Foffa Bikes

I don't really get why it should be such a big deal that he had the 'audacity' to put his name to his bikes. I mean it's one of the oldest in the book, countless current bicycle brands are someone's surname

You misunderstand - it doesn't matter whether it's his surname, first name or nickname for his cat, the Foffa brand was first seen on some shit bikes, and has ever since been tainted by association. That's not unique to Foffa, Raleigh have a hard time getting a premium price for their better bikes because everybody's first impression of Raleigh is of sturdy 3-speed roadster, whereas Colnago gets over the odds for his Chinese carbon bikes because Ernesto built a strong reputation over decades of hand built steel before he started outsourcing production. A Chinese carbon Colnago isn't necessarily better than a Chinese carbon Raleigh, but the brand value is much higher among cycling enthusiasts.

At this point, Foffa's problem is that his brand is so badly compromised that he actually has to supply bikes which are clearly better than Fujis and Charges at the same price point in order to recover, something which, as you say, is probably not feasible for a small company. Even if the capital were in place to fund such a brand recovery plan, any sensible person would see that there are better ways to spend it. That, of course, is the great peril of using your own name as your brand; if it goes tits up, you probably need a Deed Poll before trying again.