SAD NEWS
**UPDATED** Rocky Mountain Bicycles Files for Bankruptcy Protection
UPDATE:
Today, Rocky Mountain posted the following statement to their website:
The original story remains, below the break.
Statement from Rocky Mountain:
For over four decades, Rocky Mountain Bicycles has been at the forefront of mountain biking innovation. From the rugged trails of the North Shore to the global stage, our bikes have inspired a passion for adventure and a love for the ride. Today, we face an unprecedented challenge. But true to our heritage, we are determined to meet this moment with resilience and a commitment to our community.
Yesterday, we announced a restructuring process with a clear goal: to preserve the legacy of Rocky Mountain and position ourselves for long-term success, which unfortunately includes a temporary reduction in workforce to maintain basic operations. This chapter will be challenging, but it also presents an opportunity to reflect, adapt, and grow. The trails ahead may be steep, but our spirit is unwavering. At Rocky Mountain, we have always embraced challenges as opportunities to push boundaries and redefine what’s possible.
What remains constant is our commitment to the people who make Rocky Mountain what it is: our riders, dealers, and partners. To our loyal customers, know that our dedication to crafting exceptional bikes has never wavered. We also want to assure you that warranty coverage, spare parts availability, and technical support will remain fully operational, as we continue to prioritize the needs of our community. Whether you're tackling technical trails, exploring alpine adventures, or enjoying weekend rides, you are part of the Rocky Mountain story. To our dealers and partners, your trust and collaboration have been instrumental to our journey, and we are grateful for your continued support.
We also want to acknowledge the incredible team behind the brand—the designers, engineers, and dreamers who pour their passion into every Rocky Mountain Bike. It is their creativity and drive that will carry us through this period of transformation.
Thank you for your belief in Rocky Mountain. Together, we will navigate this journey and continue to inspire riders worldwide. The ride doesn’t end here—it’s just beginning.
#LoveTheRide
Originally posted December 19, 2024:
We are saddened to hear that Rocky Mountain Bicycles has filed for bankruptcy protection.
We heard rumblings several weeks ago that Rocky was in trouble, after approximately 14 employees were laid off from their North Vancouver, St. Georges, and European offices. Unfortunately, even worse news has come to pass, as we've now heard the entire North Vancouver office staff (minus one or two positions) have now been let go. It is believed that will include sponsored athletes, however we don't have confirmation of that at this time. The below release was pulled from newswire.ca:
SAINT-GEORGES, QC, Dec. 19, 2024 - RAD Industries Inc. (the "Company" or "Rocky Mountain") announced today that it has filed an application with the Superior Court of Québec (Commercial Division) (the "Court") for Court protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ('CCAA').
Despite strong demand for its bikes during the pandemic, the Company struggled to secure supplies due to shortages and rising costs. Once the pandemic was over, the Company had to contend with a sharp drop in selling prices.
As a result, margins have tightened, putting unprecedented financial pressure on the Company. Rocky Mountain has no choice but to initiate restructuring procedures to launch the Sales and Investment Solicitation Process (SISP) to become a resilient and successful long-term business.
By undertaking a restructuring process under the CCAA, the Company will be able to avoid business interruption as much as possible and reduce the resulting impacts of the current situation. The Company will ask the Court to appoint Ernst & Young to act as Monitor under the CCAA. Lavery de Billy is acting as Legal Counsel to the Company.
About Rocky Mountain
Rocky Mountain Bicycles has been designing, developing, and perfecting mountain bikes in and around North Vancouver, BC, since 1981. The diverse playground of the North Shore has offered us the ideal proving grounds for all kinds of riding. Split between our R&D centre in North Vancouver (British Columbia) and our head office in Saint-Georges (Québec), our team has an impressive heritage. We are a Canadian company with a global reach, and our goal is to deliver an exceptional experience. From the moment you throw a leg over one of our bikes, it's clear that they're made for people who Love the Ride.
SOURCE Rocky Mountain
We have reached out to Rocky Mountain for comment, but so far they have declined to provide further information. We will update this article as news becomes available.
Comments
Jotegir
1 month ago
I'm willing to bet that there's little danger in the Rocky Mountain catalogue and brand name ceasing to carry on, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was still under the same head company. There's no doubt I've made my fair share of objectively critical comments about Rocky's platforms, but the source of those criticisms is the sheer amount of time I've spent on the platforms and the fact that yes, I absolutely care about what this brand is doing.
The most upsetting thing so far is hearing about the North Van staff (and elsewhere) being laid off. I don't know if, from a b2b perspective, there was a better group of folks to deal with over the 10 years I was at a Rocky dealer. Getting the answer you needed was a phone call away, and if they didn't have it, they'd get it. I remember they once got me to the guys who literally made the dynamine motor for some advanced troubleshooting; that's some truly one-of-a-kind customer service! No other brand has a guy like KP in the forum comments telling users that yes, they can run some stupid shock and wheel setup the engineers never intended, provided they do it in X-Y-Z manner. Another time I was discussing getting a particular shock for a personal bike via telephone with a team member, and the guy one desk over overheard and jumped in with recommendations that in the end were the right way to go.
Fingers crossed after a pause they can resume operations, in particular with a significant and continued presence in their original home of North Van. That team is a hell of an asset and it's a shame to see them go.
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Suns_PSD
1 month ago
Can I ask who makes the Dyname motors? I'm still very interested in picking up an Instinct SL but long term upkeep is now suddenly a very real concern.
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Jotegir
1 month ago
I can't say if the company that owns Dyname is technically under the same ownership but I would assume so, the designers I talked to I understood were out of the Rocky Quebec office. I think there originally was some Quebec manufacturing when they were running their weird belt drive system but I believe the actual manufacturing now happens in Asia.
Let's see what happens, IMO dyname might be their most valuable asset other than the branding right now? It really is quite good.... Whether a proprietary system is desirable to others is another question.
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Cooper Quinn
1 month ago
Dyname is also owned by Raymond Dutile, who owns Rocky. But it is a separate entity - Rocky has no ownership of Dyname as an asset, Rocky has a licensing deal for Dyname motors.
If you have a look, Dyname motors have been used in a few other applications through the years, but nothing that you're likely to have encountered.
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Wapti
1 month ago
Shame.
Wonder how much the domain "bikes.com" is worth.
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Cooper Quinn
1 month ago
Now, or in 1999?
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Pete Roggeman
1 month ago
THAT is an interesting take. In the exuberance of '99, possibly more than the biggest sales year RM had btwn then and now.
Now? I'm not up on url valuations but safe to say digital marketing and SEO has hurt the value of URLs since so much can be done now to supercede traditional search and SEO metrics. But it's still gotta be worth high 6 figures to someone.
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Lee Lau
1 month ago
More than $ 50k. Less than $80k. It's not a big dollar industry
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Pete Roggeman
1 month ago
I'd definitely trust you to know, Lee. But...not worth more than that to a potential retailer of some sort?
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Lee Lau
1 month ago
It's a commercial reason Pete. Any more than that it's less expensive to develop a brand, trademark etc.
Generic top level domain names aren't worth what they once were.
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Cooper Quinn
1 month ago
But I just bought pets.com
*I also shouldn't be too glib in the comments section here. A lot of good people are now looking for work, and that sucks.
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Jotegir
1 month ago
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Shinook
1 month ago
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Wapti
1 month ago
Maybe NSMB should buy it.
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IslandLife
1 month ago
Oh what!!? This sad to see, really hope they come out of this alive and not owned by PON. A '92 Rocky Mountain Hammer was my first "real" mountain bike (after riding a weird Louis Garneau). Decked that thing our with some double bend bull horns, a Girvin Flexstem and of course the requisite Dart/Smoke combo... wish I still had that bike. Along with GT, that's a couple classic brands potentially falling by the wayside.
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Dave Tolnai
1 month ago
I had a ‘91 hammer as my first real bike! Rocky Mountains were mythical to me back then, and I couldn’t believe I got to own one.
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Sanesh Iyer
1 month ago
Holy fack
Really sorry for the staff (especially at the North Vancouver office). I thought that we were far away from this possibility given the most recent layoff round.
This will also have a knock on effect to bike shops (and I guess likely up the supply chain). Probably quite a few jobs at risk at those layers as well...
I... Yeah. The people 💞.
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Cooper Quinn
1 month ago
Exactly.
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Sanesh Iyer
1 month ago
For the morbid details... ~70mil in Debt. Oof.
https://documentcentre.ey.com/#/detail-engmt?eid=630
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Jerry Willows
1 month ago
at that number, it's the end of the ride.
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RNAYEL
1 month ago
oooof
see item 41
41.1 Owes Wells Fargo 31.1M
41.2 Owes Scotiabank 12.5M
41.3 Owes Desjardins 13.7M
41.4 Owes the Gvt of Quebec 30K (haha)
41.5 Borrowed 2.3M from parent co
41.6 Owes supplies, trade payables of 8.2M
Total: $67.83M
They would have also run a surplus in 2023 and closer to break even in 2024 if they hadn't entered the failed venture to supply e-bikes and components to a bike sharing company (22.4)
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Cooper Quinn
1 month ago
The accountants and lawyers *always* win.
Adrian Bostock
1 month ago
KTM seems to be crawling back from apparently 3 billion in debt!
https://motomatters.com/news/2024/12/20/ktm_can_continue_in_current_form_700.html
Maybe there is hope?
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Jerry Willows
1 month ago
only 130,000 bikes in inventory.... should sell those super quick.
RNAYEL
1 month ago
re: The accountants and lawyers *always* win.
The folks are Stikeman Elliott are great people, and EY has one really great tax partner whose husband is part of the shore riding community, she's great.
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Abies
1 month ago
Sorry to hear about their staff. I hope it is temporary and they are able to be rehired.
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Matt-Splatt
1 month ago
Still have my 87(?) Avalanche frame and Syncros fork hanging above my work bench in the basement. Always loved the brand. Doing design work for them from 1999-2002 was such a thrill. Hopefully they can come back from this leaner and more sustainable.
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Lowcard
1 month ago
Terrible news about the staff, right before Christmas too. The whole industry seems to be in a rapid decline right now.
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Timer
1 month ago
The fallout of the after-covid contraction has only now arrived. It will level out in a few years. Still, very sad to see, especially since it seems to hit smaller brands the hardest.
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woofer2609
1 month ago
Damn. RMB has a place in my, and I'm sure other riders hearts as a company with its finger on the pulse of PNW riding styles and riders needs. The bikes were generally of good value, design, and quality (my 2022 Growler 20 not totally so).
Things may turn out well. But that is a hard pill to swallow for local employees, especially at this time of year. Being so close to the shore really allowed for up to the minute testing and model changes to stay at the vanguard. Looks like another company that felt like Covid type prices and sales numbers would never end.
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Kos
1 month ago
Well, shit, and right before Christmas. My heart goes out to the employees and the company itself.
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Mammal
1 month ago
Very sad news, I'm really feeling for the staff there. Lots of very good, passionate people involved in that operation. Not to mention, an pretty iconic installation of North Vancouver bikery.
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Mark
1 month ago
Sad new on several fronts, from the potential loss of an iconic brand to a group of people who were truly passionate about their work in wanting to share great products with people. I haven't owned a lot of Rockies and haven't bought new, but the brand definitely carries a decent level of mystique in my mind. Hopefully they can get things sorted out and people can go back to doing what they're good at.
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earle.b
1 month ago
Sad times. Was hopeful they'd pull through this slump without the drastic measure of closing the N.Van office.
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jdt
1 month ago
Had a Hammer, Cirrus (twice), and an Avalanche. Hammer was my first real mountain bike. Came with an Odyssey Pro "Vapor" stem with the elliptical cable pulley and a pump integrated with the seat-post. Hope there is more to come from Rocky. Absolutely foundational company in the development of bikes and riding. Long live the FroRiders!
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SuperScooter
1 month ago
I was in grade 8 when Rocky Mountain started their company. Since then I was lucky to own a Super Scooter, K2, Fusion and Soul. Nothing fancy and pretty low level components but they were always well built, reliable and high performance. The struggle today though is I am not a gear head obsessing about the components on my bike and neither are my middle aged friends so I know that I am not RM's customer anymore. I, and clearly a lot of today's consumers, judging by the amount of bankruptcy filings, do not have $10-$15,000.00+ to spend on something that you still have to peddle and practically sleep with it to keep it from being stolen! And I am not just singling out RM here. A lot of the bike manufacturers, Specialized, Trek, and a trillion more big brands are in the same boat. In the end, we are still just talking about bikes and yes, they are still a lot of fun to ride but manufacturers and stores are asking an arm and a leg to own them and taking care of my family takes the majority of my resources now.
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Pete Roggeman
1 month ago
Rocky and all the other brands you mentioned sell plenty of quality bikes starting at about $1k. You're looking at the equivalent of Ferraris and mistaking them for Camrys. The super high end bikes are out there, yes, but all of these brands rely on sales in the middle of the market, which is considerably less. RM decided to focus on MTB only back in '18, but the other brands you mentioned make shit tons of commuters, road, gravel, city, etc. These financial problems are not because of the small percentage of 10-15k bikes out there.
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Tehllama42
1 month ago
Easy to forget here in the realm of actually wearing out tires through off-road use, but those flagship models exist to sell reams of commuter grade stuff (that ironically has better overall margins and 10x the volume); but the same perceptions can carry over.
RM did make some of the best stuff on offer in that range (thinking of the Growler here), but being able to capitalize on that is obviously something I have no idea how to achieve.
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simonlovestheride
1 month ago
I love the brand and quality and the e bike is fantastic compared to others with a seamless motor.
I am so looking forward to buying another and supporting an incredible brand.
We bought one at Batemans buying another elsewhere as they don't have what I want
I just hope the warranty carries through
I am sure given what a loyal following they have it will
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Curveball
1 month ago
I very much hope that Rocky can recover from this and bring the Vancouver staff back on board.
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finbarr
1 month ago
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mrbrett
1 month ago
I just bought a Blizzard 5 days ago and found one in stock at a local shop rather than ordered online for this reason. I’m confident Rocky will get through this.
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Eastieboy
1 month ago
Remember earlier this summer when half the comments section was gettin' angry at me for implying that we needed to "grow the sport" and that inviting new folks in was a bad idea?!?!
Well, if the industry had succeeded at that, even a little bit, coming out of COVID, a lot of companies might not be in this mess...
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Tehllama42
1 month ago
We'd still be in this mess for sure. We'd be able to save maybe a few of the 185 odd brands that are out there, but prepare for many more announcements of this type.
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araz
1 month ago
Honest question -- has the sport not grown a decent bit in the last few years? I certainly seem to see a lot more riders on the trails around me than I did pre-pandemic. (Not that it couldn't grow more or in different ways, or that mtb bro culture doesn't alienate potential riders.) Maybe that growth didn't translate to a lot more sales after everyone got a bike in the big pandemic surge?
Sad news in any case. I rode a Rocky for a few years and liked it a lot.
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Tehllama42
1 month ago
It definitely has, but in terms of the market share that went to high end products, and didn't get gobbled up by the larger players in that space... I think the answer is that the growth, while meaningful, wasn't going to justify that level of over-investment, and that total after-sales revenue had to line up (and they wound up in a spot where the prices of stuff they sold had to be jaw-dropping to close that gap)
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dihummer
1 month ago
Most people probably don’t look at the details about this situation.
Notice from whenst the press release came: RAD Industries Inc., SAINT-GEORGES, QC.
Who or what is RAD Industries Inc.?
RAD Industries Inc. is part of a twisted group of legal entities controlled by Raymond Dutil. (RAD I believe are Raymond Dutils initials). I do not think that any of these legal entites is a publicly trade company, so there is little financial information available
The forward face of these legal entities was Groupe Procycle.
Groupe Procycle has a history of buying Canadian bicycle brand names, of which Rocky Mountain Bicycles was but one.
Groupe Procycle has been the graveyard for many Canadian bicycle brand names: CCM, Balfa, Velo Sport, Oryx, Mikado, Miele, eVox, and probably more.
Groupe Procycle tried to change its fortunes in 2018 by re-branding itself as Rocky Mountain Bicycles.
Well, here we are 6 years and some months later and suprise, suprise, suprise . . .
From my perspective these financial problems coming to light for Group Procycle or Rocky Mountain Bicycles, was only a matter of time.
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Cr4w
1 month ago
I've bought a new bike every year or two since 1997 and never once a Rocky because they never made an XXL but they decided to spend a lot of money on a proprietary ebike motor. No love lost here.
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Jotegir
1 month ago
So if you've talked to a number of the now-ex employees from the BC office in a casual setting away from the desk, you'd find there was in some respects a pretty significant split between the BC office of designers, prototype, sales, support staff, etc. and the other office in QC where the ownership decisions come from*. My understanding is the split had been there for a long time. It was clear though, both offices, at least at the employee level, were full of passionate riders like you and I. The employee-exec/owner disconnect is present in every industry (and likely every business over a few employees), this one just happened to have a geographic element too.
*this is not to say that the designers, sales, support staff, etc. in the QC office also weren't great!
The thing with CCAA protection is that some companies get broken up and go away, and some come out of it fine. What's most likely to happen here is that one way or another, the executive and ownership level will eventually be a-ok, but all the North Van employees are now jobless right before the holidays. So I hope when you say "No love lost here", you're referring to the executive branch (the place where decisions like spending money on a proprietary ebike motor and not making XXLs happen), and not at the employee level.
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TiredMtbDad
1 month ago
The same thing happened to our company here in BC. There was a huge disconnect between the head office and the production plant. We went through CCAA at the beginning of this year and were eventually bought out. The number of employees was reduced by half. The company is now restarting, and there’s a sense of hope on the horizon.
I hope they manage to recover, but letting go of designers, sales, and support staff seems like a strange move. In our case, it was mainly the upper "office" personnel who were trimmed, while most of the production team remained. I’m not sure how they plan to continue business without the people responsible for creating and supporting their products.
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Tehllama42
1 month ago
I honestly wonder of the better start would be taking the core design team and building from there with separate capital
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Tehllama42
1 month ago
As one of the lucky jerks who actually owns an XXL sized Rocky Mountain bike, I'm actually in agreement with that statement overall.
It feels like the Vancouver office had (has) the ability to create unique strengths, and the boffins back east kept finding new ways not to play to them (or just price that out of being relevant in terms of market share
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Cr4w
1 month ago
When did Rocky last make an XXL? I don't recall them ever making any of the freeride or enduro bikes in XXL.
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Tehllama42
1 month ago
Mine is a 2014 vintage trail bike... so yeah, probably around then. Also, this is with a 'massive' 485mm reach, which happens to be perfectly fine these days for somebody who rides a normal XL bike
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Sanesh Iyer
1 month ago
Seconded. There was a moment where Rocky was leading the charge with XXL trail bikes around 2010. They had a very tall someone on their staff. I had several conversations with customers saying "this is the only bike that fits!"
2013 Instinct XXL
https://resources.bikes.com/en/bikes/instinct/2013
Now, yes it's shortish by today standards if you just look at Horiz Top Tube length, but we all know it's more than that for geo.
Slayers and Flatlines though, never got that big. And the XXL was dropped eventually.
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Jerry Willows
1 month ago
probably because it had a 2% of the sales and how much for each carbon mold?
Tehllama42
3 weeks, 5 days ago
That's precisely it - carbon molds for something that carries genuinely trivial volume, all but mandates a custom suspension tune to make sense, and is on the edge of needing their own chainstay/seatstay moulds, rework of front triangle layup approach, and is likely to see inherently higher strains because EVERY part of the square-cube law is working against them... I'm really glad they exist.
I'm trying to find some slightly esoteric stuff and has led me to learning the AliExpress back-end sales of various Shanzhai bike frames, and it is genuinely striking that they basically all stop at size 'large' because the business case isn't there for those stores even though they're putting in basically none of the up-front R&D (just the hand layup and bare minimum logistics).
cyclotoine
3 weeks, 1 day ago
in 2015. I had the XXL instinct alloy with the X fusion suspension and dropper. It was a great bike at the time. My friend who hates spending money still rides it. It needs new bushings I think. The X fusion stuff worked surprisingly well and it was a great price at the time. It was before geometry got good everywhere and riding it today it feels weird but at the time it felt like the first full suspension bike that ever fit me. The XL 2018 Instinct that replaced it felt too small event though the reach was the same.
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