Largest Bicycle Manufacturer in The World Doesn't Have The Cash to Pay Suppliers After Bike Industry Crashes

Tokyo's MITI always rescues Asian conglomerates in trouble. Japan has always helped it's Asian peoples. Giant will be strong again soon. Thanks for your concern.

They are getting their clocks cleaned in ebikes. The big guys like Trek and Giant were late to the game with ebikes. Now they both sell outrageously priced ebikes that are far inferior spec wise than what you can simply build yourself or other brands.

For those that like to disparage ebikes as not real biking, you should give them a try. You can get as much of a workout as you want. Even more than a regular bike. It is up to you. Except you go much faster and farther. You can even fold up that ebike and take it with you without terrible trailer hitches. Just put it in the trunk. Lots of fun.

Can you tell I like ebikes?

It's who sells the most robotic EV bike manufactuing factories to the world. Not who makes the most EV bikes. India, China, Africa are where the robotic factories are now being deployed. The Japanese sell the most robots and complete automated factories installed.

The same will happen to Electric Vehicles in a year or two. The Japanese will deliver thousands of complete factories that will crank out millions of EV cars, buses, truck, heavy construct construction vehicles, tanks, armored cars, etc. to Russia, China, India, Africa, USA, North Korea, you name it.

Ebikes are great for transportation but don't kid yourself I to thinking you're getting a workout.

20K is just crazy. I got my mountain bike for £50 including a new helmet (the bike was 2nd hand) and it was fine. Obviously you wouldn't race on it but it was OK for short commutes or riding for fun in parks! If you're racing and a serious cyclist or you have a long commute that's a different issue and I can see why you'd need to spend more.

I bought a new Trek last year for $700 amd have ridden about 3000 miles so far.

Please elaborate on this last sentence. I was with you until then. I don’t mind e-bikes from any of the various angles they can be viewed, and especially love them as (generally) cheap transportation for many common short trips. But when it comes to doing aerobic activity, work is work.

You’ll go faster on the e-bike, until the battery dies at which point you’ll go much slower, but other than that there is simply no difference. I’d argue that due to turns on the road and other obstructions that at higher speeds cause one to need to brake, the standard slower bike is going to keep you working more of the time.

If I’m doing 30 mph on my e-bike approaching a 90 degree turn I need to slow down much more than if I’m approaching the same turn at 15 mph. At 15 mph, I can likely just keep pedaling through the turn. And that’s not getting started on all-day rides where one would need to be very careful about conserving battery life or wind up pedaling what must feel like a dump truck for half the day.

I bike a lot. I have road bikes, a cyclocross bike, and a hardtail mountain bike. The 4 of those bikes combined don't come close to adding up to $20,000. I also ride motocross and ride a Suzuki RM-Z250. That bike replaced was old Husqvarna 250 that I had for years. The Suzuki was just a bit over $8000.

That said, saying that $10k-$20k are the "new normal" is an exaggeration. Bikes that expensive are for poseurs that are not nearly as good at cycling as they think they are, or for professionals that are not buying their bikes. Bike companies know that their are people out there willing to spend a lot of money on bikes that they don't need. It's the same for cars, boats, kitchen appliances, or just about any other product that you can think of. Most of those spending that kid of loot on a bike would do just as well on a bike costing $1000. Actually, there are a ton of high quality bikes out there that are fantastic and cost less than $2000.

Just ride and don't worry about trying to emulate the professionals.

This post is equivalent to comparing someone buying a Bugatti to you buying a used Kia (aside from the fact that many people have enough disposable income to buy a $20k bike whereas not so many for the Bugatti).

Perhaps a more relatable comparison is likening a ‘serious’ runner buying a $5000-14,000 treadmill to a guy who just runs for free on the roads.

First of many businesses this will happen to this year. Inflation is a mofo.

Will this mean I just got to wait a few months to buy a new gravel bike for a massive discount?

Well, not really. The original post said that you couldn't blame people for stopping cycling when $10K-$20K bikes are the new normal. I got a bike for casual cycling, just for fun and around bikes, for the price I mentioned. Most of the people I know who have bikes either got them from Freecycle or from Halfords where they are about £100-£200. That's just the standard amount. Like I said I'm not talking about professional cyclists or someone who is ultra serious about it, that's different. I was just talking about casual cycling which is the majority of riders, most people aren't in a club or competing.

If you look at the average person they're not spending even anywhere near £1000 on a bike. Tonnes of people locally have BMX bikes including adults and again with those they tend to go for a few hundred.

I'd be interested to know the average amount spent on a bike but it really isn't going to be particularly high.

Its not it's

Everyone in Amsterdam has a bike. Maybe not everyone, but bikes are everywhere. The average bike probably costs less than 100 Euro. That’s because they get stolen a lot. The point is that bikes are inexpensive for regular people but can cost a lot of money for those that regard them as something more than a means to get from point A to point B

What he said

You can get a competition ready bike at Kohls for $100.

Please explain you logic here, Einstein.

There are two ways you can get a solid workout on an ebike.

1. Turn the motor off. I have a friend without an ebike and I join him with no help. I am getting a hefty workout because my bike is heavier.

2. With pedal assist you can exert as much peddle power a you want. Lets say you are biking a normal bike between 14-19 miles per hour. With an ebike you can be exerting the same peddle power but now you are traveling 23-28 mph. Going further places and seeing more things.

Here is a bonus. An ebike is fun to get on. Many times you will procrastinate and not bike because it seems like it takes forever to get a solid workout like running. With and ebike, it is funner so you jump on it more than you would. Plus people that are sedentary will get on an ebike when they might not get on a regular bike. That is a plus.

The big bike companies know they were late to the game and are desperately trying to get back market share. They used to refuse to work on ebikes and now do because that is where the dollars are going.

Get yourself a fun bike for $1100.

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Also I built one with a fixed tail Giant mountain bike for only $1900 out the door. $700 for the bike, $1200 for the ebike kit. Unless you are training for the Tour De France. Why pay $10-20K for a bike?