Tony Malone - Old Kent Road Cycles - his new venture?

never seen anyone riding a witcomb incidentally

I've seen a couple pre-Malone ones on the road. None of the new stuff though.

yeah, I've seen an old one at HH, but never anything new being ridden.

whether that means anything, I neither know nor care, I just think a decent maker has been fucked up by a self-serving bell-end.

There's a big two page article in the Living South* magazine on Whitcomb this month, it doesn't mention the price hike.

• for non southies, its a pointless mag aimed at the East Dulwich Yummy Mum with a Sisyphan bent for buying endless glossy knick knacks and a new four bed roomed house for circa £750k in an edgy urban area.
  
  

Yeah I took the pics but didn't write the article. I met Barrie WIcomb and had a really nice chat with him. He's incredibly sound and I learnt loads about the history of frame builders in London and the rest of the UK.

He's a very decent chap.

it's crazy how Tony Malone has managed to turn a whole communty of people against a brand. I remember just weeks before it all happened a forum member (kowalski?) had some problems with his Witcomb and Barrie was slowly getting them sorted and in the thread about 6 or so people, myself included, expressed an aspiration to have a Witcomb at some point. I'm sure that now, mostly due to the price hike, that none of is who expressed an interest will ever buy a witcomb.

http://www.livingsouth.co.uk/features-wheels-of-fortune--39921

I guess the criticism is fair if you were going to buy a Witcomb, but the number of people whinging about how they're over priced is a bit difficult to take. Why winge if you had no intention of buying one anyway?

They must be doing ok if they can charge that much for each frame and still be busy. Ok, so the bad marketing fella probably doesn't help but some of the comments are a little OTT. I mean if it actually helps Witcomb survive as a place where frames are made and some form of trade is kept then fair play to them.

Why winge if you had no intention of buying one anyway?

because if you fancied an olympic track for £400 and started saving, then they bumped the price up by more than triple, wouldn't you be a bit peeved?

believe it or not Andy i thought about buying a witcomb, put a few quid away here and there if i had any cash left over from more essential spending and then hopefully get one in a year or so.
after the meddling of tony dafoney i now own a crash damaged mercian which at some point will be going back for a repair and an original barbers pole paint job, with the addition of brooks/dura-ace/phil wood components i expect to spend far less than what a witcomb frame costs now.

because if you fancied an olympic track for £400 and started saving, then they bumped the price up by more than triple, wouldn't you be a bit peeved?

Wasn't the complete track bike kitted out with Campy only £1000?

They were just around the corner from me and I spent most of last year hoping the stars would align and I could have a bike made for me on my doorstep and then what, 2 months before a little windfall actually made it a reality Malone struck. Bugger.

because if you fancied an olympic track for £400 and started saving, then they bumped the price up by more than triple, wouldn't you be a bit peeved?

agreed.

Just trying to add some balance to it that's all, think it's easy for people to get caught up with the whole internet hate campaign thing sometimes.

I still think they're nice frames, just out most people's price range which is a shame really.

I guess the bit that probably aggravates people is that nothing has changed for all that extra wedge, which again is a fair comment.

it would appear his wiki entry is gone now.

Shame.

Wonder if he's also been removed from the 'Notable Residents' section of the wiki entry for Deptford?

I talked with a guy today who must've got one of the last pre-hike frames. He isn't too happy about it; the top tube slopes like a langster (slightly). He reckons the head tube was cut a little too long. How shit is that?

why doesn't he take it back?

because they will give him a refund then sell it for £1600

At last!

Witcomb has got Deep Vee's in stock!

http://www.witcombcycles.co.uk/shop/products/rims/velocity/velocity.htm

You can also learn to build and take away your own frame in only 18 hours of tuition for £1250. That doesn't seem a very long time....

http://www.witcombcycles.co.uk/shop/courses.htm

18hrs? we had done more then that in my first two days learning from BREW, and we had not even finished sharpening tungsten yet

is my imagination or the deep Vee's are more spensive that in BLB?

maybe a couple of quid more.

is this the cnut?

http://www.tonymalonedesign.com/

Yes. If he's such a shit hot designer how come his website is so fucking awfully designed?

My eyes! My eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!

christ. what a piece of shit.

christ. what a piece of shit.

I really like it.
That very paired down style of design and text is making a slow reappearance, and I'm glad.

Yeah, but look at the double spacing between the lines of text, makes it a right fucking ballache to read.