All the Talbots!

I wanted to let the forum know that Talbot Frameworks will be closing its books as of today. The forum has been a massive part of Talbot, and some of my favourite bikes have been built for people on here, so seems the best place to announce it. I'll be working through remaining waiting list, and if I'm already chatting to you about a build then thats still in. Warranties are all still valid as well, as the main reason for closing is to focus on Isen Workshop, so I'll still be about.

As it all started here, with the 853 for £853 bikes, and I know so many people here, and so many people have helped me out along the way, I wanted to explain the rationale behind closing, as it may be useful for someone thinking of doing something similar.

As anyone who knows me, or as had a bike built by me will know, I am pretty deadline-fluid. It isnt that I willfully get time lines wrong, more that I am totally incapable of remmebering what I am supposed to be doing, and pathologically underestimate how long things will take. For the first 6 years of running Talbot, I was able to just about keep on top of this, as there was (for the most part) just me and x number of bikes to build. Sure, I'd forget to build someones bike, they'd be very reasonable, I'd then forget again, they'd be annoyed, I'd pull an all-nighter and it would be forgiven. The issues started when we started Isen, and the massive amount of time that has taken, and continues to take, to run.

Who would have thought that someone working at capacity, who then started a new company building 5 times more bikes, would not have enough time to do both things you say? I know! But, in my defence, even someone (caren) as tediously fastidious, who has an actual diary, that they use (loser) was caught off-guard by just how much extra work was involved. The admin, PR, staff stuff, sales etc etc have been enormous. They are sort of manageable now, but when we started we had no idea what we were doing, and had to make it up on the fly.

This was compounded by the financial burden of the new workshop we moved to, as we needed more space for the higher number of bikes leaving the shop. I went from about £500 quid a month for rent and gas at the old workshop, to more than £7000 for rent, bills, insurance and staffing overnight. We did know this, and on paper could cover it, but when something goes wrong and you can't, its no longer an amount of money you can find from behind the metaphorical sofa, so if you don't sell enough bikes, your just fucked. There have been numerous near disasters, all just about dealt with, but the cumulative effect of dealing with all of these things was that my sketchy grasp of Talbot based admin and deadlines was finally ripped from my sweaty, distracted hands. I wasn't able to pull an all nighter to get a bike out, as I was already doing an all nighter getting a bike out for Isen so we could pay the rent, or get to NAHBS or whatever stupid thing we were doing that week. I've had numerous situations over the last couple of months with incredibly reaosnable customers who I've forced into rage due to repeated missed deadlines, lack of communication or stupid errors on their completed bikes, like incorrect clearances, wrong paint codes etc.. and I just got to the point where I've realised there isn't any way I can continue as I have been. I really dont like annoying people (which again, if you know may you may find suprising), I don't want to lose any goodwill I have left, and I need to make Isen work, as I have sunk so much money and time into it.

One of the main selling points for Isen is that I have no contact with the admin or financial side of things, I'm just in the workshop cutting and welding (in theory) while our all powerful office manager fenella tells me why I can't buy things and what specific bike I am welding todayt, so the problems I had with Talbot will hopefully not happen again. My first boss told me that if you run a business you should spend minimal time worrying about what you are good at, as you are going to end up doing that anyway, but you should worry about what you are shit out, and constantly reassess if you have suddenly become shit at anything new, as that is what will sink you. That runs heavily through this decision.

To anyone I've annoyed during this time, I am sorry, all I can say is I was aware of it and have taken steps to stop it happening again. To anyone I owe a bike to, I'm woring through the list as quickly as I can, and am making a big effort to maintain good comms.

There is going to be loads of cool Isen stuff coming up in the next year or so, and I am looking forward to offering up here for critical mauling, which I haven't been able to do for a while as I've been hiding from the internet in case someone shouts at me!

LFGSS made Talbot what it became, gave me great customers, great SEO and great friends, and I'm truly greatful for all of that. Hopefully this decision will avoid anyone from here having to murder me in the near future.

TLDR: Idiot who couldnt run one company, fails to run two, closes one and gets someone else to run the other.