Cycling - the new golf?

 Is Cycling the New Golf?

Not for sale see more here

 

WTF? Pinarello will be sold again? Wow! As the article said, they cashed-out in 2016, becoming owned by the same company hawking all kinds of, well, let's just say over-priced stuff that rich people like. Now some rich guy who made his fortune raping the earth will be ponying up $250 million for Pinarello.

Colnago cashed-out in 2020 for an undisclosed pile o'money put up by petro-sheiks. Any guess as to why the UAE team races on bikes with Ernie's last name on em?

This is for sale

How many bicycles do you have to sell to make the kind of profits to justify these kinds of "investments"? Are these things money-laundering schemes*?

Perhaps they really can turn a profit. How much does a top-end Pinarello or Colnago (which at least are still Made-in-Italy if you buy a C-series) sell for vs what it costs to make? Even Specialized is getting $14K for a bike these days! And 99% of 'em are made in Asia so take a guess at the profit margins on these things!

So perhaps cycling (as they used to say) really IS the new golf? We'd guess as much golf stuff is made in Asia as cycling stuff? Heck, golf itself just got bought-up by petro-sheiks so are ASO, RCS and Flanders Classics next**?

News like this just adds to our happiness that we're no longer in the bicycle business. We can ride, watch, laugh and cry as things like these happen, especially since we already have all the bikes we'll ever need and the events we like are mostly vintage bike-related. We still have some friends in the biz which makes us wonder where it's all going?

Update: now there's the "world’s ultimate luxury performance bicycle" from Cinelli at a cool $15K. At least this thing is Made-in-Italy but Cino's got to be turning over in his grave! Why this "bling-mobile"? Could it have anything to do with Cinelli/Columbus current owners being private-equity guys with a background in overpriced luggage? Of course not! And now Bianchi's getting into the game with a limited-edition TdF bike for $15K. I guess they too figure plenty of people have this kind of money laying around to spend on these "bling-mobiles"?

* Zio spoke a few months later with Colnago's head-of-sales who explained the new owners are positioning the company as sort of a two-wheeled Ferrari. Worse things could happen, Zio guesses?

**More on that HERE.