Amer Sports, the Finnish parent company of French bicycle component manufacturer Mavic, has confirmed that it is exploring options for the business, including a possible “divestiture” – financial-speak for a likely sale to a trade buyer, management team, or financial investor.
Founded in 1889, Mavic pioneered the aluminium rim, which it introduced in 1926 and since 1973 it has provided neutral service for races such as the Tour de France, where its bright yellow vehicles are a familiar sight. Over the years Mavic-equipped bikes have helped propel riders such as Greg Lemond to victory.
More recently, Mavic, whose products are used by a host of amateur and professional riders across all disciplines, has diversified into performance clothing and footwear.
However, 2009 has been a difficult year for the company, which is based in Annecy, the site of the final individual time trial in this year’s Tour de France. In January, the company announced a voluntary recall of its flagship R-SYS wheels following concerns that the carbon tubular spokes of the front wheel “may break during use in certain circumstances”.
And last month, Amer Sports, which also owns the winter sports brand Salomon and tennis and golf equipment manufacturer Wilson, among others, announced that Mavic’s sales had slumped by 15% in local currency during the first six months of 2009. Mavic achieved full-year sales of €114.2 million in 2008.
I'm not a Lance fan at all but the snarky tone of this is just dumb.
Is it just me or is there a link or embed missing for the image of the Dublin bike lane from Ola Løkken Nordrum?
How can anybody reject the beauty of that? It's a wonderful mix of modern tech yet absolutely functional.
Not unless theVED is made eye wateringly expensive....
My mum always told me I'd inherited her 'hobbit feet', though as far as I'm aware we don't have any family in New Zealand.
Hyponatremia is a real risk even for an amateur cyclist or runner in hot weather. I've bonked from it before, and I was drinking Gatorade the whole...
in the UK we have policing which to a greater or lesser extent relies on assistance from members of the public......
Just wanted to share a quick thank you to everyone who helped out in this thread....
So...don't cycle on it. Lots of other routes around that area. Source: I used to work there.
My photochromic specs have just turned up in the post today