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Cannondale Bankrupt?!

2466 Views 17 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Mateo Largo, Jul 5, 2009

gdotbat

Discussion Starter · Jun 30, 2009

I walked into an LBS yesterday with a buddy who wanted to look at...S-S-Specialized...'shudder'...Heres how the conversation went:

LBS guy asked what we were looking for, my buddy said StumpJumper (he's actually getting an Ibis Mojo now, not a StumpJumper) and I said:

ME: "I'm a Cannondale guy"
LBS: "I'm sorry.."
ME: replied back quite quickly "I'm not!"
LBS: "Just hope you dont need to warranty a frame.."
ME: "huh?"
LBS: "Well they're bankrupt, that's why we decided to stop carrying Cannodales, they went chapter 11"
ME: "..."

Any truth to this? First time I heard anything about it. Not sure I believe the LBS guy, as soon as I mentioned I like Cannodale he was acting like I was retarded or something. Why? because I dont want to ride a cookie cutter specialized frame that everyone else on the planet has and was actually made by Giant!? Please...

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

mtymxdh

· #2 · Jun 30, 2009

Cannondale is owned by Dorel or something like that isn't it?

epicracer5

· #3 · Jun 30, 2009

ya it is

Dan Gerous

· #4 · Jun 30, 2009

That guy hasn't kept up with the news for years!

They filed for chapter 11 in 2003 because of the motorcycle division... They're doing great now.

2DMaxLST

· #5 · Jun 30, 2009

Personally I would not do business with someone who would lie to your face like that....

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/chart?symbol=DIIB.PK

epicracer5

· #6 · Jul 1, 2009

agreee

amillmtb

· #7 · Jul 1, 2009

You need to tell your buddies LBS to get with it... Like Dan said, they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2003, which resulted in the much expected discontinuing of the motorcycle/ATV line.

2003 was 6 years ago...

brandonj1979

· #8 · Jul 1, 2009

They're owned by Dorel now, which owns Pacific, GT, Mongoose, and maybe more. It's a pretty solid company that has done some really good things with other bike companies.

HAL 9000

· #9 · Jul 1, 2009

i'm in sales and if i had to outright LIE to a prospect to try and close a sale I'd pick another profession.

i've been in high quality shops where the sales folks never ever need to lie or put down another brand to make a sale.

eaglecat

· #10 · Jul 1, 2009

I'm sure there were other reasons that the LBS dropped Cannondale other than the BK. Even though Cannondale corporation was BK, the bicycle division was still very profitable. All of this proves a BK could hurt a company's reputation. It may take years to overcome this. I wonder how much Specialized sales reps have used this to their advantage to convince retailers to drop Cannondale.

formulaone33

· #11 · Jul 1, 2009

As an former shop manger rule #1 was to NEVER bash other stores or other brands. It ALWAYS makes you look bad not the other shop no matter how crappy they really are. I would let that salespersons manger know what he was saying.

XJaredX

· #12 · Jul 2, 2009

Yeah I sell cars and that is a big, big no no. I actually go as far as to tell customers what I like about other cars that they are considering. It throws them for a loop

Mateo Largo

· #13 · Jul 4, 2009

What was the shop name and location?

r32657

· #14 · Jul 5, 2009

I've never found anything special about Specialized. What's the name of the shop?

gdotbat

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 5, 2009

Wow, I didn't really think it would cause this much of a stir! I wasn't looking to cause a witch hunt. I'm pretty sure the shop is local to AZ, it's a place called Landis Cyclery. It's a pretty well known place and it's been around awhile. I don't remember the dudes name or even what he looked like for that matter. Besides, I don'twant to get the poor guy fired, sure he may have lied, and he sucks for that, which is why I will never buy a bike from them, but I would hate to be the cause of this guy loosing his job, especially in this rough economic time. I don't really go in that store very often, but every other time I have they have been pretty cool. maybe the guy was just grossly misinformed and thought he was doing me a favor, I don't know...

desertrat423

· #16 · Jul 5, 2009

haha i went into landis cyclery 7yrs ago when in lived in AZ and walked out about 3mins later. still havent been back, seems like it hasnt changed at all

Jerk_Chicken

· #17 · Jul 5, 2009

formulaone33 said:
As an former shop manger rule #1 was to NEVER bash other stores or other brands. It ALWAYS makes you look bad not the other shop no matter how crappy they really are. I would let that salespersons manger know what he was saying.

Hah, when I worked for a bike shop, I bashed the shop in which I worked, and then sent customers over to my favorite shop in the area. Even called them for stock and handed out their cards.

I worked for a real dirtbag.

Mateo Largo

· #18 · Jul 5, 2009

I think the point is not to try to get someone fired...but, to allow people to vote with their feet... I find it hard to believe that anyone who works in the bicycle industry could be perpetuating a lie like that for 6 years and not know that they are doing so. As a former store manager I can tell you that bigger stores like Landis do a lot of training with employees and the views and tactics of the shop rats are usually learned from the store managers/owners. I would think twice about spending a dime at Landis...

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

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