Orange Bikes set to appoint administrator – weeks after folding racing team citing bike industry “uncertainty”

Too many models.

Too many model variants. (basically a 27.5, Mullet and 29 version of everything, plus fork and groupset variants)

Lack of any budget offering.

Premium for UK built stuff.

Late and expensive entry to the eMTB game.

My first 2 MTB's were Oranges so this makes me sad. 

open_roads wrote:

As a comparator - Hope Tech - based not too far away from Orange, continues to make both Bikes and accessories in the UK and by all accounts has had a very good few years.

Hope dont really make bikes in a comparable way to Orange - they are a component maker with a prototyping sideline and very low volume runs of the Olympic track bike and 2 FS MTB's.   They are basically just R&D and test beds.

Velophaart_95 wrote:

Not the only company to wind down their Enduro or DH team......there's been a whole raft of them. Plenty of riders, including World champions without a team for 2024.....

 

And all the while road teams bring in all kinds of new sponsors, etc  MTB racing, the poor relation to road racing.......thanks UCI, WB/Discovery.......

I wouldn't exactly say road cycling is flush with cash...things seem to be looking up but it's not an easy ride (pun not intended) for anyone in the industry right now. 

don simon fbpe wrote:

Looking forward to armchair brexit experts denouncing these claims from business people in the know, let the bullshit begin. So many facts pointing at the failure of brexit and so many theories, put out by the corrupt gov, to support it. The sooner this failed experiment is put to bed, the better.

Hmmm - that bait is a bit too obvious. Try hiding it in a pint of wine or something.

In all honesty, it's not meant to be hidden. We've gone way beyond being subtle. It's a disaster that's costing every home, hard line brexit muppets are still going to spout the rubbish that they spout, the only thing they've got left is the racism and I despise them.

So Brexit has only pint sized benefits? That about sums up the whole fiasco. And of course English has borrowed the word 'fiasco' from Italian where it's used to denote a complete breakdown in performance; now that really is apt! 

.

And there we have the perfect representation of a selfish right winger relishing in the suffering of others. What a sad way to live!

don simon fbpe wrote:

Looking forward to armchair brexit experts denouncing these claims...

Which one? Orange cited the following factors:

Quote:

With so much uncertainty in the bike industry, challenges around the future of the Enduro World Cup Series, and the sheer cost of running a competitive Factory-level team, we’re pressing pause.

In any case, somewhat confusingly the quotes seem to imply it's the racing team that is being wound down, not the bike manufacturing:

Quote:

We’ll return when the time is right. But for now, we’re ending on a high and will take a break to focus on our main goal of creating world-class bikes.

Those excerpts are from the announcement on the 18th Dec, which was specifically about the winding down of the EWS team. Today's announcement about the filing for Administrators seems to not be supported by a corporate statement, so there's no indication what they're giving as the reason for being in this situation.
From an outsider's perspective it's most likely the 1-2 combo of Brexit and the COVID boom/bust that has unseated Orange from their relative stability, but we'll have to wait for further details/statements for what exactly has tipped them over the edge while other similar companies continue (maybe struggling) on

Go back and re-read the article. The racing team was shut down, and the whole company appoints and administator (admits bankruptcy) a few weeks later.

How then can the success (increased volumes) of Mason, Fairlight etc. be explained away?

The obvious difference is that both of those have small model ranges and a limited selection of colours. So they have faster inventory turns and less unsold stock lying around costing them money.

First point, I'd never heard of either company, which leads on to the second point, that they are in very different markets at different stages of their life cycles. I would expect relatively new, relatively niche companies to show steady growth (if the products are good). They are founder owned and still full of youthful exuberance, let's see what happens when they're bought out. Can we come back and have the same conversation when they are as large a company as Orange and had a, possibly fateful, change of ownership?

don simon fbpe wrote:

First point, I'd never heard of either company, which leads on to the second point, that they are in very different markets at different stages of their life cycles. I would expect relatively new, relatively niche companies to show steady growth (if the products are good). They are founder owned and still full of youthful exuberance, let's see what happens when they're bought out. Can we come back and have the same conversation when they are as large a company as Orange and had a, possibly fateful, change of ownership?

you've not heard of Mason? but you have heard of Orange. I've seen a LOT more Mason's in the last 4 years than orange bikes. But then I ride on the road and not MTB.

I used to frequent an MTB forum and Orange was all the rage, OnOne too. Mason is a never heard of, I tend to stay away from British roadies.

don simon fbpe wrote:

I used to frequent an MTB forum and Orange was all the rage, OnOne too. Mason is a never heard of, I tend to stay away from British roadies.

A quick google and view of their website would have told you Mason have very little to do with 'roadies'. 

wycombewheeler wrote:

you've not heard of Mason? but you have heard of Orange. I've seen a LOT more Mason's in the last 4 years than orange bikes. But then I ride on the road and not MTB.

Orange have been around since 80s/early 90s and we're big part of UK MTB scene for a couple of decades. Anyone who came close to MTB at that time will be aware of Orange.

Mason is way younger and no where near the same market penetration (actual sales or brand awareness) outside of adventure/gravel scene, which is in turn much smaller than UK MTB scene.