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Shimano sales down 12% in 2024, but cycling components giant points to "signs of progress"

Manufacturer reports income in its bicycle division is down a quarter on 2023 amid ongoing inventory woes and a challenging economic picture

Shimano's sales and income from bicycle components are significantly down on 2023, according to its latest financial results published today.

The figures are for the first nine months of 2024, with sales in its bicycle components division down 12 per cent to 253,861 million yen (£1.27 billion), while the segment's income has dropped by more than a quarter, down 26 per cent to 41,342 million yen (£207 million).

There were signs the bike industry's ongoing inventory challenges may be heading in the right direction, Shimano pointing out that "strong interest in bicycles continued as a long-term trend" and inventories at retailers "started to show signs of progress".

2024 Shimano GRX 12-speed Di2 front mech

However, market inventories of completed bicycles "remained high", notably in Europe where Shimano blamed "unfavourable weather conditions in early spring" for weak retail sales of completed bikes.

The components giant, often viewed as a bellwether for the cycling industry as a whole, suggested there were signs the global economy "show signs of a pickup" following a "stagnant period", although regional challenges remain.

Shimano also pointed to the geopolitical risks caused by the prolonged invasion of Ukraine, "rising tensions in the Middle East", as well as a "stagnant" Chinese economy for exerting "downward pressure on the economic climate".

> Shimano hints new Cues entry-level drop bar groupset coming in "early 2025" after tech leaked in Cube gravel bike launch

The bicycle division's results largely reflect the wider company performance, Shimano's first nine months of 2024 seeing an 11 per cent fall in overall sales and operating income drop by a third (for cycling business alone, sales were down 12 per cent and income by 26 per cent).

The company reported its North American sales had softened, "although interest in bicycles was firm and adjustments of market inventories of completed bicycles were progressing".

In Asia, Oceania, Central and South America sales were "weak" and inventories "high" amid "sluggish" personal consumption. The popularity of cycling in China continuing to grow brought "favourable" performance, although the company's home Japanese market was reported to be "sluggish" too.

Shimano said it had received a "favourable reception" for the launch of its 12-speed mechanical 105 R7100 groupset and 12-speed GRX.

Interestingly, Shimano last year disclosed a 17,074 million yen (£85.5 million) loss on free inspections following its voluntary inspection and replacement recall notice for 760,000 Dura-Ace and Ultegra bonded 11-Speed road cranksets in North America, and a "safety inspection" in Europe. No figure has been provided in the financial results for the first nine months of 2024.

Investigating Shimano’s snapping cranksets Sept 2023

> "Banned" bike shop claims Shimano won't let it inspect Hollowtech cranksets as part of "inspection and replacement" programme due to failing 100% of them

In a further sign of the turbulent times facing many cycling businesses in recent years, last week we reported that Rapha's losses had almost doubled to £22.7 million last year. UK turnover dropped 20 per cent in 2023 amid a "challenged" cycling sector, in what was the brand's seventh consecutive year in the red.

Halfords shared financial results last week too, adding that the UK cycling market remains challenging following "UK's wettest spring since 1986".

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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13 comments

Avatar
S.E. | 2 days ago
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When I compare my 11 sp mechanical S 105/GRX to my 30 years old and cheaper 7 sp RSX, the RSX is clearly smoother, and scratches are less visible on the bare metal than with black paint...

Also the way these new cranksets and big rings are build (Hollowtech?) is weird, I need to clean and grease regularly else it's creaking, and the holes and asperities make it more difficult than needed.

I have no experience with other manufacturers, but I might be tempted in this light, although I can't complain about functionality, all my groupsets are solid for now...

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PoorInRichfield | 3 days ago
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I wonder how SRAM's sales were over the last year.  I only own bikes with Shimano components, but it's pretty obvious that SRAM has been innovating at a much faster pace than Shimano and taking more and more of the market share (or so I would think). 

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Velophaart_95 replied to PoorInRichfield | 2 days ago
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Sram, like Campagnolo don't offer any entry level groupsets; they have no equivalents of Cues, Sora, Tiagra, etc

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Rendel Harris replied to Velophaart_95 | 2 days ago
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Velophaart_95 wrote:

Sram, like Campagnolo don't offer any entry level groupsets; they have no equivalents of Cues, Sora, Tiagra, etc

SRAM Rival, Campag Centaur and Shimano Tiagra groupsets are all about the same price (£450-£500) with retailers at the moment. 

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mark1a replied to Rendel Harris | 2 days ago
1 like

Rendel Harris wrote:

Velophaart_95 wrote:

Sram, like Campagnolo don't offer any entry level groupsets; they have no equivalents of Cues, Sora, Tiagra, etc

SRAM Rival, Campag Centaur and Shimano Tiagra groupsets are all about the same price (£450-£500) with retailers at the moment. 

Some would consider Centaur and Rival to be equivalent to 105 (mid range) rather than entry level in the sense that Shimano's ESSA & CUES offerings are, aimed at, for example, low cost OEMs in the sub £500 bikes sector. 

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Rendel Harris replied to mark1a | 2 days ago
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Of course there are a wide range of definitions of what entry level might mean, obviously I was thinking more of price point; I don't know how they've developed in recent years as all my bikes are Shimano but Mrs H had Rival on her road bike of four years ago and my impression of it then was that it was closer in terms of build quality and smoothness to Tiagra than 105. On the other hand Tiagra is now of such good quality that it could be argued that it's not entry level either...

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wtjs | 3 days ago
2 likes

As a satisfied Sora user, I am looking forward to the reported Cues replacement, with an emphasis on durability

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ErnieC replied to wtjs | 3 days ago
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wtjs wrote:

As a satisfied Sora user, I am looking forward to the reported Cues replacement, with an emphasis on durability

Agreed - I am using Tiagra on my commute/go anywhere and have fun bike and it has been rock solid from day one.

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Langsam replied to wtjs | 2 days ago
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Better value elsewhere (Microshift)

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IanEdward | 3 days ago
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Well I'm sure thry won't miss customers like me but they've lost my future custom now they only do electric shifting at the high end, why would I spend more for a heavier system with added battery faff (EVERYONE I know with electric gears has had battery/charge issues at some point) when I can pay less for Campag Record?

They've committed to inherently more expensive technology that not everyone wants, possibly the story of the bike industry right now 😂

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ErnieC replied to IanEdward | 3 days ago
1 like

IanEdward wrote:

Well I'm sure thry won't miss customers like me but they've lost my future custom now they only do electric shifting at the high end, why would I spend more for a heavier system with added battery faff (EVERYONE I know with electric gears has had battery/charge issues at some point) when I can pay less for Campag Record? They've committed to inherently more expensive technology that not everyone wants, possibly the story of the bike industry right now 😂

Would be good for goupset manufacturers to realise that not everyone wants nor needs electronic sifting and disc brakes.

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hawkinspeter | 3 days ago
2 likes

Oh snap!

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Boopop | 3 days ago
1 like

I might have bought a Shimano groupset this year if they'd offered something similar to the Wheeltop EDS TX rim brake groupset I bought, but alas they don't. Cable actuated brake support, and also I can upgrade to whatever speed I like - currently on 9 speed.

I hope with Wheeltop buying Rotor, they can come in to the Western market and shake things up a bit. Campag are really fading away as every year goes by, and Shimano and SRAM don't seem to be innovating much in the low to mid-range.

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