No more SRAM IGHs

[UpWrong]

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2017/02/15/sram-ends-sales-internal-gear-hubs#.WKfmYn9pzTL

The folding bike and recumbent producers are going to miss the dual-drive, possibly switching to the Sturmey-Archer CS-RK3

[Brucey]

and the IKEA bike will have to find a replacement for the Automatix.... etc

But you have to wonder at the management of the company; what kind of business allows its sales to go from ~2 million units a year down to just one twentieth of that? And this seems to have happened at a time when bike sales have been increasing...?

They have clearly been floundering for some time; a lot of time and effort must have gone into the G8 and G9 hubs only for them to be withdrawn from sale less than two years after being made available.

All a bit sad (and certainly not a reflection of what SACHS were capable of in the past) but in all honesty I won't miss many of their recent products.

cheers

[foxyrider]

American management - only interested in 'their' home market.

[PH]

"Shimano dominates the worldwide internal gear market"
Isn't this all we need to know?

[thirdcrank]

American management - only interested in 'their' home market.

That sounds just about right to me. My own experience is of trying to get a pair of hubs (front with drum break, rear with drum brake and 7 speed hub gear) around 2000. I eventually got the rear which was an earlier model with a lightly narrower range from the firm who used to make the upright tricycles with two wheels at the front (can't remember the name of the firm Chap with a huge beard, shop somewhere near the Welsh border.)) In theory, I think they were the distributors at one point. I can't remember where I got the front from but it was a struggle.

The keenest customer can't buy your stuff if it's not available.

[UpWrong]

Good point about the Automatix. Moulton use it. I was at the London Bike Show today and gave an exhibitor the bad news. His company (Biomega) currently have models using it.

[Brucey]

American management - only interested in 'their' home market.

if so they have a funny way of going about it; I have it on good authority that in recent years SRAM did not stock spare parts for their IGHs in the USA.

cheers

[PH]

American management - only interested in 'their' home market.

That sounds just about right to me. My own experience is of trying to get a pair of hubs (front with drum break, rear with drum brake and 7 speed hub gear) around 2000. I eventually got the rear which was an earlier model with a lightly narrower range from the firm who used to make the upright tricycles with two wheels at the front (can't remember the name of the firm Chap with a huge beard, shop somewhere near the Welsh border.)) In theory, I think they were the distributors at one point. I can't remember where I got the front from but it was a struggle.

The keenest customer can't buy your stuff if it's not available.

This is why they failed, not because the bloke in Wales with the beard couldn't get your part, but because it seemed such a niche part that that's where you had to go for one. It didn't really matter to SRAM if you bloke had a shelf full of stock or not. It mattered that they were not on any range of bikes in Halfords, Evans and Decathlon. It was never mainstream enough to fit in with their other equipment and business model. I don't think this is exclusive to SRAM or cycling, it's the middle ground which is disappearing.

[Brucey]

but if that were the whole story, they would still be making the 2s and 3s hubs. They have been specced on machines from nearly all the major manufacturers in recent years.

I would suggest that a major reason they failed was that the 3s product itself simply wasn't good enough; I have seen many more new-style SRAM 3s hubs fail (in relation the number out there) than any other make in recent times.

cheers

[PH]

I would suggest that a major reason they failed was that the 3s product itself simply wasn't good enough; I have seen many more new-style SRAM 3s hubs fail (in relation the number out there) than any other make in recent times.
cheers

I believe that's part of the same story, I imagine at some point in some boardroom someone said - let's not spend too much time, money and effort into developing products that are going to get their buttock kicked by Shimano anyway. They've claimed their supply chain needs to be greater than the current 100,000 units a year to be sustainable, which gives an idea of the market they needed. It wasn't happening and putting stock on the shelves of enthusiasts bike shops wasn't going to change that. I don't think I've seen a SRAM IGH fitted to a bike in Halfords, are there any? Were there any?

[Brucey]

dunno about Halfords but Raleigh and Giant (f'rinstance) have made models using SRAM 3s gears in recent times

cheers

[Samuel D]

This article blames e-bikes, though the supposed “industry insiders” don’t tell an entirely convincing tale. Make of it what you will.

[Brucey]

in the same article they also say

....Moreover the market of the 3-speed IGH business was hit by fierce price erosion. Today they are on mass merchant bicycles being sold for killer prices down to 199 Euro.” This is certainly not the market SRAM is aiming for....

and there is an element of truth in the statement about pricing. However it has been going that way for years. Given this 'non-news' it rather beggars belief that they decided to stop making everything but the most utilitarian gears; if they didn't have their costs under control they were always going struggle to make money with these in the face of stiff competition from SA and of course shimano.

As one LBS proprietor said to me recently; " I know how much they cost a bike manufacturer and I wouldn't like to make it for that..."

The other side of it is the quality of the gears themselves. I will be slightly controversial here but my view is that their recent designs were simply not good enough. IN many cases not good enough at any price.

cheers

[thirdcrank]

This is why they failed, not because the bloke in Wales with the beard couldn't get your part, ....

FWIW, the slow grinding of the grey matter has reminded me that this was Roman Road Cycles. Here's their current price list with plenty of SRAM stuff

Prices are correct as of January 2007.

http://www.roman-road.co.uk/prices/index.htm

Nice pic of the trike I was waffling on about on their home page:-

http://www.roman-road.co.uk/index.htm