Collapse of major UK cycling distributor “huge shock” after investor pulled out of Orro Bikes deal “at the very last minute” – but hope “someone in the industry” will rescue business

The collapse of UK-based cycling distributor I-ride, just a day after Sir Bradley Wiggins was pictured riding one of its in-house Orro bikes during a charity cycle, came as a “huge shock” to staff and management, a source from inside the company has told road.cc, and was triggered by an investor – who was expected to pump funds into the growing Orro brand – pulling out of the deal “at the very last minute”.

However, in an unexpected glimmer of hope, the source – who said the distributor went from waiting to sign a deal for future growth to “staring into the abyss” in the space of five minutes last Friday afternoon – has also claimed that there is hope that a possible takeover of Orro by “someone from within the industry” is achievable, and that an announcement is expected “very soon”.

Earlier this week, we reported that I-ride, which along with its flagship in-house bike brand Orro distributed the products of major manufacturers across the cycling industry, including Continental and De Rosa, had entered administration, with all staff made redundant and asked to leave the company immediately on Monday.

A source from inside the company also suggested that nobody has been paid for September by the distributor, which last year moved to a new multi-million-pound facility in East Sussex, a claim that has been backed up by others.

> Major UK cycling distributor behind Orro Bikes enters administration and 'all staff asked to leave without September pay'

But while I-ride, or its parent company Martlet Group, have yet to comment publicly on the situation, another source from inside the business has told road.cc that the news came as a shock to both staff and management, and was the result of a failed investment exercise and last-minute withdrawal of funds on Friday afternoon, leading to the company’s descent into administration on Monday.

“The Martlet Group had this year been undertaking an investment raising exercise to fund the growth of its increasingly popular Orro brand, particularly overseas, and it had been working closely with the preferred investor for the last few months,” the source told road.cc.

“Suddenly, on the verge of signing the deal on Friday afternoon the investor pulled out at the very last minute, and so on Monday the bank required the company to go into administration. All staff including the management were made redundant and told to leave immediately with no notice.

“It is a huge shock as we all were expecting the good news of the new investment for Orro to implement its growth plan for an exciting future. But instead, all was turned on its head. We went literally from one moment on Friday afternoon waiting to sign a deal for our future growth of the Orro brand internationally, to five minutes later staring into the abyss as our investor pulled out.”

However, while the source said I-ride’s collapse hinged on that one decision last Friday and that Orro itself had been growing in recent years, they did admit that the long-term economic challenges faced by the cycling industry in recent years, exacerbated by Brexit and pandemic-era supply chain issues, had also affected I-ride and the Martlet Group.

In August, the distributor advertised a “huge overstock clearance” sale featuring its “cheapest prices ever” on a host of products, including some from Shimano, SRAM, FSA, Fulcrum and Continental, suggesting I-ride was struggling with the inventory troubles felt across the bike industry since Covid.

“Ever since Brexit and the effects of Covid on the supply chain, the historic distribution business of I-ride, which is owned by Martlet, had been suffering like many industries,” the source said. “However, its Orro bike brand has been growing year-on-year and has seen some exciting success.

“It is hoped that the business will now be taken forward by someone from within the industry who will be able to take the brand to develop higher. There should be more announcements on this very soon, together with details of how any orders will be dealt with. In the meantime, the administrators are FRP Advisory if anyone has any concerns.”

However, the source did not address the accusation that staff had not been paid their wages for September, despite another insider informing road.cc that anger among the company’s former employees is mounting about how the situation unfolded.

> “We are proud to design and build our bikes in Britain”: Orro on reshoring its assembly, innovation, and plans to go international

Nevertheless, that particular insider also admitted that on the surface there were few indications that the company was so deeply troubled before Monday’s announcement.

On Sunday, for instance, two days after the investor pulled out and a day before the redundancies were announced, Sir Bradley Wiggins was pictured riding an Orro bike as part of his ‘Ride With Wiggins’ charity sportive in Staffordshire – the 2012 Tour de France winner’s first bike ride for three years – in a partnership struck between Orro and the Project Pau cycling academy.

(PAU Run and Ride Trentham)

One senior figure within the Martlet Group posted on social media that they were “proud” to see Wiggins riding their flagship in-house bike.

I-ride calls itself “the specialists’ specialist” and distributed products for SeaSucker, Kool-Stop, Gemini Lights, Green Oil, DeFeet, Cyclus Tools, Catlike, Seatylock, Token and more, in addition to the bigger name brands listed earlier in this article.

It isn’t, however, the first UK cycling distributor to collapse under severe economic pressure in recent years.

Last year, fellow distributor Moore Large entered liquidation, the distributor for brands such as Tern Bicycles, Lake and Forme going under one year on from the long-running business being sold to board directors from the Moore family.

That meant stock worth £35 million was auctioned off, with 35,000 bikes and £10 million worth of bike accessories listed via John Pye. The inevitable scrum saw road bikes sell for as little as £110 and further huge discounts elsewhere as Moore Large’s stock was shipped off at whatever price could be fetched.

Two months later, Livingston-based distributor 2pure entered administration, before another UK cycle distributor FLi ceased trading shortly after.

FLi Distribution’s director Colin Williams, like the I-ride source we spoke to, cited the impact of Brexit, the complexities and restrictions surrounding UK and EU trading, and the difficulties facing the bike industry in the post-Covid lockdown period as the main reasons behind FLi’s demise.

“If you voted for Brexit, please realise this is 90 per cent because of your decision back in 2016,” he said at the time. “I’m done fighting, I’m done with the red tape and the barriers to trade. It hadn’t been fun for some time, so the time was right to end it now, life is too short.”