Cannondale and Focus at Saddleback: A conversation with Andy Wigmore

As BikeBiz attended the Saddleback launch for its new bike brands – Cannondale and Focus – we had the opportunity to sit down with Saddleback MD, Andy Wigmore, to explore how the new editions to the Saddleback brand portfolio came about, and what impact these will have on the business, as well as talking goals for the future. 

Thanks for your time this morning, Andy. We’re sitting down at the start of the second of three sold-out days,  introducing Cannondale and Focus at Saddleback HQ.

I’m intrigued to know: How does the conversation begin? Where does this start for you? 

If we pick up at the point at which CSG is closing, Cannondale is moving in a different direction in the UK. That’s one part. The other: Where does Focus come into the conversation? 

If we step back, Cannondale has traditionally been a distributor-orientated brand in many of the major global markets. Australia, South Africa, South America, recently Japan, so that they understand distribution. 

The owners of Cannondale and Focus – PON.Bike – are themselves distributors. They distribute the VW group of vehicles in parts of Europe, so the understanding of what a distributor can do and what that approach can bring – it’s not lost on them. 

What’s interesting is that the direct model they had in the UK through CSG came through acquisition rather than design, and although this arrangement has benefits in challenging market conditions, it brings additional costs and there is no doubt that Brexit has brought complexity and challenges. 

Those two things – complexities and cost – plus that deep understanding of distribution and the benefits of being able to spread those costs over a wider group of brands – what we do as our core business – made us very interesting to PON.Bike

They (PON.Bike) arrived at a place in the summer of 2024 where their business was going to take one of two options and put it into play: Either appoint a distributor for Cannondale and FOCUS and they had, somewhat flatteringly for us, a short list of one – or to reinvest in their own structure here in the UK. 

So that was the beginning of what’s brought us here today – our reputation as a performance brand distributor was very appealing to them.

That’s an extremely flattering position to be in.

Of course. We were and remain very humbled by it all, but ultimately, they could see that it would be a great fit for the both of us.

What made the opportunity even more compelling was that lots of the people in our business were huge Cannondale fans – with many riding Cannondale bikes that they had bought with their own money, even though they could perhaps get access to other products for very little. A real love for the brand was always a very positive thing for us, it’s a good sign when we do business with brands our team are excited by and want to spend their own money on. 

What does the addition of Cannondale and Focus mean for the business? 

It’s a significant shift we’re talking about: Big personality and a premium element with Cannondale, and a great German brand in Focus, but Saddleback has previously been about much lower volume, much more boutique brands.

Good question. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the business – Saddleback – started with bicycles. 

When we introduced Felt bicycles in 2005, it was very much a premium brand in the triathlon and road space, albeit a somewhat different type of brand to Cannondale, but still, it was performance-orientated. 

Saddleback, the business, kind of cut its teeth with bikes. And then, as the Felt relationship changed, their direction differed from our direction, and we went down that premium route with the likes of Castelli and SIDI, Chris King and Enve, and others who fitted our mould – just as we fitted theirs. 

In all the time that has since passed, we’ve never lost our love for working with and representing bike brands, and ultimately the fun of selling bikes and supporting our retailers. 

Over the years, we’ve had lots of approaches from a variety of different bicycle brands. At the time, the mainstream brands that approached us just didn’t feel like a good fit. Whereas when PON.Bike approached we knew straight away that we needed to make it work, not just because we loved the brands – Cannondale and Focus – but because the cultural fit was great. 

We have an amazing purpose-built facility here in Yate that we’ve invested in over the years, which is able to deliver more than we were delivering out of it at the time so we knew we had the capacity to take on such an opportunity. 

We also have a great group of talented people here at Saddleback. And as things had slowed down post-COVID we probably had a few more people than we needed, but we chose, at quite some expense to the business, to hold on to people for future eventualities that I felt would come. Perhaps we didn’t anticipate brands quite the size of Cannondale, but certainly, I was reasonably confident that there would be a huge shake-up as a result of this seismic change in our industry, that brands would look for different partners and different routes to market. And, well, this is what’s happened! 

So, gearing up? Yes, of course, we’ve had to.

We’ve added a few more people. We’re now at 60. But mainly it’s been territory managers and marketing people that are new to the business. We’ve now got a direct Cannondale and Focus sales team and we’ve added some more technicians down in the workshop to prepare for the increase in business. But in terms of the rest of the functions, merchandising, finance, logistics, warehousing, we’ve already got a great team of people that have just absorbed Cannondale and Focus into their day-to-day – working to meet and exceed expectations, as they do any other brand. 

It’s exciting times, of course. That has also meant we’ve had to get stuck in and really work hard, doubling down to ensure we deliver. We’re working with brands that are a great fit for Saddleback, and I think we can all see that. I’ll also add that we feel the time is also right as the industry begins to show real signs of recovery.

In the UK cycling industry, the arrival of Cannondale and Focus at Saddleback is big, positive news. 

When we think UK market ‘premium, and volume’, as opposed to lower unit sale volume and boutique, in no particular order:  Specialized, Trek, Cannondale  –  they’re the brands. When was the last time one of those changed its home?

I’ve been in the bike trade since 1991…. And started Saddleback just over 20 years ago.

I think the last time anything of this sort of magnitude happened was probably Giro going from Madison to Zyro. Giro was huge and it really sent shock waves through the industry. For Zyro, at that time, it was a massive statement of intent. 

I’d say our news eclipses that. Cannondale is a tier-one bike brand after all. And I think it says a lot about our ability as a distributor and the perception others in the global industry have of us. I think it also says a lot about how the market’s changing. All credit to PON.Bike for realising that they need to do things differently. 

Of course, there is a lot of work that now needs to be done, things that we need to address, to ensure that we continue to position Cannondale as a leading performance brand, a technical brand, but that’s not beyond us, because that’s what we do with all the other brands in our portfolio. That’s where our strengths really lie. 

So that leads nicely on. How do you see the next 18 months? What are the ambitions? What are the targets for the next 18 months?

The targets are to make sure we launch the new product innovations well, seeing these bikes going into the right dealer network with the right media support. 

We’ve a number of new product launches upcoming – with new race gravel, adventure gravel and endurance road platforms, along with new eMTBs, with more still to come in the months ahead, so there’s plenty to get busy with. 

But as we get started with new products, we’ve also to introduce ourselves to the existing Cannondale dealer base.  

There are a lot of great Cannondale retailers in the UK who’re very brand-loyal and are providing their customers with really great brand knowledge and experience. We want to make sure that we are providing these retailers with everything that they need. A lot of them, around 70%, are already great Saddleback customers – many of whom we have dealt with for almost 20 years. So, in essence, it’s adding Cannondale and Focus to the great brands we already offer. 

In addition, we have a number of new dealers coming on board. With many of them coming to Saddleback for the first time over the three days of the open house. (All three days reached maximum venue capacity // sold out). 

The feedback we’re getting from existing Cannondale retailers is that they are enthused by the fact that they’re going to have a bigger support network of people here at Saddleback for them to rely on and provide assistance with whatever they need help with. So that’s part of the priority. 

The other part is managing the legacy products that we’re inheriting, which isn’t unusual when you enter into these kinds of transactions. We need to make sure that we get those products out into the market in the best possible way. This then gives us a clean slate for the 2026 model year. Clearly, we’ve got some work to do over the next six to nine months, getting the dealer base in a place where people are happy, ensuring the right product mix, enabling us to arrive in ‘26 primed to maximise all the opportunities that the brand will offer.

As you mentioned, prior to us sitting down, the industry has faced tough trading conditions for a period of time now. 

That said, something as significant as this – Cannondale and Focus finding a new UK distribution home – sends a very positive and encouraging message about the future.

I’d agree with that. 

As a business, we’re very proud of what we do here. I think we’ve got a good reputation. We’ve got our own style – we’re clean cut, we’re professional, we’re friendly, we’re approachable, and we deliver on those things. 

It doesn’t change the fact that when these things happen, you do find yourself occasionally pinching yourself. ‘Is this really happening?’ ‘Did we really make this happen?’ It was never beyond us. It was just a big step up. 

Like many in the trade, we’ve had three very challenging years. But this – the addition of Cannondale and Focus – is not beyond our capabilities.

We’ve already got the right team of people. We’ve got a facility here that will accommodate it, certainly for the next 12 months. Will we need to add additional warehousing space nearby as the volumes grow? Of course, we will. But, you know, that’s not challenging to be able to just incorporate that. So, yes, we’re super excited. 

Bringing on two bike brands like Cannondale and Focus will only enhance the rest of our portfolio. 

It’s certainly been nice to hear the reactions of our other brand partners, many of which have been with us for a long time. They could see that this move will make Saddleback a more desirable partner to retailers, perhaps a much more ‘must deal with’ type of distributor. We’re already seeing that we are now becoming, for a number of the large retailers, one of their biggest suppliers, which is a big step up for us – previously a large niche supplier. Now, we’re becoming a more mainstream supplier as well, which is something that we really relish. 

You’ve built a brand identity for your business, which sees you working with partners who share an ethos. Looking at the product portfolio, it’s hard not to be impressed. You offer a curated selection of products across an admired and desired range of brands. 

Our strategy from the early days has always been: We want to be the home of performance cycling, and we want to be partnering with leading road and mountain bike brands. We have intentionally kept it to a relatively small portfolio so that we can give each brand the attention they deserve. We could have, on many occasions over the years, added multiple brands. We could have been presenting 50-plus brands today quite easily. I’ve always struggled to understand how a distributor, let alone a brand builder, can give the necessary attention to that amount of brands without them ultimately feeling dissatisfied.

We’re already seeing brands showing even more interest in what we’re doing. That doesn’t mean that suddenly we are trying to be all things to all people. Our fundamentals haven’t changed. We are unashamedly performance-orientated. Road, mountain and gravel are our heartlands. That’s where we have some authority and experience. Outside of that, there are better partners than us, and that’s where we’ll leave that.

Looking at it from a PON.Bike point of view, there’s clear appeal when you – Saddleback – have long-term relationships with brands. Yours is typically not a business where brands come and go in 18 to 24 months. That stability is reassuring when setting out on a new brand and distributor relationship.

That’s true. We’ve represented Castelli in the UK and Ireland since late 2006, so we’re coming up there to almost 20 years together. Enve was 2010, Chris King 2011, SIDI, 2012. TLD, 2016. We’ve been through lots of good times together. We’ve been through the financial crisis of 2008. We’ve been through Brexit. We’ve been through COVID, and we’ve been through global economic challenges since. Good partners stay together and work together. We like the brand partner group that we have. We feel that it fits, and that Cannondale and Focus only complements that further. 

There aren’t many gaps left now in what I would consider a complete portfolio.