Bowman Cycles liquidates after "absolute clusterf**k" of supply chain issues

Exactly. Companies need shorter, more resilient supply chains. This is going to be the big economic theme of this cycle. Manufacturing will come back onshore and things will get more expensive. Much more expensive, if the BoE continues to sit on its hands. Good excuse for ordering N+1 today.

exilegareth wrote:

When did someone who screws together parts made by other people become a manufacturer? They're an assembler. The risk in being dependent on suppliers, or sub contractors, for everything you do, is the one that's come to fruition for Bowman - the suppliers don't deliver, and you're out of the game. That's not the fault of the guys behind Bowman, because that's how cycle retailing is right now, but let's be honest about that. 

And a large number of larger bike manufacturers are in the same position, subcontracting frame manufacture to various small firms in taiwan, while ordering their components from shimano or sram.

In may cases they likely own the IP on those frames, but they are still reliant on their subcontractors to deliver.

It's not the frames that are the issue though is it? It's everything that goes into it - groupsets for the most part.

Is there a single company in the world that makes everything it needs for a bike? Even Shimano don't do that and they are one of only 3 companies that probably could

There one reason, and one reason only why companies that Bowman do what they do - money. People would moan at their prices if they brought it all (groupsets aside) in house. It'd add 2k minimum to each frame - and would make them a niche framebuilder the same as all the other niche framebuilders. And people would still need to wait for ever to get one.

You were very late to that particular party...

srchar wrote:

Only here to see how many people blame the global supply chain collapse on Brexit.

Yar me too.. hoping there's still the legs in here to blame it on Team Ineos too.. I'm pretty sure the demon Jim Ratcliffe had a hand in Bowmans demise. 

brooksby wrote:

Their statement of affairs lists assets valued at c.£12K available to pay creditors; and lists the main creditors as totalling c.£167K, being £38K to HMRC ...

Guessing there is no need to read further, as HMRC usually get first dibs, particularly when the total assets only cover a fraction of their outstanding HMRC bills. 

Jetmans Dad wrote:

brooksby wrote:

Their statement of affairs lists assets valued at c.£12K available to pay creditors; and lists the main creditors as totalling c.£167K, being £38K to HMRC ...

Guessing there is no need to read further, as HMRC usually get first dibs, particularly when the total assets only cover a fraction of their outstanding HMRC bills. 

Although if it's a voluntary agreement, that may mean that HMRC have agreed to take pennies in the pound in order to get something, leaving some pocket change for the other creditors. I doubt that includes customers, though.

How racey? How much do you like rim brakes? How fixed are you on Alu?

There's a lot of choice of entry level road bikes with Alu frames and rim brakes, but if you want something a bit lighter and more aggressive for racing then the majority of the market becomes disc brake and/or carbon frames.

Condor Italia RC might fit the bill? 

I'm ok with disks but I want alu because of lower environmental impact than carbon (though I would have to have carbon forks). The industry is riding the wave of COP26 but needs to look at how much landfill carbon it's creating.

Cannondale CAAD13 BMC Teammachine ALR or Trek Emonda ALR - all light and racy enough but all have pressfit BBs

Kinesis Aithein? 

Interesting, thanks for the tip

Hope you have got some bling to hang off your frame?  Shimano parts are like hens teath at the moment,  Thats a global pandemic, and the only shops that  have stock that I can see via google are German, for example bike24 and the like. They will not ship to the uk only Northen Ireland, thats Brexit, double the pain and trouble for us in the UK!  It as I can see is that the big brands are hovering up all the stock to hang off there new 2022 bikes and have left nothing for any one else to puchase.  The intresing side note is that a brand like Gaint has been for a while now making more and more in house stuff to put on there bikes, it started with bars seatpost ect and then wheels and behond, in MTB they have there own fork the Crest. This may not just be a cost thing it may also enable them to control  what they have and bulid in hard times. All this is were Bowman and many others smaller players are losing out and I think we the consumer lose also as we are ever forced down a ever narrower road of choice!

60kg lean keen climbing machine wrote:

The intresing side note is that a brand like Gaint has been for a while now making more and more in house stuff to put on there bikes, it started with bars seatpost ect and then wheels and behond, in MTB they have there own fork the Crest. 

Giant arent a great example - in fact the're nearly completely opposite.  They own half the factories in Tiawan producing OEM stuff.  Half the finishing kits on half the other brands come from them.

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/8910/size-matters-how-giant-became-th...

As is the way of the world, success breeds success. ‘Giant is the only bicycle company that covers the full value chain from R&D through manufacturing to marketing and branding,’ says Li. ‘Despite our size, and because everything can be done in-house, we can get market information quickly and respond quickly.’

‘I feel that raw material suppliers are eager to work with Giant,’ says Klemm. ‘Our reputation definitely gets us in the door if it’s a new partnership and allows us to work collaboratively. Most of the time we have the capacity to experiment in-house and will then approach a supplier with a concept – for items that we cannot simply produce ourselves, that is.’

These wide-reaching internal capabilities have only become more valuable in recent times. Klemm says they have allowed the company to adapt quickly and work around the complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic with minimum disruption. In some cases the enforced change has even been to the brand’s benefit.

Taken from link posted?  I may have not have used the right words as My dslexic brain thows a cuve ball sometimes but this may be a good reason for using Gaint as My example.  So sad to see that a company such as bowman go, The palace 3 was a good if not special bike and I hope its spirit will live on and we will see more of these type of bikes and the poeple who make them in the near future.

Get a Cervelo Soloist S1 in alu if you can find one, first generation aero, as light, probably fast, screw in BB shell, internal cables, and looks a pearler. 

And if you come across a 61cm version in black and silver with a dent in the cross tube and a nice Italian groupset and Zipp 404s....it's mine. Nicked from the back of my car by a couple of IKEA catalogue distributors...Annoying as it came from the CSC HQ in the Alps.

The BMC Teammachine ALR01 has threaded bottom bracket which was a criteria for me as well when looking for an alumininum frame bike. 

Try BETD components. They specialise hangers. If they haven't got it they can copy your one.

Why we have ended up with an industry that creates literally thousands of hanger variants I don't know. Surely the design needs could be resolved down to a dozen or so for new bikes?