Amer Sports, the Finnish parent company of French bicycle component manufacturer Mavic, has confirmed that it is exploring options for the business, including a possible “divestiture” – financial-speak for a likely sale to a trade buyer, management team, or financial investor.
Founded in 1889, Mavic pioneered the aluminium rim, which it introduced in 1926 and since 1973 it has provided neutral service for races such as the Tour de France, where its bright yellow vehicles are a familiar sight. Over the years Mavic-equipped bikes have helped propel riders such as Greg Lemond to victory.
More recently, Mavic, whose products are used by a host of amateur and professional riders across all disciplines, has diversified into performance clothing and footwear.
However, 2009 has been a difficult year for the company, which is based in Annecy, the site of the final individual time trial in this year’s Tour de France. In January, the company announced a voluntary recall of its flagship R-SYS wheels following concerns that the carbon tubular spokes of the front wheel “may break during use in certain circumstances”.
And last month, Amer Sports, which also owns the winter sports brand Salomon and tennis and golf equipment manufacturer Wilson, among others, announced that Mavic’s sales had slumped by 15% in local currency during the first six months of 2009. Mavic achieved full-year sales of €114.2 million in 2008.
If you don't see the differences between F1, Moto GP, ridIng a motor cycle on the roads, mountain biking, road cycling for sport on the one hand...
私を誘惑しないでください... Watashi o yūwaku shinaide kudasai...
Why not make the whole park car free? make the major crossings a shared space and place encouragements for cyclist to slow down by good design. ...
Shimano releasing something new just in time because sales are declining....
Also, Priory Lane which leads to Richmond Park. it has a 20 MPH speed limit, at night it is often used as a performance test road by motorists and...
4A or in a few instances where a silent majority member has been caught red-handed (NB the words in parenthesis in para 1) this is unfair and...
I'm afraid it's obvious that Police Scotland do not consider the safety of cyclists, as can be seen in this photo that I took recently.....
Who you gonna call?...
And I find smaller sized bikes to look silly with 700c wheels and not enough frame to go with them... It must all be in what we are used to looking...
Seems crazy, but this is fairly common (certainly in the UK). Might be:...