Major UK cycling distributor behind Orro Bikes enters administration and 'all staff asked to leave without September pay'

All staff at UK-based cycling distributor I-ride, best known for its popular in-house bike brand Orro Bikes, have been made redundant and are still without pay for last month after the company entered administration, sources have told road.cc. 

I-ride distributed many major brands' products across the cycling industry, including those of Campagnolo, Continental and De Rosa and had last year moved to a new multi-million pound facility in East Sussex.

However, road.cc has heard from a source at the company that it has entered administration, with all staff made redundant and asked to leave yesterday. The source also suggested that nobody has been paid for September, a claim that has been backed up by others.

I-ride's parent company Martlet Group has not yet commented, nor has the distributor itself, Martlet Group's Companies House page so far unchanged too. We have contacted I-ride for confirmation of the accounts emerging from those formerly employed with the distributor but had not received a reply at the time of publication.

I-ride calls itself "the specialists' specialist" and distributed products for SeaSucker, Kool-Stop, Gemini Lights, Green Oil, DeFeet, Cyclus Tools, Catlike, Seatylock, Token and more, in addition to the bigger name brands listed earlier in this article.

In August, the distributor advertised a "huge overstock clearance" sale with "cheapest prices ever" on a host of products, including some from Shimano, SRAM, FSA, Fulcrum and Continental, suggesting I-ride may be struggling with the inventory troubles felt across the bike industry since Covid.

Last year, fellow distributor Moore Large entered liquidation, the distributor for brands such as Tern Bicycles, Lake and Forme going under one year on from the long-running business being sold to board directors from the Moore family.

That meant stock worth £35 million was auctioned off, with 35,000 bikes and £10 million worth of bike accessories listed via John Pye. The inevitable scrum saw road bikes sell for as little as £110 and further huge discounts elsewhere as Moore Large's stock was shipped off at whatever price could be got.

Two months later, Livingston-based distributor 2pure entered administration, before another UK cycle distributor FLi ceased trading shortly after.

FLi Distribution's director Colin Williams was outspoken in the aftermath, 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.

"If you voted for Brexit, please realise this is 90 per cent because of your decision back in 2016," he said. "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."