PASO ROBLES, Calif. (BRAIN) — Cambria Bike, one of the oldest operating e-commerce businesses in cycling, has acquired the intellectual property from Planet Cyclery and Colorado Cyclist, which closed this year.
Cambria has already soft-launched Planet Cyclery and may relaunch Colorado Cyclist soon, said Clay Akey, Cambria's founder. Cambria acquired the sites' web domains and mailing lists, Akey said.
Akey told BRAIN that the three domains can reach different segments of the bike market. Cambria is strongest in bikes, frames and components for the high-end mountain bike enthusiast, while Planet Cyclery was known for offering P&A bargains and Colorado Cyclist traditionally served the road cyclist for bikes, P&A, and apparel.
Akey said he was surprised how little overlap there was between the three sites' mailing lists. "This really will let us reach a new demographic," Akey said.
Colorado Cyclist dates to 1989. It merged with Planet Cyclery in 2022 and the business announced it was shutting down in April this year.
Akey bought Cambria Bicycle Outfitters in 1994. He later sold a majority share to Chris Watson, a former partner and managing director of the U.K.'s Chain Reaction Cycles, which Watson's parents started. Watson also was a partner in Hotlines, a wholesale distributor. Chain Reaction Cycles merged with Wiggle in 2016. Watson left the company after the merger.
After BRAIN reported the acquisition on Tuesday, Cambria released a press release on Wednesday announcing the re-opening of Planet Cyclery.
“Cambria remains independently owned, with more decades of experience than we would care to admit,” Matt Yeo, Cambria Group's CEO, says in the release. "Planet Cyclery is the next step in our expansion plan, building on a great business to reach more customers with our extensive product range."
This story has been updated from a previous version with information from the press release. It also corrects that Clay Akey is the founder of Cambria, not the CEO.
