Spanish motorcycle brand Gas Gas has officially called off the dogs on any attempts to save the company from doom after announcing that it has officially filed for bankruptcy.

The news isn’t as shocking as some people may think it is because the company has been in a rut for quite some time now. It’s no secret that Gas Gas has been trying to stave off this day from happening, even going so far as to completely cease production of its bikes to reconcile its debt and restructure its business to become more profitable.

There was even talk that Austrian bike brand KTM ->ke1954was going to make a move to buy the fledgling company back in February 2015. Sadly, none of those talks amounted to anything, leaving Gas Gas facing the grim reality that it was indeed time to close up shop.

The scenario with Gas Gas isn’t too different from the situation with Erik Buell Racing, despite being handled by two separate bankruptcy courts in two different countries. Like EBR, Gas Gas will be given a trustee, whose primary responsibility would be to sell the company for the highest price available in the market.

News of Gas Gas’ fall also means that separate brand Ossa will also end up on the market. Since the two Spanish brands merged in 2014, both companies are in the same boat now, desperate to look for a new owner that can somehow turn the two brands around the way the current ownership group never could.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that another motorcycle company can come in and make a ninth-inning save. If there’s something the bike industry has taught us, it’s that this type of thing can happen if the stars align.

For now, though, the flags are flying at half-mast over at Gas Gas as it now tries to come to grips with the reality that filing for bankruptcy is the only card left in the deck that it can still play.

Continue reading to read more about Gas Gas' filing for bankruptcy.

Why it matters

A part of me isn’t surprised that this happened, but there’s also another part that was probably hoping that it never reached this point for Gas Gas.

Everybody knew that Gas Gas was in trouble when it decided to halt production of its bikes back in early February 2015. If that wasn’t a clear sign of trouble, I don’t know what is. Things then took a turn for the worse when it was reported that the company needed more than $30 million to get its house in order.

That’s a lot of money for a company that doesn’t have the financial cache of some of the bigger brands in the business. When the money never came, whispers of a KTM takeover injected some hope that Gas Gas would improbably live to see another day or two. But alas, those rumors never panned out, either.

That’s left the company starving in the middle of the road with seemingly no help in sight coming from both directions. So there was no other route to take than to walk along Bankruptcy Boulevard and hope for the best.

There aren’t that many options left and as Erik Buell Racing is finding out for itself these days, sometimes, it’s better to cut bait and let others decide your fate.

I really hope Gas Gas comes out of this fine. It would be a shame to see another motorcycle brand that I once called “promising” fall into despair.