If you’ve ridden bikes for a while or searched for gear online, chances are you’ve stumbled across Colorado Cyclist. The company had become almost a fixture for serious cyclists. They started back in 1989, out of Colorado Springs, and for decades, their giant catalogs and big online store helped riders all over the country build bikes, buy kits, and snag parts they couldn’t find elsewhere.
But now, that long run has come to a close. In April 2024, Colorado Cyclist announced they’re officially closing up shop. You might have heard bits and pieces, maybe rumors on forums or noticed weird “closing sale” banners. Here’s what’s been going on, why it happened, and what’s next for everything tied to the Colorado Cyclist name.
Colorado Cyclist’s Shutdown: How It Happened
For a long time, Colorado Cyclist wasn’t just some random bike shop. They offered deep inventory, custom wheel builds, and plenty of high-end gear. Riders loved calling up for advice, getting old-school customer service, and seeing everything from closeout pedals to the latest race bikes in the same place.
But things started getting tougher about a decade ago. Brick-and-mortar bike shops were already feeling squeezed by the rise of giant online-only stores. As online competition grew—think major outlets like Chain Reaction, Jenson USA, and others—shops like Colorado Cyclist had to adapt.
Around late 2021 or maybe early 2022 (depending on who you ask), Colorado Cyclist actually merged with a Colorado-based competitor: Planet Cyclery. It sounded like a lifeline at the time. By joining forces, the hope was they could combine warehouses and staff, keep their websites busy, and offer lower prices.
For a while, both brands kept separate websites. But if you were shopping in early 2024, you likely noticed big “Everything Must Go” and “Closing Sale” signs on both. That’s when it became obvious—it wasn’t just an inventory clear-out, but the end of the company itself. Orders were being filled, closeout deals were everywhere, but there was no talk of a fresh start.
When the dust settled, both Colorado Cyclist and Planet Cyclery had announced a permanent shutdown in April 2024. It was sudden for some, but staff statements and a few letters to customers pointed to a lot of familiar problems. The company simply couldn’t keep up with the level of discounting, speed, and variety that bigger online retailers offered. Competing for price, especially for specialty items or bikes, had become nearly impossible.
Reasons for Shutting Down
If you spent any time on bike forums or followed cycling news, you probably saw this coming. The margins on bikes and parts have always been slim. But with giants undercutting prices, offering free shipping, and serving up deep inventories, companies like Colorado Cyclist were squeezed from both sides.
On top of that, brick-and-mortar retail as a whole has faced stiff challenges in the past five to ten years. Add in supply chain issues, the COVID-19 boom and bust (when everyone wanted a bike, and then suddenly didn’t), and you’ve got a tricky situation. Multiple former employees have mentioned that the increased competition, especially online, was the main reason given for shutting down.
Let’s be honest—it’s also way harder to keep a specialty shop profitable if you have to match industry giants on every sale. By the end, you had both brands doing heavy discounts, clearing out inventory, and essentially competing with each other for the same shrinking pool of online shoppers.
What Happened Next: Acquisition and the Future
Once it was clear both Colorado Cyclist and Planet Cyclery were shutting down, the focus turned to what would become of the brand, the assets, and the websites. That’s where Cambria Bike, an established California-based e-commerce player, came into the picture.
Cambria Bike stepped in with an offer to purchase the intellectual property of both Colorado Cyclist and Planet Cyclery. “Intellectual property” mostly means things like trademarks, website URLs, and customer lists. This didn’t include the physical stores or inventory—just the brand and the web presence.
If you follow cycling e-commerce, you’ll recognize Cambria Bike as a long-time name in the direct-to-consumer bike retail space. Their strategy has been to scoop up struggling, well-known online retailers and add them to their own network.
Not long after this acquisition, Cambria Bike said they’d bring back the Planet Cyclery brand as a new arm of their business. They haven’t released many details about what the relaunch will look like or if the company will keep any of the old Planet Cyclery staff. But as of summer 2024, they’re planning to run Planet Cyclery under Cambria’s umbrella, with their own take on inventory and service.
Here’s the key thing though: Cambria hasn’t given any sign they’ll resurrect the Colorado Cyclist name. There’s been no public statement on bringing back the old brand, website, or mailing list. So, even though some of the old assets now belong to Cambria, it looks like the Colorado Cyclist era is fully closed.
The Colorado Cyclist Brand Is Done: What’s That Actually Mean?
If you try to visit Colorado Cyclist online now, you won’t see the old site as you remember it. The domain may redirect or show a holding page for a while, but there’s no plan for a new store under that banner.
For customers, it means you’ll need to look elsewhere for custom wheel builds, kits, and those classic deals the company was famous for. Service from the old staff, any store credit, and long-term accounts with Colorado Cyclist have also been phased out.
There are rumors of some employees moving over to Cambria Bike or Planet Cyclery’s next evolution. But it’s clear the culture and customer service style from Colorado Cyclist—which put a lot of value on phone support and technical know-how—isn’t being transferred wholesale.
Summary Table: Where Things Stand Now
Here’s a quick look at the changes:
| Company | Status | Key Events |
|——————–|———————–|—————————————————————————|
| Colorado Cyclist | Closed (as of April 2024) | Merged with Planet Cyclery in 2021/2022, then both shut down |
| Planet Cyclery | Closed, relaunch planned | Combined with Colorado Cyclist, acquired by Cambria Bike, set for relaunch |
| Cambria Bike | Open, expanding | Bought IP from both, Will run new Planet Cyclery online, No relaunch of CC name |
It’s a straightforward story in the bike retail world these days. Brands get bought, shut down, merged, and sometimes get a second act—or fade out entirely.
What’s Left for Cyclists and the Industry
For bike fans, losing Colorado Cyclist is a little like losing a favorite local shop you visited on vacation. The quirky catalog, friendly staff, and the brand’s “we know bikes” vibe had a pretty loyal following. But the end of Colorado Cyclist also fits into a pattern a lot of cycling retail companies have gone through in the past five to ten years.
Many long-standing shops—both online and brick-and-mortar—have faced similar fates. People want fast shipping, deep discounts, and full inventories you can only really get from major e-commerce operators. That reality has pushed out a lot of mid-sized players.
There are still some specialty bike retailers online, but the market looks different. There’s more consolidation, with a few large companies scooping up smaller ones or buying their brand names. For shoppers, it often means fewer places to price compare, and a lot of the unique service or expertise you used to get is going away.
If you’re curious about how business trends like this shape more than just the bike industry, sites like Blue Business Mag cover retail and e-commerce stories like these all the time, and across lots of industries.
Final Thoughts: The End of an Era, But Not Cycling
If you’ve ever called up Colorado Cyclist or built a dream bike from one of their catalogs, this is a real end of an era. Colorado Cyclist is no longer in business as of April 2024, and there are no public plans for the brand to be revived, even as its old assets get new owners. Its longtime rival, Planet Cyclery, will get one more shot at life, but in a reimagined form, under new management.
The close of Colorado Cyclist is part of the larger shift toward fewer, bigger e-commerce businesses in sports retail. The gap between the largest sites and everyone else keeps getting wider. And while the bikes and parts aren’t going away, the number of specialty shops like Colorado Cyclist certainly is. For most riders, that probably just means shopping around more online, but for some—especially those who remember what made catalog brands like this special—it’s one more sign that the cycling retail world keeps changing, sometimes faster than we expect.
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