"Double felt sales in 5 years"....

They acquired Time in 2015.....still don't see any of those around anywhere....

Rossignol is diversifying... they are a dominant ski company, but they also have all of their eggs in the winter sport market. They are hedging due to climate change and future uncertainty in the marketplace. They are building a portfolio of bicycle brands as part of a strategy to give them year-round market strength. It is actually pretty cool on their part.

The Time Sport International acquisition did not happen until February of 2016, and they did not begin integrating the two companies until July. Rossignol is moving pretty fast in buying brands. I wonder which ones will come next... What if they grabbed someone like Powertap, Flo, or Tririg to further complete a holistic vertical?

Buying Powertap would involve acquiring the rest of the Saris group as well, so might make sense. Racks will probably be a growth market as cars get smaller and electric.

I doubt Rossi would buy either of the niche brands you mentioned. There is not enough volume for those to really leverage their distribution network, so minimal synergies.

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I was just spit-balling possibilities. SRAM has a killer portfolio of component performance brands. To your point, Saris is a pretty cool portfolio. But with Flo and Tririg, they are low volume niche, because they have no capital. If someone combined them (with some other niche players), and then invested a heavy dose of capital into those brands to compete with Zipp, Enve, Profile Design, etc., then we have something. If Rossi has the cash, they could build a bike brand empire that could hang with other fully integrated verticals like Trek and Specialized.

Rossignol owns Look so they are already in the biking industry.

No. Rossi owns the Look ski binding brand. Someone else owns the Look bicycle brand.

Buying Powertap could involve... There's no reason Saris couldn't sell the brand.

Say it aint so. Ive been a dyed in the wool Felt rider for 20 years, I loved their emphasis on RandD etc...Jim Felt was an aero god in my book.
I was wondering what was going on with all the color on the new bikes as opposed to Felts normal very understated paint schemes.
Now we know, the French have invaded. LOL
I guess I may give Canyon a go if they get established here in the US, I like their buyer direct business model.

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/...l-group#.WJTG_lMrK70

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Karen ST Concierge

I'm certain the new colors were established a few seasons ago...long before talks with Rossi began. So the French influence is a ways away. (if at all)

All reports I've read show that Jim Felt and the main owner are still at their post inside Felt.

fully integrated verticals holictic verticals syenrgies. This is awesome

In what ways could Rossignol improve the company? (Obviously, selling more mountain bikes...)

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

I'm a Felt dealer and watching this closely. I don't have any inside info at all.

But to answer your question, I think Felt could benefit from an injection of capital. They've recently lost great talent - talent I don't think can be replaced easily - to higher bidders (either in pay, in departmental budget, or both). I might be wrong, but that's the perception I get from the outside.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

I was chatting with Jim last night on the talky stick. It seems to be business as usual, just with enhanced resources.

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http://www.josh-amberger.com/

Would be nice if they injected some capital into the R&D department for coming up with a better option than the Calpac!

i think the legal department is the holdup there.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

I would think by law they should be required to do better, I think it was even the rumored 11th commandment, possibly the treasure buried on Oak Island.

So it is written!

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

As someone who loves Felt bikes, hopefully this.

For example, the Decree is an awesome bike, but just missed out on new developments that came out just after or around the same time. Boost spacing, metric shocks / trunnion mounts, etc... Makes it a bit more challenging to sell, just have to really market the ride quality to the customer and the one-bike quiver it lets you get away with. Also, it has kind of some bad spec choices. The external dropper on the Decree 3 is awful. Stupid plastic box never works right.

I hope having the ability to get more designers and engineers helps them keep up pace a bit more, and keep up the excellent work on making much better MTBs than they previously did. But a new AR would be nice too ;)

I work just around the corner from Felt and casually know a handful of people that work there. I'll keep my ears open to see what effect this may have.

when you say they've lost great talent, is that from the athletes that use their bikes or internally, from engineering, product development, etc?

The latter.

They've lost their Road Brand Manager (x2) and National Sales Manager within the last year, both of whom were very good (in my opinion). Both left for new gigs that, presumably, pay better. Both were good people, too.

Not saying change isn't good for everyone involved, or that their replacements won't do as well or better (the new sales manager is a tip top person and was promoted from within). It was just a lot of change in spots where they had good continuity.

Admittedly, bike brand structure and organization is a bit of a mystery to me. Felt has always been remarkably more transparent about who decides what than the other brands I do business with, so I don't have anything to compare their recent changes to. It may be commonplace or their change might be mild compared to others in the industry.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

Thanks Trent. i knew a guy that worked for them a few years ago. he used to work at a local shop near me in Connecticut that closed and then went on to work for Felt. I heard within the past year that he's moved on to Cervelo. Seems like a good move for them to be honest. i dont really know that much about the industry but Rossignol is a huge and well respected company. to their point in the articles, people have opted to renting vs buying skis for years. i gave up the sport about 6 years ago and had i needed new skis, i would rent them. one less thing to travel with and gives you flexibility to try new things.

from a corporate perspective, if there is that much change in key positions in a short period of time, that doesnt appear good to consumers and retailers. stability is always good. but to your point, you cant blame people for advancing elsewhere, but internally, they'd need to find out why they cannot retain their top talent.

my road bike, which was my first bike purchase since i was a kid was the Felt z85. its a really comfortable fit for me and the price point with the stock components was awesome. looking back, i wish i got something more adaptable for racing but for casual and every day riding, its great.