RENTON, Wash. (BRAIN) — Alta Cycling Group, the parent of Redline, Diamondback and IZIP, has scaled back significantly as its private equity owners wait out the industry’s current period of discounting and high inventory.
Larry Pizzi, the company’s longtime leader, stepped down when his five-year contract ended in late July, he told BRAIN. This summer Alta’s owner, Regent LP, let go several other staff members including product development staff. The latest departures follow a steady downsizing over the last several years. Michael Brown, a product developer who had been with the Alta brands for more than two decades, is among those who left the company this summer. Rob Kaplan, who had been Alta's vice president of sales, left the company early this year; he is now head of sales at Bulls Bikes USA. Like Brown and Pizzi, Kaplan had a long history with the Alta brands at Accell prior to the formation of Alta.
Alta Cycling Group was formed in 2019 when Regent acquired the Redline, Diamondback and IZIP assets from Accell North America, which ended its North America operations that year. Alta has the rights to those brands globally with the exception of the Canadian market, where Canadian Tire bought the rights to Redline and Diamondback. Accell retained rights to the Raleigh and Ghost brands and Alta sold those brands under license in the U.S. for several years until the license agreement ended.
Pizzi continues to consult with Regent, focusing on wrapping up relationships with suppliers who have Alta products in production or unshipped. He said Regent’s leaders are not interested in selling the brands or in shutting them down; but they are not interested in investing in new product development during a time of heavy discounting, either, he said.
Pizzi said Alta’s remaining staff operates in a Washington office that provides customer service and processes consumer-direct orders. The company uses a 3PL distribution center in Utah and has a significant amount of inventory, mostly of prior model-year bikes. Pizzi said the last time ANA brought in a new model was a Diamondback gravel bike model that was introduced in 2022 and delivered first in mid-2023. Alta has replenished its supply of that model, he said. Alta works with Beeline to fulfill complete bike orders from consumers.
“Their intentions are to re-start (new product development) when they see the light,” he said. Pizzi was initially Alta’s Chief Commercial Officer, becoming general manager in 2022. BRAIN could not reach Michael Reinstein, who is the CEO of Alta and chairman, founder and CEO of Regent.
Separately the same year, Regent acquired Mavic from Amer Sports. However, Mavic entered receivership in France soon after and its assets were eventually acquired by Bourrelier, a French investment group.
