2 0
 @mi-bike: and have a highball
  • 1 0
 He was a true Maverick in the women’s bike biz
  • 5 0
 @suspended-flesh: Me Tazmon, you Jane.
  • 2 0
 It was only a matter of time before the Jackals got him
  • 3 0
 I heard their old management structure was pretty top heavy, now it's going to be Superlight.
  • 2 0
 He should have hid in plain sight like a Chameleon
  • 1 0
 @rivercitycycles: How about that girl named Joplin? I think her first name was, err, Janis?
  • 1 0
 @beermtb: Now that's original !, Lol.
  • 1 0
 @beermtb: Dang it! lol
  • 1 0
 Sounds like they’re really biting the Bullit
  • 2 0
 I wonder whether the news will be Syndicated, or just CC'd in a memo?
  • 1 0
 I hear the neighborhood Butcher is really going to miss him.
  • 41 1
 Thanks for the memories Joe. You've been huge driving force in getting us to where we are now and we'll do our best to keep a light grip on the bars and let the momentum carry us forward. All the best in your next endeavors.
  • 56 17
 Pinkbike headlines making this seem like some big ousting. Dude has been at the company for 23 years, CEO for 8, 3 of which were in the absolute chaos caused by COVID. It seems way more likely he stepped away. I'd be stoked if I ever made it anywhere for 23 years.
  • 29 14
 Why the positivity? Santa Cruz has laid off so many veteran employees in the last few years. Plus Minnaar.
  • 2 0
 Especially in the bike industry!
  • 12 3
 @GTscoob: Judging someone (or a company) on how things have gone after the single-most disruptive event in the bike industry over the last 30+ years and not it's other 30 years of history seems a bit narrow of a focus.

The positivity is because I like the brand and all of the people I've met involved with it.
  • 7 0
 www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2024/01/25/santa-cruz-ceo-joe-graney-stepping-down-ceo

Looks like he stepped down
  • 3 2
 @rockandride6: I don't disagree in principle but the people they laid off were folks they shouldn't have. I'm talking senior staff that had been with them for a decade or more. This seemed in line with that shift.

I liked the brand too but it's not the same brand anymore. The people that built the brand are gone, Graney was the last.
  • 4 0
 @rockandride6: How dare you make a positive comment here!
  • 1 0
 @b1001: Maybe theres a gig going at NORCO?
  • 9 0
 @b1001: Yes, it's never been a scenario where someone is terminated but allowed to say they left.
  • 14 2
 @b1001: CEO's generally don't 'step down'
  • 2 2
 @rockandride6: OTOH any damage the bike industry suffured/is suffering is totally self inflicted.
  • 4 1
 @opignonlibre: I would assume you’re not in the bike industry? Because that’s completely false. I assume you’re speaking to the narrative that everyone got greedy, over ordered, and now they’re stuck with inventory.

While I can’t speak for every brand, I can say that for those where I know people (specialized, Ibis, Santa Cruz, BMC) that’s not really what happened. Sure, some people probably forecasted incorrectly that the bike boom would continue, but the larger issues were the delays due to supply chain, then everything coming at once. When you order components for bikes that don’t show up for 18 months, stuff goes sideways when it does finally arrive and the market has changed. That hardly feels self inflicted.
  • 2 0
 @stephenthesquirrel: maybe not in the UK? It’s happened twice at companies I’ve worked for. People get burnt out. Money can only make putting up with stuff worthwhile for so long.
  • 5 0
 @GTscoob: I suppose, but there are still quite a few people who have been there for 10-15+ years (even a few at 20+ years) so to now trash the brand seems a disservice to those who are left and trying to hold it down. And yes, for full disclosure I do have long-time friends who work there.
  • 2 0
 @b1001: so "parts ways" would have been a more accurate headline
  • 2 3
 but it prolly is. greg out guess why. they dont replt to the biggest mtb publication. and when sc sold out to pon they said its fine because they will keep the crew as per contract so sc will stay the same. so i can only assume the contract expired and now sc is really pons and theyre a financial company to make a return on investment and done. tldr in 2-3 dark days for sc.
  • 28 2
 I'm hoping that this was Joe just going... hey I'm paid out, let's go enjoy the rest of my life. And not a case of Pot asking him to do something he didn't believe in... like massive layoffs and him telling them I want out before you do that.

Joe will be a big loss to that company. Santa Cruz is known for taking care of their employees. It's a great place to work. That's why so many people stay there for so long.

But with Joe out and Rob out and Minnaar out, it could be very easy for SC to lose its way. My hopes is that PON is not panicking and doesn't start messing with SC too much. They will destroy the brand. There's no way the GT/Cannondale purchase is looking very good right now.
  • 37 7
 I’d say SC lost a lot of those traits several years ago. I don’t view them any differently than Trek or Specialized.
  • 3 2
 @shredddr: spot on
  • 11 3
 @shredddr: yep. You can't be everything all at once. Bugatti doesn't make budget friendly SUVs. If they did, they wouldn't have the same identity (even if the name/branding was the same)

Santa Cruz chased the volume, "commodity" MTB market, and succeeded in the short term; Trek/Specialized/Giant are still on top of the hill though.

I foresee massive integrations with other Pon brands to compete: at the moment the dealer base and business operations are both completely fragmented.

Joe's departure will be a huge blow for keeping SCB assembly in Santa Cruz.
The Pacific Cycle group's new *1.1 MILLION sq. ft.* facility in Georgia will offer huge tax & operational cost savings, which will be irresistible to corporate bureaucrats who build their careers on fixing companies they broke.
www.georgia.org/press-release/cannondale-double-georgia-workforce-open-state-art-assembly-facility-effingham-county
  • 12 0
 They already have laid off a huge percentage of their workforce very quietly, many of which were instructed not to talk about it, also closed the morzine HQ and axed most of their athletes, I wouldn’t surprise me if Joe had been asked to leave too
  • 2 1
 @blcpdx: they’d be wise to not under estimate the value of passionate workers and over estimate new factories. They’d also be wise to not overestimate cost savings by shifting to Georgia.

There is a ton of competition for workers in Georgia and they jump between factories based on pay. It’s expensive to train other people employees.
  • 19 0
 Hope it wasn’t an executive firing because he couldn’t sustain the “promises of unprecedented growth” set during the Great COVID Bike Bubble. I fear a lot of people are losing their jobs to those pipe dreams.
  • 7 0
 Maybe he's realised he's at the top of the mountain and the next few years are going to be full downhill. It's as good a time as any to get out of the business.
  • 3 0
 @Fix-the-Spade: In this business all you want is to go downhill.
  • 26 7
 Fire the GOAT and get the horns ( at least karmically)
  • 15 4
 "We are told that Joe will remain in the Pon orbit in an advisory capacity for a period of time"

This is just a way to spread out the amount they are paying him in his buyout. He wont be doing anything meaningful for the company going forward.
  • 4 2
 You are not wrong. They essentially did the same thing with Rob. It's a transitionary period so they can onboard a replacement and pay out slower. LOL!
  • 6 1
 @onemanarmy: nah, Rob sold the company, made multi-millions, and wanted to stay on as a contractor

Joe was "just" an employee.
  • 1 0
 @peebeejay: True. A very key one. Dudes been there for over 20 years.
  • 12 0
 Folkert Lamsvelt's prior responsibilities:

Pacific Cycle Inc & Pon Lifestyle : Schwinn, Mongoose, InStep (bike trailers), BBB Cycling
  • 16 1
 Maybe we can get some of that Schwinn technology integrated into SC bikes. Like resistance welded frames made of pig iron, those wheels with four paired spokes and a gap and a 26” wheel size that only fits Schwinn tires (ISO 37-597 in the house!)
I also see a lot of opportunity for cross marketing. V10 Barbie edition? Trolls Nomad? High Tower Blippie edition? God, the possibilities are endless.
  • 5 1
 that's fking depressing. RIP Santa Cruz. going the way of Kona then. had a good run. Chase those casuals with your cheaply made ebikes and commodity SRAM parts packages.
  • 1 0
 www.bicycleretailer.com/recalls/2024/01/25/pacific-cycle-recalls-e-bike-models-because-wiring-harness-defect

Looks like ol’ Folkert may have his hands full.
  • 12 2
 Santa Cruz stopped being a niche/core brand years ago when they first sold out. Get in bed w/ BIG holding companies, this is what happens. Get rid of the founders, riders and people that made it what it was. That said, They still pump out some great product of which I would like a new V-10 and a Skitch and now that they are a BIG Brand I'd prefer an SC over a Spesh, Giant or Trek any day of the week.
  • 2 0
 Im with ya as soon as they start pricing like a big brand.
  • 6 0
 Niche and Core brands mean two totally different things. SC is definitely a "core" brand like Giant, Specialized, and Trek. I.e. brands that people who don't know much about bikes have heard of. Niche brands would be...Spot, Reeb, Alchemy... small brands.
  • 1 0
 @aphollis: I think it may be perceived as niche from broader perspective, not only MTB but from cycling brands. SC is one of a few who does not enter into road bikes where volumes are multiple times bigger and therefore may be perceived as niche at bicycles market.
  • 11 0
 Super thankful to Joe for supporting bringing Jackson to Santa Cruz and being so approachable and friendly. Always the first guy to text congratulations after races.

Hope he enjoys time off, ( and not running 6 brands)
  • 14 1
 YIKES. Pon being Pon?
  • 8 1
 In late 2020, I finally broke the upper linkage fastener on the rear triangle of my 2015 Tallboy, and never got the broken part out of the insert. I called SC, they said give it to a bike shop, if they can’t get it right, we’ll give you a frame at cost since we don’t have any frame parts for a 2015.
No one wanted to even try, I broke big screw extractors trying to get it out myself, got nowhere. So, no actual proof short of my story.

I wrote an email with the complete timeline of events, including pics, and they sent me a 2021 Tallboy Carbon CC to replace my “C” for free!
This is the kind of frame replacement SC is known for. Would I expect this kind of treatment again? At this point, no.
  • 9 0
 Now he can post on RideMonkey again instead of just lurking. Welcome back Joe!
  • 2 0
 LOL
  • 9 0
 This post just prompted me to check Forum 19 for the first time in years. It warms my heart to see so many of the same folks still passionately complaining about new bikes and hoarding obsolete components. It's got to be the best informed and most talented group of contrarian cranks on the MTB internet. Despite how this sounds, that's sincere, not sarcastic!
  • 2 0
 @DirtCrab: oh shit, thanks for helping me find my people! I feel like I just found out I’m adopted.
  • 1 0
 @FatSanch: can you point me in the right direction? I’m having trouble finding it. I may need this in my life.
  • 2 0
 @Rageingdh: ridemonkey.com
The "DH" forum is the only one we actually use. If you're under 35yo try to hide it...
  • 1 0
 @lelandjt: awesome, thanks! I’m 48, been riding bikes since I was 4.
  • 8 0
 Leading 5 or more companies has got to take a toll on you. Hopefully, he gets some time to relax and enjoy the bikes he made
  • 10 2
 So he's going to be a Nomad moving to a new company?
  • 10 1
 No need to be a Heckler
  • 7 1
 @heyj: His last few months have been a Blur
  • 5 1
 My guess is he took a Bullitt for the rest of his team
  • 4 0
 He’s flying 5010
  • 8 0
 Thanks for making lovely bikes. Enjoy Barcelona.
  • 12 6
 Routine reminder that santa cruz is not the boutique brand They proclaim to be but another mass production from China company. Who do not deserve the price tag.
  • 4 4
 They own their production, unlikely most companies who all come out of a handful of factories in China and Vietnam. SCs factory only.l makes bikes for SC..their pricing is also totally on-line with most other major brands. You're thinking of yeti...
  • 2 1
 What aphollis said, and they stand behind their product and help customers more than any company this side of Ibis. I don't expect this to change because it's their bedrock.
  • 4 0
 Big loss for Pon. Interested to hear the full story. This is the reality of working for a giant billion $ global corp - market forces which are way out of your control could signal the end for you.
  • 6 0
 Longshot, but I'm available if the PON guy doesn't use enough corporate buzzwords to keep the investors happy.
  • 5 0
 Never a good sign when the technical / engineering people who lead it are pushed out and replaced by the accountants / project managers / lawyers…
  • 6 0
 Cool. The SC's I have now will likely be the last ones.
  • 1 0
 Yaaaah. PON is actively whitewashing core bike industry brands, erasing the core culture that built them in pursuit of turning them into soul-less profit machines. Brands like Cannondale and GT were fully gutted after the pandemic bubble burst as they chopped teams off at the ankles by quiet-quitting a large portion of longer term higher cost employees, and subsequently 'lost' many more. It's a real shame, and looks like the corporate overlords could now be gunning now for Santa Cruz. Waiting for news that they're moving HQ to some obscure locale for cost-savings, because Santa Cruz County cost of living is too high.
  • 6 0
 Off to Norco?
  • 2 0
 Remaining in "PONs orbit" is a shitty way of corporate saying you have to still work here and train your replacement before we give you a severance. Shocker. PON f*cking sucks anyway.
  • 3 0
 Maybe PON expected Santa to be stronger in future emtb market than they are?
  • 2 0
 Working for PE or Wall St is a slow, painful, soul-sucking death. If this guy is on this side of the earth he is superhuman.
  • 4 1
 Joe G to Pon: If Greg goes, then I go.

Pon: We can make that happen.
  • 4 0
 He is the one who got rid of Greg.
  • 3 0
 The Euro absorption of great American brands in process?
  • 1 0
 IDK if there are any NBA fans in here but noticed Klay Thompson of the Warriors rode into the game on a Skitch tonight. Weird timing with this thread.
  • 7 4
 RIP SC
  • 2 0
 I wonder if this was a SYNDICATED effort by all parties
  • 3 1
 All the OG SC guys are gone, thats a bummer.
  • 6 0
 Wrong. Garen, Willie, Josh K are all og from the old building and still there.
  • 2 0
 @norcaljedi: And a number of others.
  • 1 0
 @NickMosca: yeah too many to remember. Those 3 I know the best along with Joe. Been good friends with all of them for 15 years plus
  • 3 0
 @dmackyaheard.. def not ALL the OGs are gone!
  • 2 0
 SC are losing dosh same as all the rest.
  • 2 0
 Perhaps he needs a time out to Pon der his future
  • 1 0
 He might have quit to start or work for another brand. Santa Cruz bikes have gotten too expensive.
  • 1 0
 Here we go. Cannondale and Klein all over again. Well, it was good while it lasted.
  • 1 0
 Pinky, are you pondering what I‘m pondering?
  • 2 0
 He's taking a Ponding
  • 4 3
 Santa Cruz bikes, coming to a Wal-Mart near you.
  • 3 2
 RIP their amazing frame warranty..? Then this might be my last bike!
  • 3 2
 @Untgrad: have anything to substantiate that?
  • 2 0
 @pmhobson:
..not yet
Kinda like the SC Walmart bike. The writing is on the wall, and it seems to be about the bottom dollar.
  • 1 1
 Lol I'm sorry about typing this. Imagine a large corporate SC. Just like Spesh and Trek. I want a $500 Santa Cruz dang it!
  • 1 0
 I blame Economic Market Force Headwind Synergies.
  • 1 3
 Going to SRAM - SRAM buys Nukeproof - Sram finally has a complete solution to offer bike market - full circle achieved - we all live happily ever after
  • 2 1
 end of an era.
  • 2 3
 No more Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, next move might be offshore.
  • 4 0
 Might be? They are already 100% made over seas, then assembled and put in a box in the USA, just like everything else.
  • 5 1
 Santa Cruz is slowing emptying of its rad companies and its larger ones. Santa Cruz has a major issue when it comes to jobs and population. It's very very difficult to survive if you are not independently wealthy and or plugged into one of the major job providers. Those job providers are rapidly leaving thanks to California tax policies and the cost of doing business. Lots of companies are finding out that they save little to no money over all when they move but it's too late to come back. But that doesn't matter to the spread sheet folks and the perception of cheap labor elsewhere.

Giro gone. Bell gone. Blackburn gone. Seagate gone. SC holding on by a thread. Fox holding on by a thread. Already shut down several buildings. Most of them. So many other large and or rad companies have come and gone in Santa Cruz. These days the top employers are banks, Starbucks, medical and pd.

Independent companies, tech and manufacturing are all dying off.

I can't even pay my damned PGE anymore here they've driven it so high up. They literally only want rich people and homeless people here. It's madness. Anyone want to buy a 3 bedroom house?
  • 2 2
 PON Sucks
Below threshold threads are hidden







Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv65 0.306324
Mobile Version of Website