Stages got hit with a perfect storm (COVID) that pretty much destroyed both sides of their business, the bike side and the fitness side.
Pre-COVID, they had a dual-strategy business that served to provide stability if one side or the other dipped (even if the majority of their business was on the fitness side). But when COVID hit, it wiped them both out.
On the fitness side, gyms shut down and no one was ordering new bikes or replacement parts. Nail #1
On the bike side, they had adopted a strategy of using other suppliers cranks and retrofitting them with their PM’s. (A smart strategy, IMO, because it alleviated the R&D costs of developing their own cranks / chainrings). Worse, the majority of their business was with Shimano. When COVID hit, bike parts were impossible to find, especially Shimano. Whatever products were produced were allocated to high-importance customers and / or higher margin business. Stages was likely near the bottom of that list. Nail #2.
They tried to shift to an aftermarket upgrade strategy (send in your cranks and have a PM installed), but not many customers wanted to send in their cranks and not be riding while they waited for the install…especially since riding was one of the few things they could do during COVID. Nail #3
Have no idea if they also had chip / electronics shortages, but don’t think it would have made a difference since they had nothing to install the PM’s on.
