Bikeshop.com folds

As well as the bikeshop.com news, the US trade mag website www.bicycleretailer.com has an interesting take on Derbys SEC filing from last week.

Following the BikeBiz story from Saturday, bicycleretailer.com yesterday rans its newstory on Derby having to sell its non-core assets. The piece is headline Banks Stand By Derby Through Hard Times and surmises that Derbys senior creditors could have pushed for bankruptcy, but didnt.

Here are the two pieces from bicycleretailer.com:

NOTTINGHAM, United Kingdom (BR&IN)Last week Derby Cycle Corporation filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying its senior creditors have agreed to overlook Derbys breach of its loan agreements. The report says Derby may have to sell certain non-core assets to pay down its current level of borrowings to reassure lenders.

Derbys lenders could have foreclosed, forcing the company into liquidation. And while Derbys admission that it cannot comply with its loan agreements is bad news, the banks are giving the company a chance to work things out.

The willingness of Derbys lenders to continue working with the company must have come as a relief to Alan Finden-Crofts, who returned last month to run the company he started 15 years ago. While Finden-Crofts will be working hard to return Derby to profitability, he still needs a line of credit to keep the company operating.

Derby has not made it clear which non-core assets it will be selling. Other SEC filings report much of Derbys real-estate holdings are already up for collateral. ©Bicycle Retailer & Industry News

Derby USA Closes Bikeshop.com

STAMFORD, CT (BR&IN)Derby USA pulled the plug on its consumer sales web site Bikeshop.com. The online bike shop sold Raleigh and other Derby branded bikes as well as bikes, parts and accessories from Terry Precision Bicycles, Montague and others.

"The Bikeshop.com venture has supplied the company with a great deal of knowledge in what works and what does not work in this type of Internet operation. The knowledge gained will now be rolled into Derbys Raleigh, Diamondback and Univega branded sites," said Bill Austin, Derbys chairman and chief executive officer.

"Derby USA does not have plans to sell directly to consumers through their branded web sites. Consumers will be directed to our dealer base for the Raleigh, Diamondback, Univega, and Avenir product lines," Austin added.

To cut costs, Derby Cycle Corporation recently closed its U.S.-based corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, which also was the home of Bikeshop.com. The Bikeshop.com causality follows the closures of other consumer-direct sports sites like Bike.com and MVP.com. ©Bicycle Retailer & Industry News