Hard Times in the Bike Industry Trickle Down to Sponsored Riders

It is no secret that the bike industry is struggling. If massive sales like buying one Kona and getting a second one free don’t tip you off, perhaps the fact that brands like Guerrilla Gravity have closed their doors will.

In April 2023, following a weekend at Sea Otter Classic, Singletracks Managing Editor, Matt Miller, published an article titled: “What did Sea Otter Say About the Bike Industry?” Miller mentioned that the intention of the piece wasn’t to be an authoritative take on the bike industry. However, he couldn’t help but notice things like the absence of some more prominent U.S. brands like Santa Cruz and Trek at the 2023 event.

Miller also mentioned that many bike brands are downsizing and have laid off employees. These layoffs followed increased employment numbers as brands worked to fulfill high demand during the pandemic. Once demand decreased, so did the jobs.

Initially, it was just the jobs back at headquarters—engineers, graphic designers, media specialists, customer service, etc. However, as the industry seemingly continues to suffer, we have seen even more employees being left without jobs. The latest round of layoffs is affecting sponsored athletes as well.

As companies struggle to keep their doors open, they find that survival may come at the cost of their athletes or, in some cases, an entire race team. We sat down with a few of those athletes who recently found out sponsors they depended on were sponsors no more to get their take on the situation and to find out how they will compete now and in the future.

Syd and Macky

Syd Schulz and Macky Franklin are professional mountain bikers from Los Alamos, New Mexico, better known as “Syd and Macky,”—the name of their popular YouTube channel. The husband and wife team started their YouTube channel in 2017, gaining over 100,000 followers since.

However, racing on a professional level came long before YouTube. Franklin started racing professionally in 2006 and Schulz in 2014, with a sole focus on racing coming shortly after. 

“We never had traditional nine-to-five jobs. We were always kind of figuring out how to make it work,” Franklin told us. “I think in 2014 or 15, we basically decided to live as ridiculously cheap as we possibly could and not have to do other things on the side.”

Franklin and Schulz saw YouTube as another opportunity to “make it work” and remain focused on professional racing. “Up to the point, before we had YouTube, we were fully dependent on sponsors. Every year, everything would change,” Schulz said.

The pair told us that having contacts end and sponsors withdraw support is something they’ve normalized in their profession, but it will always be difficult.

“To have another source of income that wasn’t completely dependent on sponsorship has been very helpful this year,” Schulz said. The two are especially thankful their income isn’t wholly dependent on sponsors because their two most significant contracts just ended. 

At the beginning of January, Franklin and Schulz announced on their YouTube Channel that two sponsors, Niner Bikes and Competitive Cyclist, would not support them going forward. They shared with us about losing the support of Niner, a brand they had been with since 2020 and had come to love.

With Niner, Franklin and Schulz’s contract was up, and the brand informed the racers of their budget situation in October. Despite discussing different ideas and arrangements, it made the most sense for the partnership to end. “We love Niner; they’re an amazing brand. They were really good with this transition,” Schulz explained. “They tried to work with us, but they just simply didn’t have the budget.”

And why do companies like Niner not have a budget for Franklin and Schulz? The pair pointed to the post-COVID industry woes we’ve been hearing about. “I mean, the story we’ve been told by many people in the industry is that there’s a glut of inventory,” Schulz said.

Franklin broke it down as a simple supply and demand issue. Along with the pandemic came unexpected obstacles. “Because of shipping issues and factories shutting down, things got delayed, and people weren’t able to get [bikes]. Now that inventory has arrived and the demand isn’t there,” Franklin told us.

Fortunately for Franklin and Schulz, despite losing their two most prominent sponsors, they will continue to focus solely on racing in 2024. “It’s a little stressful, but we sort of figured it out and ran some numbers and should be able to carry on as we have in the past couple of years,” he said.

And there are new sponsors for Franklin and Schulz in the future. Although they couldn’t say who yet, the two confirmed they are working with some new brands and will announce them soon. 

Matt Stuttard

Polygon joins the likes of Ibis, Devinci, and GT as another enduro program closing its factory race team. This means leaving professional racers like Matt Stuttard without support, putting the 2024 racing season out of reach. 

In early November 2023, Stuttard posted to his Instagram: “Not a post I wanted to write, but here we are! With the 2024 season fast approaching, I am left without a ride, and it is looking uncertain for me to compete at World Level without the correct backing!” 

“Losing the factory ride has affected my career massively,” Stuttard told us. Unlike privateer racers working directly with individual sponsors, factory teams line up a slew of sponsors for the team. When Polygon Factory Racing closed its doors, all the associated race team sponsors dropped their support. 

Despite losing two of their main sponsors, racers like Franklin and Schulz only have two sponsors to replace. Since Stuttard was supported by a factory team, he would have to replace each of the sponsors connected with the team, or find another team.

Racing was how Stuttard made a living. “I was with Polygon Factory Racing for two years,” he told us. “This was my first time on a full factory race team, but I had prior run my own small UCI team as well.” 

And perhaps Stuttard could go back to privateer racing, finding sponsors and support to continue racing, if he had more time. Stuttard told us that Polygon’s team closing came as a shock. Like everyone else, Suttard was aware of the struggling industry but wasn’t ready for the announcement of the team’s closing. “We had meetings mid-season [2023] about plans for 2024 and that we would have a team but with budget cuts,” Stuttard said.

In late October, Stuttard found out that the team was folding.

“My guess as to riders losing sponsors and teams pulling out of series’ is that the bike industry as a whole is in a bit of a bad place at the moment,” Stuttard told us. “Well, the whole economy and cost of living is pretty bad right now, so things are tight on all sides.” 

Stuttard also felt that the return on investment isn’t there for many companies supporting UCI race teams. “The cost of UCI team applications and running them is massive. I don’t think it justifies the expense unless it is on a big scale with podium riders or ran really well,” he said. 

If Stuttard is right, and we see only a handful of brands able to justify an EDR race team, that could mean a very different landscape for the 2024 racing season and beyond. “I honestly don’t know what the EDR will look like in 2024,” Stuttard told us. “The racing will definitely be affected from the top ten [teams] down. If the vibe at enduro racing wasn’t bad enough last year, now with six-plus teams pulled out, I can’t see it going in a great direction, or at least, not for a few years.”

For Stuttard, not having the backing of sponsors or a team would mean covering all expenses himself—something very few could do. And with teams pulling out, that means fewer spots for racers like Stuttard, despite being a longtime World Cup racer and two-time British National Champion.

While racing at the World Cup level remains on his radar, Stuttard is already planning his next moves, looking into occupations outside of racing. “I’ve written my first ever CV, been for my first ever ‘normal’ job interview, and gotten my first ever full-time ‘normal’ job,” he joked.

Stuttard’s new line of work has him training to be a carbon fiber operator for an aerospace engineering firm. “I’m really enjoying learning a new profession and looking forward to where it will lead.” But you can still expect to see Stuttard racing. “I’m not done racing yet. I still love riding and racing my bike, and will be racing a select few EDR and British races.” Stuttard hopes to qualify for the Great Britain team to race at the Enduro World Championships.

And he is still very open to sponsorships. The end of his November Instagram announcement reads: “If you are a company/brand that is or isn’t in the industry and would like to help out, drop me a message or email.”