Bob Jackson Cycles

When picking from standard sizes they charged about £500 inc vat for their road-friendly track frameset in Reynolds 631 and paint of your choice, eyelets, braze-ons etc.

I paid £365 for mine in 2007 I think.

The experience for me was mixed (quite poor communications, an error, a very long wait, costs incurred etc). Kinda old-school British manufacturing really, but a lovely product.

quite poor communications, an error, a long wait

thats any artisan

Its a great shame for a builder of such heritage to have gone under, but something doesn't add up.

Does the business and brand not have value? Don't they have rights to build Hetchins? Could they have not sold it on?

Having said all this these are niche frame builders generally unknown to many and sadly no longer relevant to the younger grav grav fixeh generation. Deffo not sexy enough for hipster tax either...

Bad times...

should've collab'd with palace. dumb fucks

Are they taking orders? Did u call to confirm.
I really fancy a arrowhead lugged frame.

They forgot to actually braze my seat tube into the bottom bracket and my frame separated in the middle of the Bricklayers Arms roundabout and I got a fuego paint job when the frame was fixed but on balance fuck these guys.

the Bricklayers Arms roundabout

@6pt was on top 10 of the flyover segment ..

Maybe, it's people who have owned and run this for years sayin; it's ours we don't want somebody else to take it on, we'd sooner close it than see our baby go in another direction.

I wonder; will any other frame maker try to move into the resonably priced off the peg market, there could be an opportunity here, if money can be made out of the venture, A difusion line for someone ?

What the website says now:

Due to the very high influx of work we can no longer take any re-spray, chrome plating or frame alteration until further notice. We are working round the clock to be able to re-start normal service. This banner will be removed when we can accommodate more work.
Thank you for your patience

So... Closing or not closing?

Their own-brand product seems to have fallen in between the cracks, too expensive for OTP but too constrained for boutique and not taking financial advantage of the creative freedom offered by in-house production.

After Bob's passing 20 years ago, has the company been competing in the wrong market?

I wonder; will any other frame maker try to move into the resonably priced off the peg market

Yeah, in Xiamen not Leeds.

They painted mine the wrong colour. Didn’t complain because it still looked nice.

Interesting post over on Paceline:

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=2813015&postcount=26

Would appear back in the day, Richard Sachs applied for an apprenticeship at Bob Jackson's.

They knocked him back!

Their own-brand product seems to have fallen in between the cracks, too expensive for OTP but too constrained for boutique and not taking financial advantage of the creative freedom offered by in-house production.

After Bob's passing 20 years ago, has the company been competing in the wrong market?

Hit the nail on the head I think.

I’ve always kind of fancied owning a BJ and last night I got to thinking that instead of looking for a used one, now might be the time to buy a new one, have one of the last few out the door kind of thing.

Thing is, there’s only one of the otp frames that can take a 32mm tyre. The Vigorelli, which is what I’d really want, is 28mm max.

Have to think that if they had changed the design up a bit, probably as simple as using a different set of chainstays, even offer it as a chargeable option, then the frames would be more relevant to today’s market.

old men from yorkshire aren't known for changing the way they've done things for decades, sadly.

Bussiness opportunity for Jimmy Ratclffe

The American frame building industry basically trained by witcombs that even had a American arm at one point.

For small out fits taking an apprentice only serves to slow down work and complicate things in a business that is already struggling.
It doesn't surprise me they are closing, but still bitterly disappointed.

I’ve been on their website a few times recently looking at frames and if they’d been just a little more modern I’d have gone for it (midnight blue, white lug lining) but the fear of component obsolescence put me off.

Do they crimp the chainstays though? If not, you could always ask for that and for the seatstay bridge to be fitted a bit higher.

fear of component obsolescence put me off.

what kind of stuff?

11/8, BSA, 27.2, rim brakes, clearance for 25mm max. All those dying standards 😉

I completely agree though. I’m tempted to get one now, but it’s just not what I’d want from a road frame anymore.

Those first 4 things aren't obsolete.

Ok, maybe rim brakes. Slightly.

The clearance is the real killer.

It's funny, the affordability of a Jackson made me think that I'd probably get one at some point, but I was never excited about it enough to ever commit. I wonder how many others felt the same way?

I'll be sad to see them go, but by all accounts of how their designs were slipping into the past, maybe it's not so surprising.

My every day ride is a Bob Jackson Audax. Awesome bike that I've done long tours on, commute on, and everything else.
Sad to see them go but sounds like it's on their own terms and hopefully no planet x type will buy the brand and ruin it's legacy of quality no fuss yorkshire steel frames

Hah, yeah. It was meant as a joke. I completely agree with you, all the standards they use are fine, it really does comes down to clearance and a very conservative choice of road only frames.
But if they want to retire and have no one to succeed them then any gravel frame wouldn’t have changed that.

News just in - they're not closing down after all!!