DENVER (BRAIN) — Mike’s Bikes, the California retailer acquired by Pon.Bike last August, has bought the four-store Elevation Cycles chain in the Denver area.
Elevation Cycles, founded in 2012, has long been closely associated with Trek. A former Trek employee and his partners founded the chain in 2012 with the help of Trek. The chain began with the acquisition of a former Bicycle Pedal’r store in Highlands Ranch.
Furthering the association, at least one of the stores’ exteriors features a Trek logo, and Elevation Cycles briefly owned a location in Boulder that was later acquired by a third party and then sold to Trek; it's now a Trek company store. However, Elevation Cycles has never been owned by Trek Bicycle. Prior to the acquisition by Mike's, which went through a few weeks ago, the stores carried Trek, Pivot, Giant and Kona bikes.
Going forward, the stores will sell Pon’s Cannondale brand as well as Giant and Orbea, but not Trek.
That was Trek’s decision, said Ken Martin, the president of Mike’s Bikes.
“We were fully prepared to be a Trek dealer in Denver, but they decided to not move forward with that, which I understand,” he told BRAIN on Friday. Specialized made a similar decision after Pon acquired the Mike’s chain, immediately ending its relationship with Mike’s rather than continue to do business with a perceived competitor.
While Trek seems to be taking a gradual wind-down of its business with Elevation, the company is already advertising for multiple retail positions in Highlands Ranch and Denver despite not owning a store there.
“I’ve seen those ads, I assume they are planning to open a store in Highlands Ranch, which is great,” Martin said. “If Highlands Ranch becomes the epicenter of bike retail in the Denver region, that could draw in a lot of consumers,” Martin said.
A Trek spokesman did not immediately respond to an email from BRAIN; Trek rarely comments about its retail acquisitions.
Specialized also owns a store in Highlands Ranch, one of the four Bike Source locations in Colorado that it bought last November.
Pon owns Cervelo, Santa Cruz, Juliana, Gazelle and the former Dorel Sports brands: Cannondale, Schwinn, GT and Mongoose.
As with the 14 Mike’s Bikes locations in California, the four Colorado stores — two in Denver, one in Parker and the Highlands Ranch location — will carry a mix of Pon-owned brands and other brands, Martin said.
“It’s super important to us to maintain authenticity and not become a corporate bike shop; that’s my worst nightmare,” Martin said. He said the company is still considering whether the Colorado stores will be renamed as Mike’s Bikes stores.
Elevation Cycles was owned by Tyler Pilger and Philip Brown. Pilger referred BRAIN’s questions about the sale to Martin.
Asked if there were more retail acquisitions in the works, Martin said, "of course there are."
