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Well bugger me with a fishfork!
The whole Witcomb thing is unrecognisable from just a few months ago.
Good job I ordered mine in July, those prices are fuckin demented.
That said, he's got far more work than he can handle so this might ease things off a bit. Prob an attempt to run the business without selling cheapo bikes to the locals.
I guess he might be semi-retiring. He's 64 and Ernie's 88.
So I'll be insuring mine for a lot then...
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Thats a pretty insane jump in prices. I remember talking to Barrie last year and it was about 1/3 of that for a frame.
On one hand, fair play to them - I really like Barrie and Witcomb have been struggling along for a long time, so its nice their business is booming again. On the other hand, I feel a little cheated cause Witcomb's are no longer affordable at all, if thats really the price.
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pip Thats a pretty insane jump in prices. I remember talking to Barrie last year and it was about 1/3 of that for a frame.
On one hand, fair play to them - I really like Barrie and Witcomb have been struggling along for a long time, so its nice their business is booming again. On the other hand, I feel a little cheated cause Witcomb's are no longer affordable at all.
Well I hope Barrie doesn't do a Vanilla....
I was quoted £500 for my track frame in Columbus Zonal.
There was some question on how much extra my choice of paint was going to be, but as a result of the delays that's now been included. I know some of the enamellers would want an extra century or so for that,
The ©1928-2008 is what yer paying for.
Sad thing is it's gonna be City Tossers buying these frames. Can't see these pink-shirted cnuts really appreciating the Barrie way of doing business...
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Prices start from £2,500 incl. standard frame
Isn't this a price for the whole bike (ie all components etc) rather than just the frame? Still a massive jump in prices, but not as bad as it first looks. He might have to sort out some of the eccentric customer service that I've heard about if he wants to sutain prices like that.
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pip On one hand, fair play to them - I really like Barrie and Witcomb have been struggling along for a long time, so its nice their business is booming again. On the other hand, I feel a little cheated cause Witcomb's are no longer affordable at all, if thats really the price.
business may not continue to bomb with these new prices. i had always dreamed of buying a witcomb one day, not any more. i wonder who their 'business advisor' is...
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Just had a look at the new site and think I may have found the inspiration behind the new regime. Under the bespoke bikes section you get to discover that not only are the frames still built by Barrie, but they're now also part designed by designer Tony Malone. Googled him and found he's part of, "Design for Diversity", who it turns out also did Witcomb's new site.
Seems that, "Design for Diversity" and Witcomb Cycles are now also part of the Constellation Group, in actuality it would apper that they are the only members of the Constellation Group. Could just be me be deeply, deeply cynical, but I hope Barrie (a) isn't being led up the garden path by this lot and (b) won't be handing over a disproportionate percentage of his new profits to them either.
It would be one thing for a knowledgeable designer/consultant to recognise there's an unexploited niche for a traditional maker like Barrie to exploit and (for a sensible fee) nudge him in this direction (love em or hate em someone like Rapha) but this lot's area of expertise appears to be issues of equality and integrating CSR into design, oh and apparently our mate Tony is a semi-pro cyclist, but other than that they appear to know squat about retailing or bicycles.
I'm no designer, but the copy on their website is riddled with typos and some of the most ridiculous hyperbole I've heard in a long time, e.g. one of their associates, Linda Bellos wasn't recently awarded an OBE (Other Bugger's Efforts), oh no she was made an "Officer of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire". Rather surprisingly Tony doesn't list his cub scout badges, suprising as he appears to have mentioned every other badge, pin or certificate he's ever received.
I'm not knocking the importance of equality work or csr policies, a lifetime ago I even sat on Newham's Housing and Race Action Group, I definitely wouldn't want to knock Linda Bellos, from what I know she's a capable, wiley, informed and reasonably principled political operator. Don't particularly want to have a pop at the boy Tony, other than to remark that for someone who's apparently acheived so much, from his CV he comes across as just a little insecure, but unless they bring something significant to the mix what are this lot doing buggering around with Witcombs and pushing their prices sky high.
If they're doing this for little more than goodwill and make Barrie, as he approaches a well earned retirement, a rather wealthier man, fair enough and I take most of this back, but I suspect this is not how it'll turn out.
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what's the URL for the site, a google brings up nothing!
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apparently design for diversity are 'the future of branding' - that's nice for them
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erm... top link
http://www.google.com/search?q=Witcomb+cycles -
tony malone, you branding cunt! can you design a bicycle? you lot don't even know how to build a website properly!
this is getting absolutely disgustingly hideous.
i've always wanted a witcomb, not anymore unless this dirty cunt get his hands off barrie's turf. ok, it's a frame by chas from now on.
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accesibilty my arse - you have to go back to the homepage each time in order to navigate the portfolio,
genuinely hope he doesn't get anywhere near those bikes -
he could be the frame building equivalent of abramovich at chelsea - "no barrie, I think you should alter the frame rake"
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oh for fucks sake
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Malone]you're so vain you probably think this song is about you[/ame]
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it was obvious from the stand at the cycle show that somebody had some 'design' input, left to their own devices small bikeshops just hang a few frames up and a vinyl banner.
I thought this was a bit odd for a small outfit like witcomb it's a bit like BMW owning brands like austin-healy and wolseley. -
wayne_f14 accesibilty my arse - you have to go back to the homepage each time in order to navigate the portfolio,
genuinely hope he doesn't get anywhere near those bikes -
he could be the frame building equivalent of abramovich at chelsea - "no barrie, I think you should alter the frame rake"
that's exactly what i mean. might as well gimme a PMS1795 for that lilac huh? pantone matching for frame colours my arse!
W: "frame rake...? which tube we talking about?"
M: "think it's the headtube, that's the only tube no one's done with a curve before!" -
wow.
kowalski
kipsy
rpm
pip
nimhbus
hippy
Momentum
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Thoughts on the new Witcomb pricing?
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I don't want to be accused of stirring up trouble, but that strikes me as a heck of a lot of money - significantly more than Bob Jackson, Dave Yates or Chas Roberts. And I don't see what differentiates their offering. Thoughts?