Huffy in Chapter 11

According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
11 bankruptcy.

....I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
as in importer?

Inquiring minds, and all that -

Mark Janeba
(Never owned a Huffy)

According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
11 bankruptcy.

...I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
as in importer?

Inquiring minds, and all that -

Mark Janeba
(Never owned a Huffy)

When Schwinn entered the Walmart market, Huffy didn't have a chance.
Those Schwinn stingrays are eating the market up.

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 11:12:33 GMT, "Callistus Valerius"
wrote:

According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
11 bankruptcy.

No surprise. They've been on a slide for the past year, and got
de-listed off the NYSE in August.

...I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
as in importer?

Their bikes have remained present in the marketplace in a diminishing
number of outlets for a while now, but their other sports-related
products are their main business from what I understand. I saw a
report that they sold off a basketball product line, but ISTR that
they still have golf clubs, scooters, skateboards, and hockey stuff.
I suspect that their inability to come close to the variety of bikes
from Pacific was what did them in on that front. From what little I
can see, most of their current line seems to be kiddie bikes, which
isn't exactly a high-profit or prestige segment.

Inquiring minds, and all that -

Mark Janeba
(Never owned a Huffy)

When Schwinn entered the Walmart market, Huffy didn't have a chance.
Those Schwinn stingrays are eating the market up.

Schwinn didn't "enter" the Wal-Mart market. First it got borged by
Pacific, which was already well into WallyWorld. From there it was
just a matter of time before Pacific slapped the Schwinn name on bikes
that were bound for Mall-Wart's racks. The fact that they decided to
market their fool's plaything "chopper" via that channel is hardly
surprising; what is mildly amusing is that while I've seen them in the
stores for quite a while, I have yet to see one under the bum of a
child (or any other age of rider) in the area.

I have heard some bike shop operators lament that as far as they are
concerned, the real Schwinn is dead; arguably, it can be said to have
been either dead or moribund before Pacific assimilated the remains.
What persists is a zombie with a marketing division pulling its
strings.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
11 bankruptcy.

No surprise. They've been on a slide for the past year, and got
de-listed off the NYSE in August.


...I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
as in importer?

Sigh. Guess I gotta answer my own question. After a bit of a dig with
Google:

Huffy closed "its largest U.S. factory and [laid] off 950 employees"
around **June 1998**, apparently moving to the Memphis area - or as
another source put it, "Huffy Corp.’s bicycle plant left Celina [Ohio]
in 1998 and went the route of so many other American manufacturers —
first to nonunion labor, then overseas"

I gather today's Huffys are from China.

Note that Huffy is filing chapter 11 (reorganization), not the chapter
that means liquidation, so we're probably gonna continue to see Huffys
for a while yet, if the faux-Schwinns don't drive Huffy completely over
the edge.

References for the curious:
http://scancat.com/huffybike/
http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memph...08/story1.html
http://rgj.gannettonline.com/gns/jobs/day3side.html


Mark Janeba
....who remembers bike fests having "Huffy Tosses", competitions to build
a contraption to hurl a Huffy the farthest distance.

Werehatrack wrote:

...
I have heard some bike shop operators lament that as far as they are
concerned, the real Schwinn is dead; arguably, it can be said to have
been either dead or moribund before Pacific assimilated the remains.
What persists is a zombie with a marketing division pulling its
strings....

We can only hope that the "Paramount" name never shows up on a piece of
crap.

--
Tom Sherman

According to a fellow involved with Pacific and specifically the Schwinn
product line, a Paramount will be coming out some time next year.

================

"Bonehenge" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:07:16 -0500, Tom Sherman
wrote:



We can only hope that the "Paramount" name never shows up on a piece of
crap.

I'm betting it will.

Barry

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:33:02 -0500, "Frank"
wrote:

According to a fellow involved with Pacific and specifically the Schwinn
product line, a Paramount will be coming out some time next year.

And with any luck, it will be every bit as much a Paramount as any
Motobecane on eBay is a real Motobecane. (Otherwise, it will be that
much worse.)
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Werehatrack wrote:

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:33:02 -0500, "Frank"
wrote:


According to a fellow involved with Pacific and specifically the Schwinn
product line, a Paramount will be coming out some time next year.


And with any luck, it will be every bit as much a Paramount as any
Motobecane on eBay is a real Motobecane. (Otherwise, it will be that
much worse.)

And what are the chances it will be made in Waterford, Wisconsin? (About
as likely as Trevor Jeffrey endorsing Jobst Brandt's wheel building
methods, I would say).

--
Tom Sherman

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:52:06 -0500, Tom Sherman
wrote:

Werehatrack wrote:
And with any luck, it will be every bit as much a Paramount as any
Motobecane on eBay is a real Motobecane. (Otherwise, it will be that
much worse.)

And what are the chances it will be made in Waterford, Wisconsin? (About
as likely as Trevor Jeffrey endorsing Jobst Brandt's wheel building
methods, I would say).

Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
locations these days.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:31:12 GMT, Werehatrack
wrote:

[snip]

Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
locations these days.

Dear Werehatrack,

Historic enterprise locations?

Carl Fogel