Raceface Official Press Release

[Matt D]

The final press release from Craig Pollack, former Race Face CEO and managing partner was just released.

"The reasons for the receivership are complex but basically the company recently got offside on its borrowing base with the bank."

Check out the news here...

[Sideshow]

So sad.

[hypa]

It's a bad time to owe money.
Sad news, but let's hope that a positive outcome will follow.

[Oldfart]

Whether you like their stuff or not, it is a sad outcome. I find it hard to imagine that some entity won't pick it up. The name is instantly recognized in the bike world and in a good way.

[M@ikel]

[Mic]

I really, really hope that a company that is decent and "honest" to the sport will pick it up again, so that nothing like the Schwinn fiasco will happen.

[xy9ine]

seen at the taipei bike show *sheds tear*:

[dorse]

Brodie, Syncros, Bridgestone, Off Road Toad,... Race Face.

If you're reading this and feel a strong pang of nostalgia (as I do), you too are lamenting the loss of a company whose vintage dates back to when mountain biking was still new; before suspension bikes existed (no disrespect to off-road/pro-flex); before mavic built wheels (and still made cranks!); when dia-compe 987 cantis were hi-end, and one could still buy a hand-built Sovereign from Paul Brodie (I still kick myself for passing up that opportunity, and I would likely still own it today). We have watched as the small and genuinely innovative builders and pioneers of our sport have been swallowed up by cost margins and mega-corporations. It makes me sad -and a little sick- when this kind of thing happens, and yes, I understand market demand, cost efficiencies, trends in the sport, etc... but I can't help but feel like a part of my youth died last week.

Syncros too was an amazing little company designing, testing and building some extraordinary components, and yet when they were bought out, their quality went into the toilet, and they became an industry joke. Even since Ritchey bought the brand, there is so little left of the original spirit of the brand that Syncros as a name really ought to be buried.

I genuinely hope that RF emerges from this whole mess and regains it's original stature as a leader in not only manufacturing components, but equally, supporting and promoting the sport and its athletes, from big names to local races.

What does give me hope is seeing the likes of Chris King/Cielo, IF, Mariposa, Sycip Cycles, Sweetpea and a host of other custom builders going strong and producing truly excellent frames and components -at a cost, a high cost. At the end of the day, it is the consumer who drives these changes: we buy components and bikes to suit the flavour of the month/season/year and requirements change with time. We also LOVE a deal, so if we can buy it cheaper...

Whatever the reason for the end of RF, be it mis-management, greed, poor planning, or just the whims of the market and a crap economy, I for one hope that the little one-off guys continue to thrive and keep building us bikes and gear that we will have a decade from now.

[dudski]

That is one sad photo right there...when I was a nine year old drawing dream bikes, I always made sure they were all spec'd with Turbine LP's.

[Bryce]

thanks Neetesh, that really puts it all in perspective