Tony Karklins: Year models are out. Personalization is in.

What’s the difference between the 2016 and 2017 model?  Probably nothing.  

What does it feel like when you show up to the club ride on your new bike and see 5 others cyclists on the exact same bike?  Like just another face in the crowd.

It is questions like these that we focused on while crafting ALLIED CYCLE WORKS.  We knew that there has to be a better way: a better way for the consumer, a better way for the bicycle dealer, a better way for the industry and a better way for ALLIED.

The bike industry has become a sea of sameness.  It is a real shame.  Once a vibrant and thriving industry comprised of unique makers and full of heritage has turned into a soulless industry of outsourced manufacturing and financing mechanisms to push inventory into the fragile and often undercapitalized independent retailer channel.  

One such mechanism is the year model game.  Exactly why do we need year models for bicycles?  Does anything really change between year models?  Sure sometimes, but more often than not, no.  Year models only exist in an effort to force retailers to “re-commit” for “pre-season” vendor programs that require retailers to purchase in bulk and “stock up for the selling season.”  This practice is putting many bicycle retailers out of business.  

This behavior has increased significantly as more and more of the North American and European factories have closed and outsourced manufacturing to Asia.  Gone are the days where these factories could produce, as needed, year round with running changes and market optimization.  Now the bike brands have to purchase as much as 2 years in advance in huge numbers and flood that inventory into stores so that they can prepare to do it again months later with “next year’s models.”  It is a vicious cycle and one that I want to see end.  

So how does ALLIED CYCLE WORKS help to change this?  Firstly, we manufacture it ourselves, under one roof in the USA, the way all bicycle brands used to be.  This way, we NEVER create warehouses of year model tagged, ticking time bomb, inventory.  Our inventory is held in raw material or in unfinished frames ready to go into paint and assembly once sold.  This way, there is never excess inventory that has to be pushed out.

Second, we simply don’t play the year model game.  We focus on creating timeless product that can be appreciated in the market for years.  This way, dealer and distributor inventory holds its value and products like our new ALLIED ALFA can experience small running changes and new colorways throughout its lifespan.  

Finally, and most importantly, product can be personalized.  Because your ALLIED is built just for you, you can have a world of options available to you.  If you are not buying it off the shelf, most anything is possible. Unlimited color, component and sizing options are at your fingertips,  many without even changing the price.   Personalization is a modern consumer requirement.  From Nike ID sneakers to consumer electronics to automobiles, personalization is in.  No more showing up on the group ride with the same bike as everyone else.  

So much is possible with manufacturing domestically.  At ALLIED CYCLE WORKS our mission is to craft a new and better way for all of us.