MTB198 Winners and Losers of 2008
Before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming and start looking forward into 2009, lets take a second to look at some of the changes that took place in 2008. Over the course of the year, a lot changed in the mountain biking industry that was good and bad. Here are my winners and losers of 2008.
Winners of 2008
- Specialized - Specialized picked up two of the hottest riders in the DH circuit with Sam Hill and Brendan Fairclough. This, with the Monster sponsorship, should make for a incredible team in 2009.
- Dave Weagle – Dave Weagle’s DW Link hit the industry by storm in 2008. Having been released earlier, it really laid down some tread in 2008.
- The Thru Axle – The thru axle for is no longer just a DH/FR phenomenon. With the introduction of the 15mm from Fox/Shimano and the new Maxle Lite out of Rock Shox, the thru axle fork has finally made its way to the lighter fork market.
- Turner Bikes – A complete redesign of Dave Turner’s bike line made it the must ride bike at the Interbike Dirt Demo. Look for great things out of DT’s lineup as incorporates the DW-Link into his future rides.
- Trek - Trek is on a mission. 2008 brought a new outlook for Trek and its mountain biking lineup. What used to be a rather boring series of bikes has turned into an exciting lineup centered around their Active Braking Pivot and EVO linkage. The new Session’s brought a lot of attention with their amazing looks and even better ride.
- Shimano – Shimano took huge leaps forward in their mountain biking component lines in 2008. The new Saint, XTR and SLX groupos lead Shimano into a strong 2009.
- SRAM – It was a dogfight in the component lineup for 2008. SRAM had major releases throughout the year, but the most significant had to be the Hammerschmidt. This front derailleur-less system makes perfect front ring shifts on the fly. SRAM also release their new bulletproof Avid Elixir’s to finally have a brake that competes with the likes of Hope and Formula. With all of this action in the SRAM camp, it is almost easy to overlook their releases of the new Reba lineup (that includes a new 29er 120mm 20mm TA fork) and the new BoXXer.
Losers of 2008
- The Quick Release – 2008 marked the first year in the eventual, slow death of the conventional quick release in mountain biking. The introduction of light weight, thru axle cross country forks is just the start of the release of the quick release in mountain biking. This is a change I like to see.
- Cannondale – Doral bought out Cannondale to add to their “boutique” bike lines. If history repeats itself, this buyout could spell very bad things for the Cannondale bike lineup. To make matters worse…most of the top execs left shortly after the buyout.
- Iron Horse - So what do you do when you lose the top rider in downhill? You reconstruct your entire business plan and only sell through one shop, and at the same time…you drop the hot suspension design on the market for one that is already on countless bikes…the ICT from Ellsworth. The ICT is a good design, but this many drastic changes in the way Iron Horse is doing business is going to run the brand into the ground.
- The Local Bike Shop – LBS’s are having to look at business in a whole new way. The troubling economy and Internet sales are making the idea of service the forefront of the LBS business plan. Those shops that do not take care of their customers (no matter if they bought their bike there or not) are going to have a hard time. Now, more than ever, it is important to really sell the service aspect of the LBS to get through the hard times.
- 650b Wheel Size – The 650b wheel size hit the industry by storm and then faded quickly. With no available tires or forks…it will be a long time until someone really steps up to the plate on this one. According to fork manufacturers, they are still recouping the engineering and production costs from the 29er lines. If this is true (and I believe it is), that puts the 650b in the far future. The question still remains…do we really need another wheel size anyway?
Who are your winners and losers of 2008?
Comment below and let us know…
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Tags: mountain biking, mountain biking blog, mountain biking components, mountain biking in 2008, mountain biking industry in 2008, mountain biking website
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Winners in 08 Cottage industry imo!
Seems to still be growing SS single speeders steel hard tailing, I’m a FS cowboy and a steel old schooler!
SS and Steel Quality low cost well made is niche, high cost is reached a ceiling like Oil Cars Housing Money etc! good to see small doing well.
In tough times ahead this will keep growing! Big winners – 29ers too urgh LOL. KISS.. [Keep It Simple Stupid, may well be best in coming years for tough times}
Agree DWL finally broke free once IH announcement made! and PS with Ibis, Pivot, Turner was the big for me.
Thru Axle – is a big bone of contention for me! “win or loss”
I see it as both, a win for the thru axle a loss because added another std to market something we already had 5mm makes that much difference NO, not too me anyways.
Its been disproved already! it will be argued, my point is not to dispel the QR 9mm, but all the costs the logistics the industry, LBS stock, support additional manufacture, ordering, SKU’s, takes off advancement of existing products, far too many in existence now! etc is huge beyond what people comprehend a big LOSS for me!
QR will not go, its here, they will still be made, they are still in existence that will not change, stupid people will still be stupid!
15mm so far has appeared in 140 and 150mm forks this is Trail/ AM territory 20mm /
For example – RS Maxle light is stiffer stronger! already an established std.
Others could have come up with there own lighter systems within the 20mm and educated the consumers! but no! they took the Mac Donald’s approach! launch a new smaller burger/hub! a backwards step, like going back to 1.25 head tubes.
example!
1.5 std head tubes are lighter stronger than 1/18th!
Loss for Consumer ! Win for Marketing !
Not a Fan of Trek but they have done some nice things and are very refined for 08/09 Win for Trek I’d add GT to that list!
Sram huge in 08 Hammerschmidt. is massive and a real opportunity for something real at accessible levels for real riders not an XC trickle down or Dh trickle down, so look fwd to this WIN.
Rest I basically agree with except the QR I think many forget the we players small cottage players like Single speed frame makers who produce ridgid forks and who have customers for this in 26″ and 29″ commuters and even XC roadies there are many applications where this is still std.
And will remain so, including allot of existing owners who will have many years of life they will not just drop existing forks Suspension or ridgid, to expect this is or assume this is to neglect a large portion of the community!
Riders and contributors who supply create to the mtb world QR while I’m a Thru axle fan has its place!
I’m still on the fence if Sams chosen move to Specialised is a Win or a Loss, Im a big fan of his, the big S has contributed allot to MTB but also is the big evil in some ways to me the MTB corporate that success brings I guess! time will tell I wish him all the best for him and Bren Dog for 09!
There’s also another Sam on tour a Kiwi?
Kiwi vs Aussie! well I’m a Kiwi, so go the flying Kiwi’s in 09 sorry SH lol.
ta out.
Add to winners mountain bike specific attire. With companies like Hoss and Swobo amongst others, the schism between road and mountain bike apparel is widening. No more jersey with back pockets you don’t need because most of us ride with packs anyway. Also, long live 3/4 length knickers (like the Hoss Ponderosa Knicker), these things are excellent for our sport.
Winners:
Small bike builders, when Specialized and Trek are venturing into $8000+ bikes the $5000 Turner, Ellsworth, Ventana and the like are bargains!
Niche bikes. When decent sized bike companies are coming out with classic bikes like the Brodie Catalist or Jamis Dragon series.
Affordable bikes. Even with bike prices expected to jump, getting a dirt worthy bike still stands at about $500, and getting a ridable FS bike is only around the $750-$850 mark. It isn’t going to have King or I9’s on it, but it will introduce a new batch of riders into nice bikes.
Riders. It’s pretty easy to buy a good bike and not have to worry about replacing every little bit to make it better. You can just set, ride, forget.
Losers:
Standards. Several different centerlock rotor sizes, and 6 bolt. Different sizes for disc brake mounts, the return of headset size confusion, and now different axle sizes! And now there is whispering of 10 (and even 11) speed for mountian bikes.
People who build their own. The industry is pushing, heavily, their built wheels, their cranks that HAVE to use their own rings and BB’s.
XC rides. The move to further expand the envelope of what a XC bike is now means people show up with their 5″ bike and think they’ve got an XC racer. The death of the short travel dualie or hardtail isn’t at hand, but will be much harder to find.
Iron Horse. The move to ICT and moving to selling out of just mail order drops them down a peg or two. They move from an innovative to an older (yes it’s proven, but not as exciting), and more widely copied design. Now they become an also ran with Motobecame and IBEX instead of a brand in the shop. The days of getting a DW bike for $1200 are gone, and instead the DW frames are over the $2000 mark.
The consumer. Increased prices. Propietary parts. Mainstream bikes over $8000. Changing standards. Disposable parts.
Many of the changes coming down the pipe don’t seem aimed at the end user, but to make it easier to manufacture and market bikes. The integrated BB/Cranks are offered as stiffer and sexier, but are heavier, only come in two options (170 and 175, same size bottom bracket, just a different spacer), and if one part goes bad then you WILL buy the replacement from the same company. Similar thoughts with ’system wheels’.
James
I’m very disappointed in Iron Horse this year. Why did they need to drop the DW and go with ICT while simultaneously moving to one internet only retailer? Seems like a good way to screw up a good name. We’ll see what Evil bikes does with Weagle’s genius.
Cannondale. I’m on the fence here. On one hand they sold out again, but then again the company that bought them is not Pacific. Pacific KILLED 3 very good brands. However, GT is back with some excellent rides, and a new Carbon fiber downhiller called the Fury that looks interesting.
Cannondale has some very decent rides (R.I.P. Prophet), and it looks like they’ll be ok with Dorel as a parent company. GT has already benefited from that as rumor has it the Fury was tested in Cannondale’s top notch facility. I think Dorel will do better in the long run then Pegasus did with this company.
Winner/loser? We’ll see, but here’s hoping.
Winner…sleeper here, and this might get me some flack, but Diamondback US. Check out the Mission, Sortie, and ScapeGoat. Stay away from their ‘dept’ store line up though short of the budget Response line. The Scapegoat looks very nice indeed for an agressive 6″ AM bike.
Wow, some great posts here. I totally agree with Trek and the “death” of the short travel bike. James’ statement about the small builders is on the money as well.
Trek’s new suspension design has impressed some people I know as “bike connoisseurs”.
I also see ever-increasing travel to not be a good thing universally. There’s a large focus on what people are doing on bikes out west that isn’t necessarily representative of the industry as a whole IMO.
Another winner is the 29er. 2007 seemed to be a momentum gainer for the wheel size and 2008 seemed to blow it out. The small builders took advantage of it early on and 29ers are now very much mainstream.
Incredible feedback!
The Cannondale/Doral deal could go either way, but I think it is going to hurt Cannondale in the end. It has taken a very long time for GT to even get to the point they are at today, and they have a long way to go.
The qr will probably always be part of the mountain bike culture as much as I wish it wasn’t.
@Jason Diamondback…interesting pick. They have a long way to go…but a solid line at competitive pricing could put them in Iron Horse’s void.
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