End of a cycling empire? Bike maker Accell at risk of bankruptcy

Accell, one of the Netherlands’ biggest bicycle groups, has been granted protection from its creditors to hold off the risk of bankruptcy.

The move will give the company court-approved breathing space to try to restructure its debts but leaves its future in doubt.

It is not yet clear how this will impact people with an Accell bike, or for the shops that sell and service them. Neither the company nor the courts have said anything about warranties, spare parts, or outstanding claims from the 2024 recall of tens of thousands of bikes, which were pulled from sale over cracking frames.

Accell owns some of the most well-known names in Dutch cycling – Batavus and Sparta city bikes, Koga touring bikes, and the Babboe and Carqon cargo brands – as well as Raleigh, Lapierre, and the German marques Haibike, Winora, and Ghost. It employs around 3,700 people in 15 countries.

Four difficult years
The company was publicly listed in Amsterdam until private equity group bought it for €1.56 billion in 2022.

It has struggled ever since the covid pandemic. Demand for bikes surged during the pandemic but parts were hard to get, and by the time supply chains recovered Accell was left with a mountain of unsold stock. Revenues fell 22% in 2024 to just over €1 billion.

A series of cutbacks followed: its warehouse network was reduced from 85 sites to 28, its Turkish factory was sold, and its Heerenveen plant closed last spring, ending its bicycle manufacturing in the Netherlands. Production moved to Hungary and France.

Earlier this year Accell struck a deal with its creditors, who took ownership of the company. That was always a stopgap, and a search for a new owner began. Accell said it held talks with several interested parties, assessed a number of bids, and sought regulatory approval for a possible merger, but no workable solution emerged.