You are reading a single comment by @Skülly and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Skülly
Yep.
Turns out Holdsworth made decent bikes with the Claud marque in the 60s. Maybe they can do the same.
I guess if (a BIG if) the new Witcomb drops the silly prices for things like custom paint, and makes the basic frame cost more in line with, say, BJ, they just might have a chance. As long as there are no embarassing BB-shell-not-brazed-in sort of accidents early on. But yes, dammit, you're right that by buying it the name is essentially dead, until a good rep can be rebuilt.
Perhaps they will try to keep Barrie on as an overseer/teacher for these boyos to learn from, and if they take Barrie's long-term employees with them, thy could just manage to keep it afloat.
I'd say they'd have more chance if they just asked a well-known builder like Mercian or BJ to build frames for them, and made that public knowledge, i.e. essentially to sell the brand to Mercian. I can't really see what good it can do to have a 'branding' and 'accessability' expert at the helm of such a company.
Good luck to them, I say. I know that's an unpopular thing to say, but hey I wouldn't mind a change of career, praps I'll move to Wales.... ;)