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Rossignol Buys Felt Bikes

Tom K.

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Interesting news in the bike world:

From Bikeradar.com

With its snowsports business on the wane, French ski brand Rossignol has acquired US brand Felt Bicycles to diversify its operations and strengthen its presence in the cycling world. The new owner aims to double Felt sales within five years.

Felt VR2 first ride review
Rossignol, which also acquired French bike brand Time Sport International back in 2015, has seen demand for its snowsports equipment decline in recent years as more people hire rather than buy skis.

Reuters quotes Cercley as saying that he aims to double Felt's $60m annual revenues within the next five years
It hasn't escaped company execs either that the global $30bn bike industry is growing at 2-4 percent per year and they see it as a good way to keep pulling in revenues over the summer months.

New range of Rossignol mountain bikes
"Cycling is a very natural extension of Rossignol’s business, given its overlap in participating geographies, consumers and distribution channels as well as complementarity in seasonality," said Bruno Cercley, CEO of Rossignol.

"While we will work at continuously strengthening the Felt brand globally, we will leverage our common expertise to launch a new range of Rossignol mountain bikes during 2018.”

Reuters quotes Cercley as saying that he aims to double Felt's $60m annual revenues within the next five years, which would place it on a par with companies like BMC and Canyon.

Felt's racing heritage


feltvr01-1469934634339-87yks1isgy1k-1486119442069-siltq84qm3r1-630-354.jpg

The plan is to double sales within five years


Felt Bicycles was founded in California in 1994 by motorbike mechanic and triathlete Jim Felt and has supplied numerous bikes to UCI teams in the Tour de France, including Garmin-Slipstream.

It produces a wide range of models across road, mountain, track, BMX, e-bikes and cruisers, but is probably best known for its triathlon/TT bikes, which include the Kona-winning IA Series.

Rossignol states on its website that it is entering a new stage of development, "evolving from a snowsport-specific brand, to a mountain lifestyle brand," and includes product design and development for all year-round mountain sports and culture.

jamieBeach-125-80.jpg

Jamie Beach
Deputy Editor, UK
 
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Philpug

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Meh. Time has survived the Rossi experience for now. Hope they don't waltz in and arse around too much with Felt.
The new Rossignol is not the Quicksilver Rossignol.
 

Philpug

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For those reading this from Rossignol HQ...We have soem serious riders here who would love to test bikes in the summer.
 

cantunamunch

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The new Rossignol is not the Quicksilver Rossignol.

Good. The Quicksilver Rossignol is best forgotten.

I can put my previous post another way if you like: I am more than a little curious how Felt provided critical mass for Rossignol MTB launch where Time didn't - in spite of Time's cycling cred with LeMond and Indurain frex.

Talking of lifestyle brands, it would be very interesting for me to see them buddy up with Powerslide. A bit of XC boot redesign, eh @neonorchid :D :D
 
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Philpug

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Good. The Quicksilver Rossignol is best forgotten.

I can put my previous post another way if you like: I am more than a little curious how Felt provided critical mass for Rossignol MTB launch where Time didn't - in spite of Time's cycling cred with LeMond and Indurain frex.
We have seen ski manufacturers venture into the bike world with limited success, K2, Kastle, Stockli and very well the most successful, Look. Lets hope Rossignol learns from the others shortcomings.
 

cantunamunch

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OK, I appreciate your enthusiasm there, but seriously, all that curbside waiting and drooling and hand-rubbing are distracting people from driving properly.
 
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Tom K.

Tom K.

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Holy mackerel, Batman, somebody edited (expanded, actually) the dickens out of my initial post.

Which is fine by me. It just makes it look like I'm a lot more of an insider than is actually the case.

I'm currently supported by others, but I have to say that Felt makes an mtb that I'd happily use in endurance racing. Don't know much at all about their road offerings. Let's hope Rossi's resources just makes the brand stronger.
 

pud

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Holy mackerel, Batman, somebody edited (expanded, actually) the dickens out of my initial post.

Which is fine by me. It just makes it look like I'm a lot more of an insider than is actually the case.

I'm currently supported by others, but I have to say that Felt makes an mtb that I'd happily use in endurance racing. Don't know much at all about their road offerings. Let's hope Rossi's resources just makes the brand stronger.
 

pud

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Felt road and tri bikes are as good as it gets. Their bikes have won stages in the Tour de France and many world triathlon championships. The partnership with Rossignol should give them a boost in their marketing and name recognition.
 

cantunamunch

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For completeness' sake, I will note that Rossignol no longer own Felt. Felt have been housemates with KTM for a year now. *moto cheer*

 

Tony Storaro

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For completeness' sake, I will note that Rossignol no longer own Felt. Felt have been housemates with KTM for a year now. *moto cheer*


Rossignol and bicycles do not mix well.
 

pud

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Rossignol and bicycles do not mix well.
It was originally good for Felt to sell to Rossignol because the owners were able to cash out after building the Felt brand up. Hopefully KTM will improve the product, marketing , and the Felt name will continue.
 

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