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“If you voted for Brexit, please realise this is 90% because of your decision”: UK cycle distributor FLi ceases trading

“I’m done with the red tape and the barriers to trade,” FLi Distribution’s director Colin Williams said

Brexit’s impact on the UK’s cycling industry is once again under the spotlight after FLi Distribution’s director blamed the “red tape and barriers to trade” currently affecting businesses as the Huddersfield-based distributor ceased trading with immediate effect.

FLi – which began life in 2008 as FLi Race Team Management, before transitioning to distribution – was known for supplying KTM bikes to the UK for over a decade, a relationship which ended in April this year.

The distributor notified dealers and suppliers of its decision to cease trading earlier this month, with director Colin Williams citing the impact of Brexit, the complexities and restrictions surrounding UK and EU trading, and the difficulties facing the bike industry in the post-Covid lockdown period as the main reasons behind FLi’s demise.

> The rising price of cycling — why are bikes more expensive and how is the industry coping?

Confirming the news, Williams posted on LinkedIn: “That’s it, FLi is done. Thank you to everyone who’s supported FLi over the past 15-plus years… it would not have been possible without all of you who’ve helped out in thousands of ways, making 99 percent of my time running FLi so much fun. So if you’ve helped in any way, thank you, it’s been a great ride.

“But if you voted for Brexit, please realise this is 90 percent because of your decision back in 2016. I have no idea what will be next, but as the people close to me know, whatever it is, it’ll be better than the last 18 months.

“I’m done fighting, I’m done with the red tape and the barriers to trade. It hadn’t been fun for some time, so the time was right to end it now, life is too short. The relief now the decision is made is amazing, but I am so sorry for any negative impacts it will have on anyone and I’m doing my best to resolve any and all of them where I can.”

> Will Shimano CUES ease future bike industry supply chain dilemmas? Unified groupsets will “reduce inventory needs and simplifies the servicing process” says components giant

Earlier this year, Williams told the road.cc Podcast that the bottom line of companies in the UK bike industry is being squeezed like never before, thanks to the supply chain and manufacturing disruption brought on by the pandemic, as well as the impact of Brexit on trade.

He explained that because many brands service the European market through distribution operations within the EU, this means that typically products will arrive in the UK from the bloc – adding on not just administrative burdens but also costs for distributors and retailers here.

> Bike industry turmoil continues as UK cycle distributor 2pure enters administration

Those additional costs have had a crippling effect on the UK’s cycling distributors, with FLi the latest in a growing line of distribution companies to cease trading this year alone.

In May, Livingston-based distributor 2pure entered administration, just months after the company announced that it was restructuring to focus solely on the cycling industry, following what it described as a “highly volatile” 2022 caused by macro-economic events in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And in March, Moore Large, the leading UK distributor for well-known brands such as Tern Bicycles, Lake, Forme, ETC, Emmelle, and MeThree, entered liquidation, leading to its £35 million product inventory being auctioned off.

> Forme bikes and Lake cycling shoes distributor enters liquidation

Formed from the bike shop opened by John Moore in 1947, the Derby-based distributor was founded 30 years later and owned by the Moore family up until last year when, following growth since the pandemic, the board’s directors bought ownership from the family.

Dale Vanderplank, Adam Garner, Adam Biggs, and Andrew Walker acquired the business on 19 April 2022, with retiring chairman Nigel Moore at the time saying that the “last few years have been particularly successful and it is now the right time for me to hand over the company to the existing management team”.

However, four months ago the company confirmed its closure, adding to an increasingly bleak time for a UK cycle industry beset by inflation, changing consumer habits, overstock, and a challenging economic climate.

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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153 comments

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NOtotheEU replied to RDaneel | 11 months ago
3 likes

RDaneel wrote:

You haven't answered my questions re how free movement of Commonwealth countries citizens would be received by Brexiteers if it were proposed now. With open arms right?

I suspect it would not be popular, especially with any racist Brexiteers. This was my original point which I don't think I've explained very well. Racist people obviously didn't realise how our old immigration system was stacked against non white countries so I believe they should have voted remain.

RDaneel wrote:

And to be clear the only area of free movement you're against is the EU one because of something to do with a British decision to not continue Commonwealth movement to the U.K. ? That just seems massively incoherent  

I never stated I was for or against any area of free movement. I said "I'm not against the concept of free movement of people in an agreed area, I'm against race being the deciding factor". If that is incoherent then I apologise.

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RDaneel replied to NOtotheEU | 11 months ago
2 likes

okay so..free movement areas 

 

New Zealand- Australia, geographically close.
UK -Ireland, geographically close. 
Proposed African free movement - geographically close

Eu free movement - based on race only.
Where is your idea that the EU set up was soley based on race come from while my other examples are not? 
 

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NOtotheEU replied to RDaneel | 11 months ago
2 likes

RDaneel wrote:

okay so..free movement areas 

New Zealand- Australia, geographically close.
UK -Ireland, geographically close. 
Proposed African free movement - geographically close

Eu free movement - based on race only.
Where is your idea that the EU set up was soley based on race come from while my other examples are not? 

Sorry, I'm clearly doing a terrible job explaining myself.

1. My problem is with the UK, not the EU. Our immigration system was fair (ish) then it was racist, now it can be fair again if we want it to be.

2. Brexit supporting racists thought they were voting for a 'whiter' immigration policy but we had one already.

Nothing more, nothing less. No comment on the EU, Africa, NZ/AUS or ROI/UK. No wish to insult or berate anyone who voted differently to me. No particular wish to argue with anyone (which is why I try to resist the urge to post on EU matters), just my opinion.

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RDaneel replied to NOtotheEU | 11 months ago
2 likes

NOtotheEU wrote:

RDaneel wrote:

okay so..free movement areas 

New Zealand- Australia, geographically close.
UK -Ireland, geographically close. 
Proposed African free movement - geographically close

Eu free movement - based on race only.
Where is your idea that the EU set up was soley based on race come from while my other examples are not? 

Sorry, I'm clearly doing a terrible job explaining myself.

1. My problem is with the UK, not the EU. Our immigration system was fair (ish) then it was racist, now it can be fair again if we want it to be.

2. Brexit supporting racists thought they were voting for a 'whiter' immigration policy but we had one already.

Nothing more, nothing less. No comment on the EU, Africa, NZ/AUS or ROI/UK. No wish to insult or berate anyone who voted differently to me. No particular wish to argue with anyone (which is why I try to resist the urge to post on EU matters), just my opinion.

I almost lost the will to live on this one to be honest!  😃 And if I'm being totally honest I'm still not sure your position but hey this has gone on far longer than either of us needs lol

Have a good evening (Knee bloke can still Fck off though 😉) 

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NOtotheEU replied to RDaneel | 11 months ago
1 like

Thanks, you too (the good evening, not the other).

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David9694 replied to NOtotheEU | 11 months ago
0 likes

NOtotheEU wrote:

RDaneel wrote:

okay so..free movement areas 

New Zealand- Australia, geographically close.
UK -Ireland, geographically close. 
Proposed African free movement - geographically close

Eu free movement - based on race only.
Where is your idea that the EU set up was soley based on race come from while my other examples are not? 

Sorry, I'm clearly doing a terrible job explaining myself.

No particular wish to argue with anyone (which is why I try to resist the urge to post on EU matters), just my opinion.

user name much? 

Avatar
NOtotheEU replied to David9694 | 11 months ago
5 likes

David9694 wrote:

user name much? 

I'm aware of the triggering nature of the user name so I thought posting this was poking a little fun at myself;

NOtotheEU wrote:

Thank goodness there is nothing to indicate which way I voted . . . . 😇

Given that 95% of the posters here seem to be pro EU I usually leave these discussions alone but sometimes I can't resist giving you all the benefit of my wisdom, or spouting a complete load of cobblers depending on your viewpoint. I'm good with either.

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David9694 replied to NOtotheEU | 10 months ago
3 likes

Another Brexiter trivialising and making light of the devastating effect their choice is having and will have on people's livelihoods and futures. 

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mark1a | 11 months ago
6 likes

Just off out on my bike to get some more popcorn.

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Hirsute replied to mark1a | 11 months ago
2 likes

Completely off topic, but in the car the other day, I saw in the mirror a driver approaching at a bit more than the speed limit. Immediately looked down at the dash to see their approach speed. Oh... no radar !

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levestane | 11 months ago
8 likes

Still difficult to believe that folk thought UK politicians on their own could do a better job than when moderated by the European concensus.

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Backladder replied to levestane | 11 months ago
9 likes

levestane wrote:

Still difficult to believe that folk thought UK politicians on their own could do a better job than when moderated by the European concensus.

I must admit I never expected the UK population would be daft enough to elect BJ, since he has been in charge things have gone downhill fast and nobody since has shown any signs of being able to fix it!

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hairyairey replied to Backladder | 11 months ago
0 likes

Moderated? With continued EU expansion our bill was going up but our actual influence was going down! Then there's the corrupt way the EU Commission gets its own way, for example passing a bill that the minority of MEPs voted for. This was due to a voting error, they corrected the voting record but kept the bill anyway. It stinks.

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GMBasix | 11 months ago
4 likes

It's what The Country voted for. All of it. Every blade of grass. Not even close.
dOn'T yOu BeLiEvE iN dEmOcRaCy??!?!

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swldxer replied to GMBasix | 11 months ago
14 likes

Yes - where is it?

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ktache replied to swldxer | 11 months ago
15 likes

I'm liking this different form of pedantry from swldxer.

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Clem Fandango replied to ktache | 11 months ago
4 likes

WING MIRRORS

 

*retires to safe distance*

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David9694 replied to Clem Fandango | 11 months ago
2 likes

*standing next to you

WD-40 - great lubricant

road bike disc brakes - weight, complexity and expense anyone? 

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swldxer replied to Clem Fandango | 10 months ago
3 likes

Metro brochure from 1980. smiley

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Sriracha replied to swldxer | 11 months ago
0 likes
swldxer wrote:

Yes - where is it?

Not too sure what your point is. Are you for democratically taken decisions, or against? Or does that depend on whether you agree with the outcome? As to the two legislatures you highlight - what's the relevance? Neither of them took the decision.

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swldxer replied to Sriracha | 11 months ago
4 likes

If you want a decision on leaving the EU, you don't ask Alf and Doris down the whelk stall at Clacton who hate foreigners, because they have no clue as shown here. Best leave these things to people who know what they are talking about, not racist thickos.

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Rich_cb replied to swldxer | 11 months ago
0 likes

We should probably just strip all working class people of the vote.

They simply don't understand what's good for them.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Rich_cb | 11 months ago
6 likes

Surprisingly the "record" wage growth was generated by lots of stikes and even the raises from most of those was still less then the cost of living.

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Rich_cb replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 11 months ago
0 likes

The trend is pretty clear prior to Ukraine.

A tighter labour market has led to increasing real wages.

We had a long period of below inflation wage rises between 2008 and 2014, that was probably the biggest single cause of Brexit IMHO.

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Brauchsel replied to Rich_cb | 11 months ago
3 likes

Could you post the same graph, but showing real (i.e. relative to inflation) rather than nominal wage growth please?

It's a bit misleading otherwise, as people might think that 2% wage growth in 2015 when inflation was basically zero was worse than 8% in 2022 with 10% inflation. 

I'm sure it's a simple mistake rather than dishonestly trumpeting half a story in the hope fiscally-unaware readers/voters will be taken in. The corrected graph would look nice on the side of a bus. 

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Rich_cb replied to Brauchsel | 11 months ago
1 like

Certainly.

Barring the statistical quirks of 2020 we've have good real wage growth up until the effects of Ukraine.

Prior to 2016 we'd had a long period of negative real wage growth.

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Steve K replied to Rich_cb | 11 months ago
5 likes

Rich_cb wrote:

Certainly. Barring the statistical quirks of 2020 we've have good real wage growth up until the effects of Ukraine. Prior to 2016 we'd had a long period of negative real wage growth.

Not really, no https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64970708 

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Rich_cb replied to Steve K | 11 months ago
0 likes

Your own link shows real wages rising post referendum and falling before it.

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Rendel Harris replied to Rich_cb | 11 months ago
2 likes

Always a great sign that everything's going well - see Germany, 1923.

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Steve K replied to Rich_cb | 11 months ago
0 likes

. (already been done, sorry)

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