Portlanders: Joe Bike *versus* Yuba?
 

It was weird enough when Joe Bike edited their website to say that the Yuba Boda Boda had been "discontinued". Now, Joe Bike notes that it's dropping Yuba entirely -- http://www.joe-bike.com/bikes/cargo-...yuba-mundo-v4/ notes "We were one of the very first Yuba dealers and, for the past three or four years, the largest Yuba dealer in the world, outselling even shops with a dozen locations. Despite this, we’ve severed our ties with Yuba and are not selling either of their models anymore."

Yes, even as http://www.joe-bike.com/bikes/cargo-bikes/ continues to trumpet "Yuba Mundo: The champ. The longtail of choice for stable riding with heavy loads: stable and serene past 200 lbs. on the back; frame rated for 440 lbs. of cargo plus rider. The more you use it and the more thoroughly you use it, the more it distinguishes itself among the pack. That’s why the Mundo is the only cargo bike personally owned by Joe Bike staff. In fact, the ratio of staff-owned Mundos to staff is 1.5 to 1!"

Does anybody here know what's going on?

No....but would be interested in knowing.

It looks like they're simply dropping cargo bikes, ceding that market to Clever Cycles and others. (For instance, they have deleted their cargo bike page even though they could still special order bikes like Big Dummy.) I suppose it makes sense insofar as the profit/weight and profit/size ratios are probably lower on big cargo rigs than singles. My, how things have changed since they started selling their Shuttlebug cargo bike...

BTW, once again, some poor writing on the Joe-Bike website -- "severing ties" sounds vaguely ominous, as if there were some bad warranty/accident story behind the change. Given their complete whitewashing of cargo bike info, I chalk this up to more spotty communication by Joe Bike, likely nothing else.

I Suppose even Portland Cannot support an Infinite growth in the number of bike shops?

Maybe another dealer took away the Yuba Bike Line because they could sell more, buy more at once,

having multiple store fronts ?