Foffa Bikes

rebranding exercise
Fibblesnork bikes has a certain ring to it

No smoke without fire, no stench without the shit etc etc

Danni has definitely come a long way since the beginning, he doesn't need or want the business of the users on here so does it matter?

No, you probably couldn't do better for £350 at Halfords but you could certainly do much better on here, ebay, gumtree or any other cycling forum. But seeing as Danni sells fashion accessories it's a different market.

A rebrand wouldn't help as it'd be sniffed out and plastered across here in seconds.

Just a few posts in the foffa thread

I was in the nursery but not now... So I couldn't start a thread..

Ask for advice, get given it. Yet, don't want to listen to the advice.

Do want you want.

Come to drinks, go on a ride, learn the in jokes er....discuss pizza...

Oh and avoid polo.

Ask for advice, get given it. Yet, don't want to listen to the advice.

Do want you want.

Come to drinks, go on a ride, learn the in jokes er....discuss pizza...

Well the funny thing is, I had dismissed Foffa and was set on a Charge so yes, I have taken the advice of those here.. Still will likely end up with one...

Then.. Then though, Dani Foffa ups and offers £100 off one of his and then now £200 is a big price difference.. And if I take it and ride it and report on here how good or bad it is then maybe, just maybe.. This thread can be laid to rest...

Stranger things have happened...

Cool, presumably you have extensive experience of the off the peg single speed market so you can compare it fairly with everything else on offer? Or are you just angling for a discount?
If you don't know what you're comparing it to then it's not exactly a fair review is it...

You riding that bike will make sweet f a difference to the inevitable continuation of this thread. Take the discount if it looks good to you. I'd say that if you are still thinking twice even after that percentage swing Mr Foffa has an even bigger problem on his hands than he thought.

3 posts and your out of the nursery DAN

Yeah, you can expect an unbiased opinion when given preferential treatment like a large discount.

"You know the NDS crank did come off but for the price what do you expect?"

Don't call the fella out when he's not communicating in his first language.

How's YOUR Italian?

Bud, I was saying the word Foffa used was correct.

How's YOUR English?

According to the wise, everything they make is shit.. Is that right?

I was quite complimentary about the Prima frameset :-)

I think the thing which riles people is also a common critique of free markets. Since markets essentially price knowledge, it is possible to make profits by wilfully exploiting lack of knowledge, if you can get in fast and exploit the suckers before they wise up. Dani saw an opportunity in 2007, where fixed wheel bikes were suddenly fashionable and there was an influx of customers who knew nothing about bikes but wanted a fixed bike as a fashion accessory. It was quite a trick, as cynical exploitative marketing goes, to pitch them at about twice what they were worth but half what a proper bike shop would suggest as the proper price for a bike that's actually worth having.

To be fair, for a brief moment it does seem that he attempted to make something decent, but clearly the margins weren't there for somebody only interested in turning a fast buck, rather than investing in building a long-lived and sustainable business, so he has now started slashing costs and the quality will inevitably follow - you can't get owt for nowt, even in China.

Unless there is a radical rethink about the corporate strategy, I think Foffa is in a terminal dive to the bottom. Trying to compete at the BSO end of the market is a fool's errand, since it requires volumes which can only be had by selling through the usual BSO channels, and why would they want to pay Foffa to stick his decals on stuff they can buy direct from the same Chinese factories? He has no IP or brand cachet which makes him a necessary, or even desirable, part of the BSO market. As soon as Wiggle see any worthwhile volume in the cheap and nasty fixed sector, they will drop him and put out a better, cheaper own label bike in the same category. At the moment, they're just letting him take all the risk while they take all the profit.

has this been resolved yet?

has this been resolved?

Is this resolved yet?

has this been resolved yet?

has this been resolved yet?

.

It's closer to being resolved than a foffa is to being resold here.

Cool, presumably you have extensive experience of the off the peg single speed market so you can compare it fairly with everything else on offer? Or are you just angling for a discount?
If you don't know what you're comparing it to then it's not exactly a fair review is it...

Well no... Obviously I don't.. Which was the whole point of me coming and asking advice in the first place... However, I do know how to ride a bike, I know what feels safe and responsive because it won't feel like a rolling death trap and if it doesn't break then that'll be a good thing... I know how it will behave from using it everyday.. I don't need a second bike to compare with because that isn't the point.. Actually maybe it is.. I already have a something to compare it too, though it isn't exactly the same thing...

Anyway, I'm not doing a group test, I'm just buying a bike.. Jeez

Serious question:
If Danni built(well, had his overseas mechs) build up a fleet of track bikes using his frames and parts(with higher gearing of course) and donated them to a velodrome/group of skint, yet promising riders who could really test em would it help the brand image on here? Move away from the fashion accessory market towards actual bikes?

How about give one to 'tester for TT duties?

*aware this idea came up during the early create days.

^^All this thread needz is Jeez.

3 posts and your out of the nursery DAN

And 24 hours apparently.. Which I hadn't done for some reason.. Anyway, out now..

Well the funny thing is, I had dismissed Foffa and was set on a Charge so yes, I have taken the advice of those here.. Still will likely end up with one...

Then.. Then though, Dani Foffa ups and offers £100 off one of his and then now £200 is a big price difference.. And if I take it and ride it and report on here how good or bad it is then maybe, just maybe.. This thread can be laid to rest...

Stranger things have happened...

Having seen and ridden a few fashion fixeh bikes, I say if you can't afford new there are some bargains to be had on here with second hand bikes.

Personally I like on one, have had a pompino and have a second frame that is going to be built n to something special when I figure out the something special.

Am also no a fan of skinny tyres I like the idea of wider tyres. So each to their own.

If Danni built(well, had his overseas mechs) build up a fleet of track bikes using his frames and parts(with higher gearing of course) and donate them to a velodrome/group of skint, yet promising riders who could really test em would it help the brand image on here?

Depends what people hate about him.

For the people who just hate that anybody sells shit bikes to mugs, and thereby puts them off cycling, building decent bikes ought to be enough

For people who will never forgive the kind of exploitative marketing on which the brand was founded, nothing will ever be enough. The original "vintage" bikes were basically a misselling scandal which would have attracted serious penalties in Dani's day job.

Hi everyone, thanks for your input. As Dani has previously said we may have had a few problems in our start up days but we've put a lot of time and effort into sorting those out. The result of this is a bike we're quite proud of. I know some of you guys have been comparing us to other brands that have similar bikes out around our price point, and well, that's just swell. The guys here at foffa HQ are happy to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys, competition is a good thing and if we're part of the race then shucks, we're doing A Okay.
The last few years we've been through a lot and through hard work and shrewd business decisions we feel we've brought to market a product that people want and fills a niche. That product might not be to the taste of the professional consumers, such as yourselves, but nevertheless, people want bikes at off the peg prices with flourishes they can claim as their own for that custom feel.
There have been some hard feelings in the past on this thread but we want to move past that, we can't erase out past mistakes but we can show the people who read up on their future purchase how we've evolved as both a bike and a brand, and for those that don't read up, well they've probably already handed over their money. Here at foffa we'd like to look forward and let the bikes do the talking, so if you have any questions or feedback, or just want to chat about the joys of cycling then PM me or email us and we'd be more than happy to sort things out.
Much love,
All your friends at foffa.

Ahh, that's alright then, we can probably let this thread die.

[QUOTE=fake_foffa_flack]Here at foffa we'd like to look forward and let the bikes do the talking
[/QUOTE]

I should think the last thing Foffa wants is for the bikes to do the talking. That's a bit of a shame, as taking the right direction after the "vintage" bikes debacle could have led to a position where this really was the case.

pr.

Talking bikes would really freak me out.