Originally Posted by mstateglfr

ASE, the parent corp for ASI, Performance, and Nashbar, was basically the most vertically integrated company in the cycling business. They owned design, manufacturing(by partly owning/being owned by a manufacturing plant), and distribution/sales. Even they couldnt keep it together.
Now they couldnt keep it together in part because of the debt they took on when ASE was created due to being effectively forced to absorb Performance and Nashbar a handful of years ago, but in the end even the most vertically integrated company couldnt make it. National chains arent even that integrated.