PlanetX going bust?

[PaulB2]

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/britis ... s-suggest/

[redefined_cycles]

Surely they'll have a new business plan, new name and Companies House stuff. Then continue as they were! Can't see PX/OnOne going down. But having said that, seems like the quality of the new site at CRC has totally dwindled and so has much stock (preliminary subjective observations).

[faustus]

Maybe Brant can buy it for a quid and it'll become HebTroBike..?

Hope they do keep going, but clearly a tough environment at the moment, and like everyone else, overstocked. Last thing any of the staff need is to loose their jobs or have added uncertainty

[Mart]

The text did say that they still made a pre tax profit.
Must have taken a right tumble in recent months.

[Bearbonesnorm]

The text did say that they still made a pre tax profit.

Quite a reasonable one, so seems a little odd.

[JohnClimber]

Maybe Brant can buy it for a quid and it'll become HebTroBike..?

[riderdown]

Quite a reasonable one, so seems a little odd.

Directors have probably been extracting money out of the business and debt funding pulled or some variation on the theme

And the tax man might be after them

[Bearbonesnorm]

I know there's mixed opinion and feeling about PX but I think it'd be a real shame. They've been part of the cycling landscape for a long time and have influenced many things over the years.

[substandard]

Cash is king and with bills to pay and a lot of ££ tied up in stock, it’s been obvious for a while they’ve been between a rock and a hard place, despite making profit - albeit relatively low off the size of turnover. That was their model though , high volume low margin.

Sad to see them in trouble, have owned quite a few of their bikes over the years, still have one.

It’s ultimately bad for the consumer if there’s less choice

[riderdown]

know there's mixed opinion and feeling about PX but I think it'd be a real shame. They've been part of the cycling landscape for a long time and have influenced many things over the years.

Agree. Still ride some of their frames, wear the socks etc

I get the feeling the issues weren't just stock when you look at the dividend payments

[yourguitarhero]

It's a shame, had so much kit off them in the past - really good for cheap basics.
In fact my camping bike is a Titus Fireline titanium one of theirs, it's a great bike.

[L2R24]

Yep, real shame. Love my Ti Silk Road, and had some small forks bags & cages when cheap, all very functional and keenly priced. Still smarts a bit that they did the Silk Road for under a grand not so long ago, as paid a bit more than that...you have to wonder how much the yo yo pricing might have put previous customers off, if they feel they'd got burnt through missing a mega sale by a few days, etc. That said, I know this was normal practice for PX so it was always a bit of a 'roll of the dice' when you actually placed your order...

[PaulB2]

Or maybe not...?

https://road.cc/content/news/planet-x-c ... ued-301749

[voodoo_simon]

Yep, real shame. Love my Ti Silk Road, and had some small forks bags & cages when cheap, all very functional and keenly priced. Still smarts a bit that they did the Silk Road for under a grand not so long ago, as paid a bit more than that...you have to wonder how much the yo yo pricing might have put previous customers off, if they feel they'd got burnt through missing a mega sale by a few days, etc. That said, I know this was normal practice for PX so it was always a bit of a 'roll of the dice' when you actually placed your order...

Rather selfishly, I’ve ordered a spare mech hanger for mine as a just in case Still, more business for them.

Do you have any idea what the three bolts are for on the seat stays? Can’t think for the life of me what could be mounted on them? Tried a bottle but that’s too wide…


- - -
Always think times like these are rubbish for the staff, most will be working harder now and with this hanging over their heads, it’s a shame for them (as well as the business). Have been there and done that, it’s not nice

As a side, I never used to think much of Planet X, years ago they got three ordered fleeing in a row (I was still daft enough to use them for the third order ), but during lock down it was one of the few places with tubes in stock as a reasonable price (especially fat tubes), so I tried them again and they were fine Placed a couple of small item orders and were all good and then bought a bike from them and it was one of the smoothest transactions I’ve had ( and the bike is vaguely exciting too!)

Hopefully they’ll stick around for longer, good luck to them

[Lazarus]

when it works well its great, like a normal shop

When it does not work well its a nightmare, I only use if its very cheap and something they have not made [ mate had three frames and none were r straight, one was so bent the wheel hit the chain stay. Number four is till going strong to be fair.

YMMV

[L2R24]

@voodoo_simon. Agree about a bottle being too wide (though have successfully fitted a small tool keg in a bottle cage with a Wolftooth off centre adaptor). I currently use mine like this:

Topeak Morph pump one side, and Stanley hip flask on the other
When enquiring before buying mine they'd said they were designed to allow the Trek 1120 luggage rack to be fitted, and were originally intending to offer a Ti rack as an option but they decided against it

[voodoo_simon]

Thanks! Didn’t realise it was designed for the 1120 rack, interesting. I did think of my pump but never thought about a hip flask! Excellent idea

[pistonbroke]

Been sold to a sporting goods retailer backed by private equity, where have we heard that before? Based on current cycle industry return on capital employed, I'll give it another year at most. It'll take them that long to work out what a bag of sh\te their current stock inventory is and that no-one will supply them having been shafted.

[PaulB2]

That does remind me, I need to find out the model number of my dropout /hanger is so I can source a replacent

[firestarter]

Lt I did fancy a silk road and they were 1k at Christmas but I was out of the country so didn't order and now cheapest I've seen them is 2k madness , it might be worth 2k but when it was previously 1k I won't be paying double , silly pricing tactics