For me it was the first time I opened an order and couldn’t find the Haribo
The last thing I actually bought from them was a Shimano crank in 2020
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The site still seems to be operating, which makes sense because they’ll want to liquidate as much of the stock as they can at retail prices
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The time used to be when they were competitive on price. You’d want to buy a helmet or something and you’d check the usual 5-10 vendors and Wiggle would be a good price (with Platinum discount) with free P&P. After they were bought out their margins were expanded and their price competitiveness fell off. I started buying more from Merlin, JEJames, Sigma Sport (sales) and a couple of German retailers instead.
Money talks.
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Kind of aside but similar, Shimano announced low numbers on bike components this week.
They possibly didn’t help themselves with poor supply in recent years when demand was there, but they aren’t in control of the entire supply chain.
But, the likes of Merlin are now offering discounts to clear stock which won’t help Wiggle if people can get components cheaper elsewhere and with possibly less risk.
The bike market is massively contracting and I don’t know how long the likes of Cervelo can try and sell bikes at £15k
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Interesting thread on ST about the MOQ moving from Taiwan to Vietnam in a bid to reduce costs.
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I think a few companies are trying to move out of Taiwan as well due to concerns over China invading as well as cost. I think Brompton announced they were looking to source parts from elsewhere
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be interested to know how the 2 founders of Wiggle - Mitch Dall and Harvey Jones - feel about what’s happened. But they cashed in many years ago for quite a few £million so probably not that bothered!
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I would go with the ‘not bothered’ end of the spectrum. Only have to look at Superdry to see the mess that can happen if a founder tries to wade back in. Take the money and run…
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I was listening to a friend talking randomly in the gym a couple of days ago, he works in the bike industry.
Anyway, upshot was that people buy online for the discounts etc and are then stuck if it comes to maintenance, especially with internal routing or specialised design
I think someone took a Canyon into somewhere for some work, they said it was going to cost more as they’re a pita, or he could send it back to Germany 
Hopefully mechanics can still make a living
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Yeah, bike shops love it when you take in something you’ve bought on line to be fixed.
They like it even more if you take in something that you’ve bought cheaply on line and ask them to fit it in your bike 
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I would guess that they’re saddened to see the business go, but they probably cashed out for more than they dreamed they ever would when they started out 
You can’t really complain about the way the new owners have run the place after you’ve chosen to exit
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These buyers are the bike fitters dream. 
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correct but there’s always an “emotional” context in knowing how well something you started is going even if no longer involved.
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The first bit is short sightedness from the LBS and one good reason they simply can’t adapt to a changing market. They are staffed by dinosaurs for the most part.
The second part I completely agree with and they should tell the cheeky customer to FRO.
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Wonder if Isla Bikes people (Well, Isla obviously, but dunno if there were other founders) are unhappy not to have sold out at some point, or are more sanguine to see it end with a withdrawal from the market - they say they’re solvent, but just not a future in it.
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My LBS has told me to source the components I want them to fit on more than one occasion - because they either don’t deal with that brand or simply cannot buy them as cheap as I can. Fitted a crank power meter for me last time as part of a service, have done chainrings in the past.
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Islabike closing its doors is very sad, the company was driven by a passion, I think that the difficulties in the cycling indusrty and Brexit eventually killed the passion that the owners had.,
My kids had Islabikes, which were then sold to my brother, who then sold to my youngest brother
I recently bought a Beinn 20 from the re-cycling centre shop, it cost £75 and was immaculate, I sold it to someone in the cycling club within 2 hours (I didn’t make any profit) I gave the bike a service and put on new brake pads. I was really surprised by the quality of the bike, absolute pleasure to work on, no rust, all bolts had been nicely greased and properly torqured, there were no rattles from mudguards or rack. It had been used, the brake blocks were totally worn out.
Apparently the 7yo who got it loves the bike and rides twice as fast as he did on his old heavy kids bike.
I saw comments that Islabikes on FB that Islabikes are expensive - yes, but they are so well made that they hold their value exceptionally well. Maybe this was the problem: there was such a vibrant use market, that not enough people buy used. Most kids bikes get bought, used and fall apart / rust away in the shed
I wonder if Islabikes could have developed a different sales model and leased the bikes to families, brought the bike back after 12-18 months, serviced them and leased to anonther family. More of a circular supply chain model
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That’s fair enough, that’s the LBS advising to but lobbing in with a fistful of bargains and expecting them to sort it for you, that’s a different matter IMO.
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LO is on her 3rd or 4th Islabike, a Benin 20 but it’s getting small now. We’ve resold every one of her bikes for an absolute minimal loss, £20 or £30 only after years.
She’ll be getting an mtb next, probably Commencal because they have the philosophy for the kids range.
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Agreed, and I’d only do it as part of a service - so they are getting cables, chain, bar tape etc, as well as the service charge. Although I did go and use their compressed airline the other week when I couldn’t get my tyres to seat.
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