Interesting, though it seems to have a lot of speculation. Also, Nashbar doesn't seem to be nearly as cheap as it was say 7 or so years ago -- any 'speculation' on what that is?
-- Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time. One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule. - Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. (~1892)
Bike Warehouse was still called "Bike Warehouse" in 1980. And, it became Bike Nashbar a few years later, and my memory suggests the 1980-82 time period. And then, apparently, REI took a chunk out of Nashbar :
To my way of thinking, recently we lost 2 great mail order shops : Bike Nashbar and Bikeology/Supergo. Since the Nashbar paper catalogues turned to Performance-like Icon-Garbage in 2004-5, I'm guessing that Bike Nashbar was "fixed" by the Performance management team in 2004 or 2005. Now, Nashbar is just a rabid mono-culture 9-speed and 10-speed parts shop, with 30 typs of clipless pedals and clothing, and 40 brands of $50 tires, marketed to (i won't say the word but you-know-who-you-are), just like Performance has always been...
Turnabout is fair play! A private equity shop has now bought Performance Bike, and so the quality (like that of UPS) is likely to spiral even lower even faster :
Bike Warehouse was still called "Bike Warehouse" in 1980. And, it became Bike Nashbar a few years later, and my memory suggests the 1980-82 time period. And then, apparently, REI took a chunk out of Nashbar :
To my way of thinking, recently we lost 2 great mail order shops : Bike Nashbar and Bikeology/Supergo. Since the Nashbar paper catalogues turned to Performance-like Icon-Garbage in 2004-5, I'm guessing that Bike Nashbar was "fixed" by the Performance management team in 2004 or 2005. Now, Nashbar is just a rabid mono-culture 9-speed and 10-speed parts shop, with 30 typs of clipless pedals and clothing, and 40 brands of $50 tires, marketed to (i won't say the word but you-know-who-you-are), just like Performance has always been...
Turnabout is fair play! A private equity shop has now bought Performance Bike, and so the quality (like that of UPS) is likely to spiral even lower even faster :
Who knows what's next for this "me too" octopus... In 15 years I have found only once, enough useful merchandise on the performance website to justify an order. Whereas I've ordered many (5+) times from Nashbar. Sadly, I cannot find much difference between the two web sites any more ...
> Bike Warehouse was still called "Bike Warehouse" in 1980. And, it > became Bike Nashbar a few years later, and my memory suggests the > 1980-82 time period. And then, apparently, REI took a chunk out of > Nashbar :
> To my way of thinking, recently we lost 2 great mail order shops : > Bike Nashbar and Bikeology/Supergo. Since the Nashbar paper > catalogues turned to Performance-like Icon-Garbage in 2004-5, I'm > guessing that Bike Nashbar was "fixed" by the Performance management > team in 2004 or 2005. Now, Nashbar is just a rabid mono-culture > 9-speed and 10-speed parts shop, with 30 typs of clipless pedals and > clothing, and 40 brands of $50 tires, marketed to (i won't say the > word but you-know-who-you-are), just like Performance has always > been...
> Turnabout is fair play! A private equity shop has now bought > Performance Bike, and so the quality (like that of UPS) is likely to > spiral even lower even faster :
> Who knows what's next for this "me too" octopus... In 15 years I have > found only once, enough useful merchandise on the performance website > to justify an order. Whereas I've ordered many (5+) times from > Nashbar. Sadly, I cannot find much difference between the two web > sites any more ...
> - Don Gillies > San Diego, CA, USA
not looking. need to read thru the list holding what you want to buy
Donald Gillies wrote: > To my way of thinking, recently we lost 2 great mail order shops : > Bike Nashbar and Bikeology/Supergo. Since the Nashbar paper > catalogues turned to Performance-like Icon-Garbage in 2004-5, I'm > guessing that Bike Nashbar was "fixed" by the Performance management > team in 2004 or 2005.
The Nashbar "paper catalogues" went glossy well before 2004-5. It was more like the mid '80s.
It's common knowledge that Performance bought out both Nashbar and Supergo a few years ago. But I still find better prices and more down to earth products at Nashbar. Let's face it, cycling in general has gotten more glossy and glitzy in the last ten years. But I've bought plenty of $12 tires, etc. from Nashbar in recent years. And their closeout prices on components are sometimes spectacular.
I also deal occasionally with some of the smaller, less-known bike part dealers for the more obscure items I need.
> Donald Gillies wrote: > > To my way of thinking, recently we lost 2 great mail order shops : > > Bike Nashbar and Bikeology/Supergo. Since the Nashbar paper > > catalogues turned to Performance-like Icon-Garbage in 2004-5, I'm > > guessing that Bike Nashbar was "fixed" by the Performance management > > team in 2004 or 2005.
> The Nashbar "paper catalogues" went glossy well before 2004-5. It was > more like the mid '80s.
> It's common knowledge that Performance bought out both Nashbar and > Supergo a few years ago. But I still find better prices and more down > to earth products at Nashbar. Let's face it, cycling in general has > gotten more glossy and glitzy in the last ten years. But I've bought > plenty of $12 tires, etc. from Nashbar in recent years. And their > closeout prices on components are sometimes spectacular.
> I also deal occasionally with some of the smaller, less-known bike > part dealers for the more obscure items I need.
> Art Harris
Sea Ray announced closing a Merritt Island plant of 350 employees. Plant produced small boats, for small people? The large boat plant stays open for now. Expect some of the more obscure items to become less obscure.
> Donald Gillies wrote: > > To my way of thinking, recently we lost 2 great mail order shops : > > Bike Nashbar and Bikeology/Supergo. Since the Nashbar paper > > catalogues turned to Performance-like Icon-Garbage in 2004-5, I'm > > guessing that Bike Nashbar was "fixed" by the Performance management > > team in 2004 or 2005.
> The Nashbar "paper catalogues" went glossy well before 2004-5. It was > more like the mid '80s.
> It's common knowledge that Performance bought out both Nashbar and > Supergo a few years ago. But I still find better prices and more down > to earth products at Nashbar. Let's face it, cycling in general has > gotten more glossy and glitzy in the last ten years. But I've bought > plenty of $12 tires, etc. from Nashbar in recent years. And their > closeout prices on components are sometimes spectacular.
You can buy all the size 38 shoes and xxs tights in the world! There are still some staples -- tires, tubes and components -- but the company has really turned into a suplus outlet since the Performance purchase. I liked it back in the old days along with Bikeology and even Palo Alto Bikes, which was more in the vein of Colorado Cyclist but never took off -- and was too tied in with Avocet (and all of its rebranded crap Ofmega components in the 80's). I still remember ordering over the phone with English speakers and no forty-step phone maze or surly HAL automated system that hangs up when you start yelling f*** you! -- Jay Beattie.
Jay Beattie wrote: > You can buy all the size 38 shoes and xxs tights in the world! There > are still some staples -- tires, tubes and components -- but the > company has really turned into a suplus outlet since the Performance > purchase.
I haven't noticed that except maybe for clearance items. Regular shorts, jerseys, etc. seem to be available in all sizes.
> I liked it back in the old days along with Bikeology and > even Palo Alto Bikes, which was more in the vein of Colorado Cyclist > but never took off -- and was too tied in with Avocet
Ah yes, I'm still riding my 1984 Palo Alto frame! Now fiited out with 9-speed stuff.
Arni Nashbar changed the name when 'Bike Warehouse' was found unsuitable for trademark protection. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971
> Interesting, though it seems to have a lot of speculation. Also, > Nashbar doesn't seem to be nearly as cheap as it was say 7 or so years > ago -- any 'speculation' on what that is?
Unrealistic expectations, combined with a general inflation of what is considered minimum equipment. In other words, nobody wants a 7-speed freewheel anymore.
In defense of Nashbar, I have to say that their aluminum cyclocross frame routinely cycles down to a low-point price of just over $100, usually at the same time as the matching carbon CX fork hits $120 or so.
I bought one last year, and it has two annoying but minor design flaws (I think 135 mm spacing is wrong for this frame--I want to share wheels with my road bike; there's a crap-catching chainstay bridge behind the BB), and otherwise works very well.
On the other hand, their value-leader "Frame" road frame appears to have disappeared, replaced by the pricier carbon-stayed road frame.
I tend to buy a lot of used components, but the cyclocross frame was noteworthy because it was an inexpensive entry into the sport at a time when there was a virtually nonexistent supply of used cyclocross bicycles, owing to the general boom in the sport.
-- Ryan Cousineau rcous...@gmail.com http://www.wiredcola.com/ "In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls." "In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."
"Common knowledge" surpasses most of the content there. What's really missing is a commentary on why Performance chose to keep the Performance name, instead of Supergo. Performance carries a lot of baggage; they're not known for great service (in their retail stores), but they advertise as if that's what people should expect. So their customers are often underwhelmed. Supergo, on the other hand, exceeded expectations. Most customers were attracted to them for one reason- cheap bike parts, sometimes some truly great deals. And the typical Supergo seemed to be staffed better than the Performance stores.
The inside story on the shuttering of Supergo would make for an interesting read.
> "Ron George" <ron.r.geo...@gmail.com> wrote in message > news:f36836d7-b860-4fc3-b8f9-a2dcd0ba9f28@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com... > | Feel free to drop in comments. Thanks. > | http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/02/story-of-bike-nashbar.html Mike Jacoubowsky wrote: > "Common knowledge" surpasses most of the content there. What's really > missing is a commentary on why Performance chose to keep the Performance > name, instead of Supergo. Performance carries a lot of baggage; they're not > known for great service (in their retail stores), but they advertise as if > that's what people should expect. So their customers are often underwhelmed. > Supergo, on the other hand, exceeded expectations. Most customers were > attracted to them for one reason- cheap bike parts, sometimes some truly > great deals. And the typical Supergo seemed to be staffed better than the > Performance stores. > The inside story on the shuttering of Supergo would make for an interesting > read.
I don't think it's a secret. Alan worked both hard and well for many years. It was just time to move on. He was a successful attorney before Supergo and probably has quite a few interests and options now. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971
> Ron George <ron.r.geo...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Feel free to drop in comments. Thanks. >> http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/02/story-of-bike-nashbar.html Tim McNamara wrote: > Blogspam. Little content but lots of speculation, which is the norm on > blogs since actual journalism isn't a big part of blogucation.
You're braver than I. I saw the url and passed -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971
> I don't think it's a secret. Alan worked both hard and well for many > years. It was just time to move on. > He was a successful attorney before Supergo and probably has quite a few > interests and options now. > -- > Andrew Muzi
Andrew: That I know. What I meant was, what's the story behind keeping the Performance name and killing off Supergo? Was any thought ever given to the idea that Supergo might bring more to the party?
We had an employee in the way-back days who moved to Southern California for school. He went to work at one of the Supergo locations as a wrench, and came back to us the next summer. The stories he told... I'll just tell one of them for now. When bikes came in for a "tune up" they got a very interesting treatment. Before anything was done to them, the entire bike was dumped into something like those big acid baths they put bike frames into for treatment prior to painting. No acid in them, of course, but rather a cleaning solution. Yes. The entire bike went into it. Bearing & everything got all of their greased washed out, but dang, the bikes came out looking amazingly clean. Tires, grips, everything.
Now, I don't know if they were selective at all about this or not; one can't believe they'd subject a nicer bike to such treatment. But can you imagine any bike processed in that manner, and then actually have some miles put on it?
--Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
> Mike Jacoubowsky wrote: >> "Common knowledge" surpasses most of the content there. What's really >> missing is a commentary on why Performance chose to keep the Performance >> name, instead of Supergo. Performance carries a lot of baggage; they're >> not known for great service (in their retail stores), but they advertise >> as if that's what people should expect. So their customers are often >> underwhelmed. Supergo, on the other hand, exceeded expectations. Most >> customers were attracted to them for one reason- cheap bike parts, >> sometimes some truly great deals. And the typical Supergo seemed to be >> staffed better than the Performance stores. >> The inside story on the shuttering of Supergo would make for an >> interesting read.
> I don't think it's a secret. Alan worked both hard and well for many > years. It was just time to move on. > He was a successful attorney before Supergo and probably has quite a few > interests and options now. > -- > Andrew Muzi > www.yellowjersey.org > Open every day since 1 April, 1971
>>Feel free to drop in comments. Thanks. >Bike Warehouse was still called "Bike Warehouse" in 1980. And, it >became Bike Nashbar a few years later, and my memory suggests the >1980-82 time period.
It was still Bike Warehouse when I mail ordered my 1985 Specialized Stumpjumper which I just ride through the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday :-]
On Feb 29, 2:48 pm, A Muzi <a...@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
> > Ron George <ron.r.geo...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Feel free to drop in comments. Thanks. > >>http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/02/story-of-bike-nashbar.html > Tim McNamara wrote: > > Blogspam. Little content but lots of speculation, which is the norm on > > blogs since actual journalism isn't a big part of blogucation.
> You're braver than I. > I saw the url and passed > -- > Andrew Muziwww.yellowjersey.org > Open every day since 1 April, 1971
In the past, I asked "what mail order" and heard Performance. All well off 60+ years retirees.
>>> "Ron George" <ron.r.geo...@gmail.com> wrote >>> | Feel free to drop in comments. Thanks. >>> | http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/02/story-of-bike-nashbar.html >> Mike Jacoubowsky wrote: >>> "Common knowledge" surpasses most of the content there. What's really >>> missing is a commentary on why Performance chose to keep the Performance >>> name, instead of Supergo. Performance carries a lot of baggage; they're >>> not known for great service (in their retail stores), but they advertise >>> as if that's what people should expect. So their customers are often >>> underwhelmed. Supergo, on the other hand, exceeded expectations. Most >>> customers were attracted to them for one reason- cheap bike parts, >>> sometimes some truly great deals. And the typical Supergo seemed to be >>> staffed better than the Performance stores. >>> The inside story on the shuttering of Supergo would make for an >>> interesting read. > "A Muzi" <a...@yellowjersey.org> wrote >> I don't think it's a secret. Alan worked both hard and well for many >> years. It was just time to move on. >> He was a successful attorney before Supergo and probably has quite a few >> interests and options now. Mike Jacoubowsky wrote: > Andrew: That I know. What I meant was, what's the story behind keeping the > Performance name and killing off Supergo? Was any thought ever given to the > idea that Supergo might bring more to the party?
> We had an employee in the way-back days who moved to Southern California for > school. He went to work at one of the Supergo locations as a wrench, and > came back to us the next summer. The stories he told... I'll just tell one > of them for now. When bikes came in for a "tune up" they got a very > interesting treatment. Before anything was done to them, the entire bike was > dumped into something like those big acid baths they put bike frames into > for treatment prior to painting. No acid in them, of course, but rather a > cleaning solution. Yes. The entire bike went into it. Bearing & everything > got all of their greased washed out, but dang, the bikes came out looking > amazingly clean. Tires, grips, everything.
> Now, I don't know if they were selective at all about this or not; one can't > believe they'd subject a nicer bike to such treatment. But can you imagine > any bike processed in that manner, and then actually have some miles put on > it?
Great story! Long ago, when the earth was young, I worked for a guy who used a steam cleaner on 'tuneups'. Detergent and water in, grease and dirt off, much like a graffiti remover. Bikes looked great and the shop stayed clean but 60 days later everything was a rusty mess, bearings included. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971
The guy had several facts twisted by the time he finished the third paragraph, and the mistake rate didn't drop much after that.
The article seems to consist of a bunch of guesses, lots of mistaken recollection, one link to another article, and a plea for help to get more facts. The blogger claims to be a mechanical engineer. I hope he's better at engineering than he is at journalism... um, blogging.
> >Bike Warehouse was still called "Bike Warehouse" in 1980. And, it > >became Bike Nashbar a few years later, and my memory suggests the > >1980-82 time period.
> It was still Bike Warehouse when I mail ordered my 1985 Specialized > Stumpjumper which I just ride through the Merritt Island Wildlife > Refuge on Wednesday :-]
Is that going up SR3, or from Tropical Trail? I used to live on Merritt Island...
> The guy had several facts twisted by the time he finished the third > paragraph, and the mistake rate didn't drop much after that.
> The article seems to consist of a bunch of guesses, lots of mistaken > recollection, one link to another article, and a plea for help to get > more facts. The blogger claims to be a mechanical engineer. I hope > he's better at engineering than he is at journalism... um, blogging.
> - Frank Krygowski
Good one. Yes, writing on Nashbar wasn't easy but I thank you for all your comments. Now we have more information and experiences from people. Someone else might benefit from this discussion if you look at the bright side.
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