Guerrilla Gravity closed its doors earlier this year and I’m curious why…
I randomly came across this 4 year old PinkBike video interview (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sqa2oG5Uhys) and there are a lot of claims about innovative approaches to the manufacturing process that lead to efficiency and lower costs. I’m not crazy about their branding but they are good looking bikes and Yoann B. rode the shit out of his GGs when he was a sponsored rider last year.
So my question is… Does anyone know, or can speculate on, what led them to go out of business? My best guess is that they couldn’t acquire enough market share to become profitable and the current bike bust was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
by WonderfulMusician140
6 Comments
I think you probably nailed it. The new manufacturing process being rolled out shortly before the failure is probably not a coincidence
Surplus inventory poat-covid, which needs to be financed at skyrocketing interest rates. Even huge and /or successful companies can fall into this trap and fold. I’ve also read that GG boss was a bit problematic and they had a lot of personnel movement because of that.
There is allot more indepth chatter within pb comments, some people claiming to be ex employees and friends of employees even chime in giving a look into the inside. If you pull upnthosenpinkbike articles about gg, go read the comment section to get some ideas
My best guess is small businesses are hard. Small businesses in cycling are even harder.
The facetious answer is that obviously not enough people wanted to buy their products.
Now as to why that was the case is harder to answer. Don’t take any of this as fact but a few ideas could be the following:
They weren’t easy to access since they weren’t in shops, but they also weren’t cheaper than competitors like a lot of direct to consumer brands. Asking people to take a $4k+ leap of faith in a bike they’ve never sat on in or ridden is tough. Much easier to do with a cheaper bike.
The brand just wasn’t cool or sexy. Their branding and logos were a bit more brash than mainstream brands, as was their marketing. I also read multiple comments and reviews saying the bikes didn’t look good/weren’t pretty. At their price point looking good is important.
There are probably a bunch of factors, but those are two of mine.
It’s really hard to be a niche within a niche. Despite the pinkbike culture gravity bikes just aren’t that popular overall. I worked in a shop for a long time and sold 100 Marlins for every Slash I sold. The market is tiny. Throw in the post pandemic bike issues and it’s pretty clear.