Backcountry Acquires Mobile Bike Franchise Velofix

Online bike retailer Backcountry has acquired Velofix, the mobile bike-repair network that sends vans staffed by certified technicians to customers' driveways, in a deal that closed September 17. The purchase gives Backcountry roughly 96 technicians and a built-in service arm for the bikes it already sells about 5,000 of each year.

Closing the Gap Between Online Orders and Ready-to-Ride Bikes

Backcountry president Kevin Lenau said the acquisition is meant to solve a problem specific to buying a bike online: a boxed bike that arrives at a customer's door still needs assembly, tuning and fitting before it's rideable. Velofix vans will now handle that step, with Backcountry's Summit Club Plus members getting discounted access first.

Franchise Owners Stay in the Fleet

About two-thirds of Velofix's vans are company-owned, and Backcountry plans to keep the roughly 60 technicians who run them. The remaining third are run by independent franchise operators, and Backcountry says it intends to keep growing the network through a mix of company-owned and franchised vans rather than converting the whole fleet in-house. Velofix will keep its Vancouver, British Columbia headquarters, and co-founder Davide Xausa stays on as a consultant.

A Pattern of Buying Instead of Building

The Velofix deal extends a decade-long pattern for Backcountry, which has grown its specialty retail footprint through acquisition rather than organic buildout, picking up Competitive Cyclist in 2011, TriSports in 2017, and Level Nine Sports and Velotech's BikeTiresDirect in 2025. For franchise operators in adjacent service categories, the deal is a reminder that a founder-led mobile-service network can become an attractive acquisition target once a retailer needs the last-mile capability it can't easily build itself.