Last week, Juliana Bicycles quietly ceased independent operations with an announcement on its website saying, Forward Together: Juliana and Santa Cruz as one brand. Of course, the two brands have been very closely linked all along, but this announcement marks the end of an era for the pioneering womens mountain bike brand. Since 2013, Juliana has operated as a standalone sister brand to Santa Cruz with separate operations, branding, and its own identity, helping inspire more women to get out and ride.The Juliana story started years before it became a brand. In 1999, Santa Cruz debuted the first womens-specific mountain bike named the Juliana, after mountain bike legend Juli Furtado. Fourteen years later, Juliana Bicycles spun off from Santa Cruz, becoming a standalone brand producing numerous womens-specific models and operating more or less independently.An old-school Santa Cruz Juliana.While Julianas frames have always been essentially identical to their Santa Cruz counterparts, they typically featured lighter shock tunes and different touchpoints to suit female riders. Of course, the bikes also stood out with different paint jobs, branding, sponsorships, and marketing intended to inspire women to ride and feel welcome in a male-dominated sport.The Next ChapterOn the Juliana website, they call this the next chapter, and say, Its always been more about the rider on the bike than the name on the downtube. Julianas goal was to create a space for women to be seen, heard, and recognized. We dont think its absolutely mission accomplished, but we believe that now is the time to bring our sister brand into the same tent and solidify that space for the future.While Juliana-branded bikes will no longer be produced, Santa Cruz will continue to maintain the Juliana website. There, Juliana owners can still make warranty claims or reference the archives for model information. On that note, Juliana warranties will still be honored, but handled by Santa Cruz.If youre a Juliana owner, julianabicycles.com still has everything you need.A Couple TakeawaysThe industry has almost completely shifted away from womens specific bikes. A decade ago, many of the major mountain bike brands, including Specialized, Cannondale, and Canyon, had womens-specific models in their lineups. Over the years, those brands slowly phased them out in favor of unisex models and their bottom lines, leaving Juliana and Liv as the last womens brands standing. Not because women dont have different bike fit needs than men, but perhaps because those fit needs can now be met with todays unisex models and sizing. Theres certainly no shortage of bikes and sizes to choose from these days.Additionally, the discontinuation of the Juliana brand is undoubtedly linked to the ongoing belt-tightening across the industry. Santa Cruz and Juliana, among other brands, are owned by Pon.Bike. Yes, the same Pon.Bike that announced the closure of Cannondales Connecticut offices just yesterday. Beyond eliminating some redundancy, consolidating Julianas operations under the Santa Cruz name is surely another cost-saving measure, as is moving Cannondales North American operations to the West Coast to join them next year.More info at: julianabicycles.com