Decathlon makes these three bicycle brands disappear

To bring more clarity to its bicycle brands, Decathlon will eliminate Triban, Riverside and Elops. Since the golden age of Btwin, which took the place of Decathlon Cycle in 2006, other bicycle brands had arrived to try to better segment the market: Triban, Riverside, Elops but also Rockrider and more recently Van Rysel. The French sports distribution giant now realizes that they have also caused confusion in the minds of consumers.

A new CEO, Barbara Martin Coppola

“Move people through the wonders of sports“; the ambition of the new CEO of Decathlon, Barbara Martin Coppola, is to make Decathlon a global brand. A graduate of Harvard and INSEAD, this Franco-Spanish woman has worked for Texas Instrument, Samsung, Google and Ikea .

It was she who gave the impetus for Decathlon’s new identity and its orbit logo. With its strategy called “North Star”, it intends to make the blue and white brand a “multi-specialist company”. It wishes to rationalize brands, all sports combined, to simplify its offering and strengthen the consistency of its ranges.

A strategy to strengthen the Decathlon brand, by unifying its products under a single banner. The goal is to increase consumer recognition and trust. We imagine that it is also a story of cost rationalization. The grouping and merger of brands will allow economies of scale and better allocation of resources in terms of development, production and marketing.

Decathlon on the cycling brand side in 2024

Exit the multitude of “passion brands”. There are now only twelve brands left in the group. Concerning the cycle part, this therefore results in the disappearance of the Triban, Riverside and Elops brands. Only three brands remain: Btwin, Rockrider and Van Rysel.

Rockrider

Rockrider obviously remains focused on off-road use, with mountain biking. Its range has evolved considerably, with a mid/high-end positioning which has paid off. Rockrider notably sponsors a UCI Mountain Bike team. However, with this reorganization, the brand also broadens its scope to the VTC/trekking/travel part. It thus takes over the vacant land in Riverside.

Btwin

Btwin for its part will be the reference for the everyday bike, the utility bike. It takes up the world of Elops, whether for classic or electric bikes (Btwin LD 920 E), folding bikes (Btwin Fold Light 1″) and of course cargo bikes (the longtail R500E or the new two-wheeler F900E) Children’s bikes should remain under the Btwin brand. The logical continuation of this urban mobility segment, with the Oxelo brand disappearing, Btwin also recovers the urban sliding section (rollers, skateboards and scooters).

Van Rysel

As for Van Rysel, the brand remains on its performance road orientation. The latter is one of the “expert brands” according to Decathlon (with Kiprun, Solognac and Simond). Van Rysel will therefore have a little more latitude to develop its products and concepts. This is undoubtedly why she has just opened a Van Rysel boutique in London. It is also the major sponsor of the UCI Decathlon-AG2R team. About Van Rysel, we will return to this subject later, interesting (in our opinion) to see the evolution of the brand. Became a desirable (very desirable) brand by couriers in such a short time.

And the gravel bike then?

And the gravel bike in all this? Today, the boundaries between different cycling practices are increasingly porous. Transversality is essential, and this is particularly the case with this all-purpose bike (we call it an allroad bike, that sounds better).

Well, the gravel bike in its performance and racing aspect will remain in the fold of Van Rysel. However, a mount like the Touring 920 travel bike – formerly under the Riverside banner – will be retained in the new Rockrider “VTC/trekking” range. As for the Triban models, we still don’t know how they will be “eaten”.

“Brands disappear, not products“

“In reality, brands disappear, not products. It’s a bit of the front that changes, but not the back.“, César Bygodt tells us. After spending three years as Dialogue Leader at the Riverside brand, César was the Communications Manager from Decathlon Outdoor. It is today “Creative Copywriter” within the Rockrider team.

By these words, he means, for example, that a Triban bike will be kept in the catalog, but probably not in the long term under this brand (Van Rysel or Rockrider? We don’t know). It also means that certain products, such as bicycles, will be able to retain their old identity for longer; particularly due to industrial molds which will not be replaced immediately.

However, accessories or textiles may only be branded with the Decathlon orbit logo. Thus, a pump, a lock or a jersey can more easily be shared between the different worlds of the Btwin, Rockrider or Van Rysel brands.

A globalized context

The discussion around the discontinuation of these bicycle brands Triban, Riverside and Elops is made in a globalized context. If Decathlon is a key player in large-scale sports distribution for 99% of French people, it is a little less so among our European neighbors; and almost none across the Atlantic or in the Middle East.

“The idea is to offer a more readable offer to our customers. Already in France people were having difficulty, so we have to imagine ourselves in geographies where we are less present and less old.“, indicates César Bygodt. He tells us that internally, for the design and design teams, it is not a revolution, just a minor reorganization. The latter remain located at the Btwin Village in Lille which is the “vessel mother”.