Rumours on here a couple of weeks ago are true
https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/2109560-bike-retailer-to-appoint-administrators
Doesn't sound good at all.
A Companies House first Gazette notice for the compulsory strike off of the business has also been posted, dated 6 June 2023. It states that the business will be struck off the register and dissolved not less than two months from this date, “unless cause is shown to the contrary”.
Thats a real shame. I've always liked Planet X, had a couple of bikes from them a a few other bots of kit.
I don't have any of their bikes, but bought loads of other stuff from them.
Agree, a shame. They took some stick on here, but they did some really good kit. Be a shame to see them go.
Real shame , got 3 in my shed.
Only been good for me over the years 🙁
Sad
That's poo.
Another nail in the coffin for consumers. Despite the slagging they sometimes got they produced decent bikes with sometimes very good finishing kit for half the price others were, maybe the reason they are in this situation.
Just means the rest of the companies can continue ripping us off for bike parts and charging obscene prices compared to elsewhere in the world.
Gutted for them, hopefully something can be done.
Sad news for all involved.
I've had at least six On-One/Planet-X bikes over the years and loads of other kit.
Service could be hap-hazard in later years but to me the value made up for it.
Bugger.
Have 2 On-Ones and a PX bike in the shed. Had loads of tops, sun glasses and other bits and bobs off them.
Was just on their website this morning looking at helmets.
Never had a bad experience with them. Ever.
Oh wow... i've bought a fair bit from them in the past... But they did mostly go roadie/gravel and sell of crap that no-one wanted.. Like random shaped/sized 'things' and cheap and nasty stuff....
their bikes though, they'll be missed..
As will their socks which i still wear most days.
Was it a bike boom/bust related issue?
Hopefully something can be salvaged from administration anyway, and jobs retained.
As I said on the deleted thread before, they were brilliant for cheap soft goods and accessories - as well as turning out the odd really good bike (the C456 for example).
I think they had a really strong core offering hiding somewhere amid their ever-changing pricing, myriad brands and the undeniable amount of dross on their site.
I'm not going to shed a tear I'm afraid. Worst customer service I've received from any company in a good while.
not for the 50 employees that presumably still have mouths to feed and houses to rent / heat, etc.?
Sad to hear this.
That's sad news. I've had 6 on-one frames over the years and my Scandal v2 is still my longest serving bike i still regularly ride. Never had any issues with them from a delivery/customer service perspective
I think they had a really strong core offering hiding somewhere amid their ever-changing pricing, myriad brands and the undeniable amount of dross on their site.
Yep, i thought the 'on-one' bike side was diluted down with all the brands and haven't bought from the site for a long time
Used them a fair bit recently, after vowing never to use again in the past due to poor CS, and they were excellent. Sorted a couple of problems which were not their fault very quickly.
Also an employee owned business now so a massive shame if they fail.
Ah rubbish, my Scandal is a really good bike and have bought bits and pieces from them for ages.
A Companies House first Gazette notice for the compulsory strike off of the business has also been posted
Lots of companies get those, it just means they're late filing accounts.
So sad, they've serviced me well over the years. Hopefully they'll make a comeback.
Very sad, all my current bikes are Planet X or On One, as is most of my cycle clothing, I've been a customer since about 2007 and have never had a bad experience with them in countless orders.
We have four OO/P-x bikes in the family at the moment.
They were a great value option, be a real shame to see them go.
That is really sad news. Whilst they have had their problems, they have been a disrupter in the UK bike market for a long time. They’ve driven trends like jump bikes, singlespeeds, fat bikes, the introduction of 29er - making them affordable to people.
I personally have felt their more recent marketing style of constantly being on sale has caused customers to lose sight of their value with confusing pricings.
Real shame, however appointing an administrator doesn’t mean it’s over for the staff. Hopefully something can happen to keep the business going.
How does administration work for new orders? Thinking of stocking up on Mech hangers for my Tempest, don’t think I can stomach the £32.99 cost if it’s never going to be fulfilled though…
I think almost everyone has owned a PX bike at some point. I've got my first PX road bike still hanging in the garage, which still occasionally comes out as a spare turbo bike. Still see loads of their frames on the track in Manchester underneath youth racers too.
Sad news.
As @Footflaps has said,
A Companies House first Gazette notice for the compulsory strike off of the business has also been posted
Lots of companies get those, it just means they’re late filing accounts.
At the moment they haven't gone bump!
Not for the 50 employees that presumably still have mouths to feed and houses to rent / heat, etc.?
I'm not celebrating their demise, and obviously I have sympathies for the employees, but it's not hard to see that my statement was approaching this from a business perspective rather than a personal/human one, surely? Unless you choose to willingly try and misunderstood it that way?
It's not possible for every business to succeed, there's only so much humanity for any employed by them that I have the capacity for, so, obviously I have to apply some detachment. But I don't actually need to tell you that, because I'm pretty sure you're just trying to score internet points by being deliberately difficult.
CS is one of the things that makes or breaks a company, and my experience with PX has been universally terrible. Without exaggeration, I now approach them as akin to buying something from Facebook Marketplace - don't spend more than you are able to accept losing. And that's a pretty crap indictment of a company.
The constant sale thing can't have helped as I can't imagine they make much on the heavily discounted stuff and since there's always a deal around the corner, who's going to pay full price?
I've only bought one bike off them and it was meh but cheap so I won't miss the brand but my mate has had plenty and has always rated them. Will be a real shame for the staff so hope it can be saved.
My buying experience (Hello Dave) was great, good Comms (pic of built bike) etc. Admittedly I didn't need to use CS.
Shame if they do fold - like or loathe them they've been part of the UK MTB scene for a long time.
A Companies House first Gazette notice for the compulsory strike off of the business has also been posted
Lots of companies get those, it just means they’re late filing accounts.
Yes, but that's really just a postscript in the article (if you read it) - it says they're appointing administrators which is the key point.
As others have said, a real shame, some unique stuff, and worst case are a good source of Chinese open mould stuff.
Hopefully aiming to allow a restructure rather than go full belly up a la Moore Large.
Never had a bad experience with them. Ever.
Same. I've bought more from them than anywhere else in the last decade, mainly due to PX being my go-to for consumables or spares. Never had an incomplete order, something poorly advertised, or any of the things that seem to be mentioned with regards to PX. Communication has been superb, especially during lockdown(s).
It's a shame; I hope it's a recoverable situation for all involved.
If they're appointing administrators then there would be a filing about that and no gazette re write off.
The gazette looks like its a result of the late filing of the company statement. It should have been done by end of March so they would have had plenty of warning letters and then the "do it by dd/mm/yy or you'll be struck off" notice has spurred them to action & it was filed on Friday but the gazette was already primed.
This is touched upon on in the "should I buy a road bike" thread- I think a poster is closer to the action and would indicate there is something going on, but the gazette on its own is no sign it is in administration.
When Stanton went into administration, the appointment was made on 11th Nov & filed on the 22nd.
If it is in administration, they won't wind it up until they've got their fees paid.
Saw some rumours about this on Facebook a couple of months ago, apparently they were sending lists out to bike shops trying to sell stock wholesale.
I've had loads of their bikes over the years, and some great customer service (and cups of tea).
It'll be a massive shame if they disappear (or get bought as a bunch of brands without the inventiveness and ethos). For a long while they were actually on the front foot of bike development. The 456 wasn't long low and slack, but it was longer, lower and slacker than just about anything else on the market. As well as the ubiquitous original pro-carbon and track/TT bikes.
Agree on some of the 'bargain bin' buying though.
A lot of their stuff was rubbish plastic crap, the kind of quality you'd expect from and MBUK cover freebie. And the ever spiralling number of models. They really should have just stuck with Scandal, Inbred, and Tinbred model names. And had one "pro-carbon" race bike, one sportive/winter bike, and a gravel/CX bike. Not a confusing (and frequently ugly) revolving door of models. Same with the steel/ti versions.
The sales ....... Mehhh. It's a way of doing business. You need to shift a number of items each month/quarter to make way for new stuff and make money to pay suppliers. If the market slows down, you up the discount. If the market heats up then you reduce the discount.
Shame - I've a 456Ti, Full Monty, Scandal 29 and Free Ranger in the workshop from them.
Because of their approach and VFM it meant I could happily try stuff without breaking the bank, so gravel and then bikepacking all tried and happy with.
How does the employee owned model work then?
I presume someone is still in charge and all 50 employees don't all try and dib-in with ideas and opposing ways of working.
The constant sale thing can’t have helped as I can’t imagine they make much on the heavily discounted stuff and since there’s always a deal around the corner, who’s going to pay full price?
Most people probably aren't researching bikes for months/years, tracking prices, comparing models etc. They take up cycling, ask a club mate for a recommendation, get pointed towards Planet-X and buy whatever is in budget.
I just bought a "shed" (it cost more than double any of my cars so shed is a bit of a cruel description), the salesman gave me 17.5% off. Last month it was 10%, the month before it was 15%. I'm under no illusion that by November it'll be 30%. But at some point the value of owning the "Shed" is more than what I'll save waiting for a discount.
Same with bikes. They probably sell more bikes at RRP this time of year than in the "great random number generated 36.27% off Warehouse Mick's birthday sale" in November. Business isn't all about maximum profit per item. That would just reverse the problem, they'd be the ones sat on their hands waiting for those cash rich summer customers. Some months you just need to generate turnover to keep the lights on and people employed.
How does the employee owned model work then?
I presume someone is still in charge and all 50 employees don’t all try and dib-in with ideas and opposing ways of working.
Assuming it's the same as other companies that do that: The employees own shares, which gives them voting rights, but there's still a CEO and board of directors (which could be voted out by the shareholders / employees)
: (
Remembering that this is an employee-owned firm, I hope it works out ok for them all personally.
Mixed feelings. My first MTB upon my return to the sport was an inbred 29er. Was a great bike. However when the Deore calipers started leaking after 18 months they tried to bin me off saying they were only warrantied for 12 months. Had to point out that Shimano warranty them for 24 months. Got a new brake set from them in the end.
Also owned a London Road for commuting. Was a lovely riding bike and I racked up loads of miles on it. Then one day when cleaning I noticed it had a crack in the toptube/seattube weld. Tried to claim under warranty but they weren't having any of it. Bit disappointing as it was clearly a manufacturing defect.
Brought a few odds and sods from them when they were up the road from Magna as they were close to work. But not brought anything for years.
Feel sorry for the staff, but as others have said the range is just way too big with too much crossover. And the constant sales made you wonder if you were getting a good price or not.
Hopefully they'll find someone to buy them out, consolidate their product range and go back to what they used to be good at.
Hopefully it's just a blip - as many others; I've had great service from them (two PX bikes in the shed) and I was looking forward to seeing the new Helm they announced in the flesh; It looks like it could be superb for the money.
Well I'm desperately in need of some new bib shorts - noticed they are becoming thread bare ! Order made as they are cheaper than Decathlon.
A real shame if they go. They've served me well for many years.
Just ordered a couple of pairs of sunglasses and a new lid.
For those who like "wayfarer" type frames the Carnac ones are an absolute bargain at £9.99. Already got a couple of pairs, but having spares makes sense as the kids keep "borrowing" them.
Is their 'closing down sale' going to be an actual sale though?
I’m not celebrating their demise, and obviously I have sympathies for the employees, but it’s not hard to see that my statement was approaching this from a business perspective rather than a personal/human one, surely? Unless you choose to willingly try and misunderstood it that way?
Not how I read it, which came across to me as 'Good, **** em'
Especially as it's employee owned, so it wouldn't just be a lost job, it's also potentially a lost investment.
Apologies for misinterpreting.
A real shame, hopefully something can be sorted to keep the business going
Of the bikes that I've owned the two that ive done by far the most miles on and have the greatest memories of were Planet X bikes, a Compo and a Ti Sportive.
Is their ‘closing down sale’ going to be an actual sale though?
Prices will be going up this week ahead of the closing sale.
I wonder how much business they have lost to Sonder over the past few years, as they seem to compete head on in the "good value UK bike direct sales" segment...
Real bummer if they do go bust. Ive had a few bike from them and alwys been great. My PX Pro Carbon Evo is great, such a nice bike to ride. Even the baggy seat tube London Road I had for £150 frame and forks lasted me a good 7 or 8 years before developing a small crack, literally thousands of miles on and off road on theat thing though.
The best thing they did was produce loads of different styles of bar for cheap, so you could experiment to get the right fit - and they did a huge range of cheap stems too.
Nah, the best thing they did was their softshell gloves.
😀
From the linked report:
According to a company report for the year ended 29 March 2022, the firm generated a turnover of nearly £17m in FY 2021/22, down from £19.1m in FY 2020/21. Pre-tax profits for the period were £1.1m (FY 2021/21: £2.8m).
I'm not in the bike industry but I was given to understand margins are generally slimmer than those numbers might indicate, at least for for the big boys.
It reads like they were still a profitable business last year, and had been tracking with the C19 cycling boom and subsequent downturn.
Have sales/margins turned that much further down inside of a year?
I do find myself wondering about other similar Far-Eastern import merchants now.
PX/OO had been adding more soft goods and bike-packing/camping type stuff to their site in the last year or two, I had assumed it was in order to keep up with Alpkit/Sonder who kind of occupy a similar niche in the market, but obviously started with clothing/outdoor kit and then broadened to bikes (Sonder's range seems a bit more sensibly structured too IMO)...
I do wonder if Bicycle manufacturer's/suppliers are going to be the ones suffering more in the coming couple of years where discretionary spending on new bikes slows down as punter's disposable cash is squeezed.
Have sales/margins turned that much further down inside of a year?
firm generated a turnover of nearly £17m in FY 2021/22,
Pre-tax profits for the period were £1.1m
So about 6.5%, (down from near 15) not hard to imagine that vanishing with cost increases and general spending reduction over the last 12 months.
Excessive lead times broke the model that companies have been running for a long time, and for complete bike businesses (even if thats not 100% of your business) thats a big issue. Weve also seen far eastern factories just shut down leaving companies with big orders with companies like SRAM or Shimano and no frames to hang them on. The bike industry supply chain has been a total s*** show for 2 years now. You'd have been better off just not buying anything during lockdown, selling everything in your warehouse and waiting it out.
Then what we're seeing is companies not paying suppliers the bills, because they can't, and suppliers tightening the noose on those that can, because they need the cash from somewhere, which then puts the better off businesses under strain too. Its easing off now but its been a rough ride for sure. I suspect that alot of high street retailers will be under pressure now as the ripple takes time to work through the supply chain.
Who do I blame FWIW? We'll I think if suppliers had taken the sensible approach of saying you can only order 110% of what you ordered last year*, then no one would have ended up with freakin' huge, ultimately pointless orders on their books and gotten everyone into this mess.
* I did make this suggestion to more than one company.
If they go that really does cut a key player from the value end of the market
The gx scandal was is a really great bike for the money. For a bit over a grand get a bike that would do years of mountain biking without feeling there was a weak link to upgrade. I'm assuming that you bought a dropper for it
Not only do we loose that bike but it takes the price pressure off the competitors
Maybe on the On One bit can be sold and saved
The best thing they did was produce loads of different styles of bar for cheap, so you could experiment to get the right fit – and they did a huge range of cheap stems too.
I'd forgotten about Mary Bars etc.
They are an 'Employee Owned Trust' these days (maybe for 3 or 4 or 5 years ??? - open to being corrected on how long).
How did that come about / how was any purchase from the original Mr XXXXX get funded ? Did that leave the new entity in debt that increasing interest rates starts getting harder to pay? Or was it gifted for a peppercorn to the minions for years of toil ?
Anyone know ?
Or was it gifted for a peppercorn to the minions for years of toil ?
I doubt that anyone gifts a multi-million pound company!
I probably put that in to balance the options in my question !
Maybe on the On One bit can be sold and saved
Be interesting to what falls out the pockets when the administrators give them a shake.
Do they still have any rights to Tomac? Guerciotti? S.A.P*?
*three letters, began with S, probably Italian?
Of the actual bikes though, the Holdsworth Corsa looks nice (and they shouldn't have dropped the Columbus tubed version, just given it disk brakes). The Trail bikes are very good, but do any of the others have a "brand" other than the Scandal. The Hello Dave has a cult following, but not sure if that translates into new sales once everyone who want's that extreme a bike has bought one. The Rujo looks good, but lacks a USP in a market flooded with gravel bikes.
It'd be nice to see them reborn in the way most of us probably remember them 20 years ago, as sort of UK specific Surly. Trouble is, I can't see that being a competitive proposition to the administrators compared someone like Sports Direct or JD Sports who could rationalize it with their Evans or Go Outdoors business?
Might need to see what a Pro Carbon Disc frame costs at the moment as I need a larger one soon for someone who is growing.
It made sense to buy him something nice where I could get an identical spec but larger frame as he grew.
May be a problem now.
Shame to read, have read rumours of this for at least a month, used them lots over the last ~15 years mostly for clothing and components, rather than a bike (those poor QC seat tubes on the London Roads a while ago really made me wary). Hopefully some of the company can be salvaged for the staff.
How does the employee owned model work then?
I presume someone is still in charge and all 50 employees don’t all try and dib-in with ideas and opposing ways of working.
Employee owned companies can and do still have entirely traditional hierarchy based structures (John Lewis is a classic example here), I'd be surprised if it was just 50 of them sat around a table trying to hash out exactly what do to.
There's also mention of a Trust so my understanding would be that it's the Trust that actually owns the company, on behalf of its employees. I'd assume this means that (apart from their livelihoods) the employees don't stand to lose any shares or investments in the firm, but I could be very wrong about this.
looking at the financial statements for 2022YE the writings been on the wall for some time; [2021 >\to 2022]
- TOO MUCH stock £3.5m > £5.3m
- funded by £600k trade creditors and banks loans £0.75m > £5.6m
- brexit, sales to EU down £2.6m > £0.81m
- terrible cashflow
cash is king,
** note 2021 boosted by covid/cycle uptake
Dam I really like their cheap road helmets they were an absolute bargain compared to overpriced stuff of similar / worse quality.
Looking just now thought they are now £26 which is expensive !
There's plenty of infornation online about EOTs.
PX is substantially/fully owned by Planet X EOT trustees who, earlier this year, were subject to a first proposal to dissolve which was then removed.
The PX strategic report as lodged with Companies House as part of the annual report and accounts includes comments about performance and risks; see also Accounting Policies 1.3 Going Concern.
A statement from PX about their current trading status would be helpful as the uncertainty is likely to depress sales.
If/when assets are sold off it will be interesting to see what they do with their collection of ex-Jimmy Saville bikes.
That's real shame. Their Whippet is one of the best bikes I've ever owned.
They stole from me just as brazenly as people who busted in my garage door... But it's an unrecognisable company now, they do some things the same but they don't seem to do that so much. I've got a Titus Loco Moto waiting to be built up and I told myself "remember the warranty is probably worthless", maybe I was right? But the ti frame was the price of an aluminium frame. Considering lead times, storage costs, all that time the cash is tied up there can't be much profit in that, especially compared to competitors.
But I hope they pull through.
My current and only bike is a Titus Fireline. It’s been great. It is the only thing I’ve purchased from them as I was always put off by horror stories and pricing roulette. Glad I took the plunge.
– TOO MUCH stock £3.5m > £5.3m
– funded by £600k trade creditors and banks loans £0.75m > £5.6m
– brexit, sales to EU down £2.6m > £0.81m
– terrible cashflow
Brexit aside that's just the symptoms/evidence of what Ben was saying.
Easy to see how you could end up with a warehouse of expensive SRAM groupsets, forks and brakes tying up £millions while you wait on yet another delayed order of frames. And their T&C's won't let them sell the SRAM kit except on a complete bike.
So they get hit from all sides, spent money on stock they can't sell, can't sell any bikes as they don't have frames, possibly already having paid for the frames as the suppliers tighten their credit terms. And if you're not selling anything you have no turnover. And if you haven't got the turnover you can't order the next batch.
Bit of history, ref the employee ownership:
https://cyclingindustry.news/dave-loughran-to-sign-planet-x-business-over-to-employee-ownership
love my Whippet, also Ruji Gravel...... hope works out.......
The Forbes article is a bit light on details, except I think we can all agree this is a crime against humanity.
introducing PowerBar energy bars to the U.K.
Sorry to hear this too. Got a Titus Silk Road from them last year, great bike with good customer service when I was asking doofy spec questions when deciding whether to pull the trigger. Just ordered some silly cheap Sram rival 1x shifter on Sat after much procrastination, hope they turn up.
Do feel very sorry for the staff involved.
Planet X EOT trustees who, first proposal to dissolve which was then removed.
I'd say that is related to their confirmation statement being filed late, rather than an administration wind up. After warning letters, Co House use this as a shot across the bows hence it gives them 2 months to comply. Causes no end of hassle for their credit rating so is best avoided, unless attention is diverted elsewhere, like finding cash to pat staff & suppliers.....
A real shame. PX (& On One) really influenced both the sort of bikes a lot of use rode and the direct selling model as the internet became a thing. I had a bit of sponsorship from Dave back the (triathlon) day. There was always a bit of chaos in terms of interaction. When small it was almost part of the appeal - you felt like you were dealing with real people spinning plates to make it all work. That 'chaos' didn't scale up too well when more folk were involved their side and the customer base became more (I'm struggling for a word) normal and possibly picky.
I do feel they lost their way a bit. I'm not sure what buying up all the different brand names was all about. Titus, Holdsworth etc. I just got confused tbh. It felt like (because I think it probably was) the result of buying up brands and businesses about to go pop, along with the contents of their warehouses. It came at a moment when they could have built a clear and identifiable single brand name, much in the same way Alpkit did with Sonder. And for a while the website was a bit garish (in not a good way), full of sales and tat. The good stuff (and by that I mean properly solid and effective and importantly good value for money bikes and frames) bread and butter got buried. Looking at the site now though I'd say it's much better - to a certain extent a lot of us have preconceptions about what they are which might not be quite right now in 2023.
Whatever - I don't like the direction the bike world is going. So many 2nd tier online retailers folding along with the bricks and mortar shops added to the amalgamation off some of the premiere league retailers. Value and innovation it is not.
Didn't know anything about this, ordered something last night, it's apparently coming tomorrow.
Didn’t know anything about this, ordered something last night, it’s apparently coming tomorrow.
Even if it enters administration, the administrators will keep it trading whilst they consider the options. Shutting it all down asap is the fastest way to kill off any residual value.
Was suspicious by the amount of stuff that was unavailable following heavy discounting a few months back, the website is absolutely depleted compared to what they used to have. Which may be a good thing, there was some amount of crap but also plenty of decent stuff as well. As said already, if they concentrated on core brands/models they could go back to being a UK Surly (without the extortionate price tag for a frame that cracks)
I’ve been trying various avenues to get in touch with PlanetX to get some questions answered but no luck yet. Will post info when I get it.
You missed one: Brant Brant Brant!
(I know he's not anything to do with them now but may still have contacts)
