Mavic

[whitestone]

This popped up on STW - Mavic have been placed into receivership https://www.cyclingnews.com/amp/news/to ... eivership/

Looks like financial shenanigins as much as the market.

[fatbikephil]

It no longer seems to be the case that a company can make and sell a product, invest profits into R&D and pay its staff a decent wage. There always has to be parent companies, share wheelings and dealings and general dubious practices which seem to make the hidden shareholders rich and screw the actual company concerned.

That said, they lost a lot of the wheel market when everyone went tubeless and never really seemed to come back, despite still making good rims (there shoes were crap though....)

Management buyout?

[voodoo_simon]

Pain in the arse to deal with from a shop point of view.

They pretty much forced you to buy their clothing and footwear to et their wheel sets. Poor form I thought (but that's business). Also try getting replacement spokes, they had to come from France, was slow and expensive. Wasn't my favourite company to deal with whilst I was in the trade.

Saying that, I've had plenty of their budget wheels and they haven't missed a beat

[ZeroDarkBivi]

That said, they lost a lot of the wheel market when everyone went tubeless and never really seemed to come back, despite still making good rims (there shoes were crap though....)

I thought Mavic were market leaders with tubeless - my first tubeless wheels where Mavic UST, in 2011, and served me well. Same for shoes - Can't remember the model, but robust, comfortable light enough and cheap - Kieth B would have been proud. Used them for a few HT runs and CTR (amongst many other trips) and they performed better than any of the expensive shoes I've owned.

Are we even talking about the same company...?!

Pain in the arse to deal with from a shop point of view.

How French! Corima the same (I'm told), and also piss poor wheels compared with Zipp.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Is this what happens when you have a massive market share and few serious rivals? Everyone else sneaks up and overtakes you while you're sitting on your hands. I recall that buying any other quality rim aside from Mavic was seemingly impossible, especially if you wanted something more general / XC biased.

[GregMay]

Shame. Hope the brand survives. The do make some excellent pieces of kit.

[boxelder]

Ripe for a Planet X buy out

[jameso]

It no longer seems to be the case that a company can make and sell a product, invest profits into R&D and pay its staff a decent wage. There always has to be parent companies, share wheelings and dealings and general dubious practices which seem to make the hidden shareholders rich and screw the actual company concerned.

Is it partly because we all want products to be cheaper? And I suspect the shareholder motivation is the issue as well as the stage a company is at. PE or shareholders can be good for a younger growing company but perhaps they only see the endgame asset value etc in mature companies like Mavic. After all they're investors first, the product may be irrelevant as long as the business and market is promising. The PE guys behind Ralpha (and Evans at one point) were smart, they understood how brand and values drove the growth, they rode bikes, being close to the market was part of what made them successful. Mostly financial nous though and they were always going to be 'in' for a predetermined stage of the company growth, to sell out at the right time.
Companies that have sustainable growth, a technical product that actually has a benefit or marketable value and no shareholders can exist, the book about Patagonia clothing is interesting on that point. Not easy though I'm sure.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Companies that have sustainable growth, a technical product that actually has a benefit or marketable value and no shareholders can exist, the book about Patagonia clothing is interesting on that point. Not easy though I'm sure.

Maybe I'm naive but I don't see why that's such a difficult thing to attain or maintain. However, I can see that doing either could become very difficult if a business falls into the 'trap' of thinking that it must get bigger and make more year on year largely regardless of the enviroment it's trying to operate in. I also appreciate that business savvy and passion for a product / lifestyle etc seldom go hand in hand but outright profit and expansion, isn't the only way to run a business

[fatbikephil]

I thought Mavic were market leaders with tubeless - my first tubeless wheels where Mavic UST, in 2011, and served me well. Same for shoes - Can't remember the model, but robust, comfortable light enough and cheap - Kieth B would have been proud. Used them for a few HT runs and CTR (amongst many other trips) and they performed better than any of the expensive shoes I've owned.

Are we even talking about the same company...?!

They were in early with tubeless and I liked the UST system (although I now use split tubes in the rims concerned...) and what was even weirder was that Mavic rims were still a similar price to what they had always been - £30 odd I recall. But everyone started spending £60 a time on stans, then WTB got in on the act and Mavic seemed to fade into the background.

As for their shoes, I've never owned any as three people I know had them fall apart within months of buying..... In fact it was Keith Bremmners HT run where his ended up covered in gaffa tape and zip ties which first put me off......