Vista Outdoor (Bell Helmets) to Acquire Fox Racing

Interesting, Alpinestars is super cool in my book, I've been a big roadracing fan for a long time and they're tech air system has increased safety big time which has led to less injuries and a higher level of riding. Their recent venture into dirt gear is cool, although I don't think the looks are that groundbreaking. I bet the quality is good but you are paying for that.

Bell has alot of basic quality bike accessories that are carried in big box stores, but also high quality helmets for all sports. I would look for a similar path for FOX under Vista ownership.

I look forward to a stronger Fox than ever.

Scroll up the page though, what's the first thing they show a photo of?

For me, it's a dude standing in front of a skyscraper that takes me to their "Urban" offerings.

Okay, assuming you don’t realize Moto is not AStars number 1 priority, I encourage you to visit their website. Google results are based on your interests. Shall we do an even comparison of websites? That where this entire debate has stemmed from after all.

I agree that $5k per year is not a big amount for a dealer , even a small one. According to the info I have seen,Fox is #1 as far as gear sales go. We started to sell Thor which is around the #2 spot this year, we are a small shop and started to sell it early into the start of this season when many people have already purchased gear. We had exceeded that amount in sales a couple months in . Most of the sales are word of mouth with a little bit of social media. When I was putting my first order together I was surprised at how fast it all adds up. Even $5k at dealer cost is not a big pile of gear, unless Fox margins are much much higher than the companies I have seen pricing for. Add in some helmets and Boots and it gets up there pretty quickly. you could be at $5k retail with 5 sets of gear , with boots and helmet ( High end Fox) . They want a shop to have a decent assortment of gear so when they call themselves a FOX dealer you don't go there and see a few sets of gear. The thing that worries me is if Fox starts to sell stuff at Walmart that could hurt dealers and the brand much more than those minimums. Arctic Cat ran into a similar issue when they started to sell under the tracker brand to Bass Pro. They were selling the same vehicles , for example a Wildcat XX sxs from Arctic Cat was about 20.999.00 Retail at a dealer. And Bass Pro was selling the Tracker version for around $17,999.00 . Same exact SXS after you peal the stickers off. but a big discount. And they did other things that cost them a lot of dealerships. That was after Textron bought them. Maybe if they keep the Walmart sales to some lower end T shirts it wouldn't be too bad. But I feel like even the T shirts sales would be taking away potensial sales from a dealer. Right now if you want a Fox shirt you go to your dealer or online shop and get one, maybe you see a helmet or pair of goggles you have wanted and grab it at the same time.And then there is also the level of the brand name, in the past Fox has been wanting to be a higher end brand , like an Oakley or Nike ,etc. I feel like selling in Walmart would change that feeling for me. On the other hand , I guess it could also help drive sales to a local dealership too. People that see Fox at Walmart might end up wanting to buy some of the items that could be Dealer only items. They have done a good job with Bell so far. If they do it right it could be good. It will be interesting to watch playout. I would like to be a Fox dealer, but I wouldn't buy in right now. I want to see what Vista ends up doing with the brand. I feel like Alpinestars is on much more of an uptrend and have a higher ceiling than Fox. I just hope they take good care of the Brand and its not another one that goes away like JT racing did, or Axo .

For whatever it’s worth - the current CEO of fox is pure MTB/road bike.

Spent 10-15 years at cannondale before making the pilgrimage to moto, where he was CEO of ONE for a few years.

Insanely smart business man (and a good man) but his heart was always on the bicycle side of things. This merger/Acquisition does not surprise me in the least, and I genuinely hope it bucks the trend of what happens when a core (or at least formerly core) brand sells to a giant….