There’s a new tariff in town.
Back to the present: My man Matt Wiebe of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News serves up a piece from Interbike about whether retailers should be stocking up on product with more tariffs on the horizon.
Among the folks Matt spoke to was Friend of the Blog Stephen Newhall of Rob and Charlie’s in Fanta Se, who is taking the dire pronouncements from some suppliers with “a grain of salt.”
“What will happen is that sales that would have otherwise happened in November and December will happen sooner,” he says.
One of the big issues is what constitutes a bike made in China, notes Bob Margevicius of Specialized.
“A bike’s point of origin is not necessarily clear because it is made from components from so many sources,” he says. “It is an extremely confusing time right now.”
The whole piece is worth a read, especially since Matt isn’t just another Fake News guy like Your Humble Narrator. He’s also a small-business owner*, a pro salmon fisherman with a boat, nets, and everything.
* Note the hyphenation there. That’s an Associated Press style deal intended to avoid confusion. Matt helms a small business, but as anyone who has ever seen him will attest, he is not a small businessman.
• Next: The dream is gone.
Tags: Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Interbike, Interbike 2018, Interbike Marketweek Reno-Tahoe Powered by Northstar California Resort, Matt Wiebe, tariffs
Mad Blog Media 
September 19, 2018 at 9:16 am |
No worries; Dumpster makes the best deals and is guided by the best people.
From now on any bike I buy will have a Soma frame and fork with the rest of the parts specified by me or cannibalized from existing bikes. That is unless some unknown rich relative leaves me the big money. You know, big enough money to put me with the 1% elite fellers. Then it would be Seven frames sets in ti. The big three, and most of the other, brands can eat my shorts.
September 19, 2018 at 8:22 pm |
Yay for Soma 😉
September 19, 2018 at 6:20 pm |
Will these tariffs apply to the Chinese-made crap Fat Nixon puts his name on and sells to the Trumpanzees? I don’t even want to imagine the kind of s–t that’ll go down if the opposition takes over the House (and we can hope the Senate) in the lame duck session before Don the Con loses control of his entire criminal empire. With some luck I’ll be outta here by then!
September 19, 2018 at 7:58 pm |
I hope you’re right Larry, but I think your Professor’s rule still holds. We are stuck with this loser until 2020.
September 20, 2018 at 6:59 am |
Stuck is OK, if he will be pretty much neutered by opposition control of the House and Senate. If he goes to the crossbar hotel Mike “Cotton Hill” Pence takes over, pardons Don the Con and gins up the (so-called Christian) extreme right wingers – then the USA is really in trouble!
I think Paolo Manaforte was thinking long-term when he convinced Fat Nixon to choose Pence instead of Chris Christie – he certainly knew how crooked and vulnerable Don the Con was and what might happen. OTOH, none of these crooks really thought the Con would win and all of their criminal exploits would end up under such close inspections. Ooops!
September 20, 2018 at 8:32 am |
I ain’t optimistic, gents. But then, when was I ever? I’m with the doc on this one.
September 20, 2018 at 8:22 am |
Well, maybe this will do good for stateside bike makers like Dwan Shepard.
September 20, 2018 at 8:34 am |
It’s gonna be interesting, for sure. Some folks are better prepared than others. Marin’s entire line is built in Indonesia now and has been for a while.
One thing to remember is that with tariffs nibbling into every other aspect of Americans’ lives they will have less disposable income for things like the ol’ bikey bike, and a famously cheap clientele is likely to become even more tight-fisted.