Quote:
Originally Posted by texbike
As part of the MBA-conducted post mortem on Serotta, it would be interesting to do a compare/contrast with one of the other medium-sized brands like Moots and understand why Moots continued its meteoric rise, brand recognition, and loyal following while Serotta stumbled?Texbike
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Be careful of starry eyed romantic notions of the bike business, it's like any other. Some are wildly successful, riding a trend. Others prosper with lower costs due to lower overhead. Still others succeed for decades by finding a successful niche and providing excellent customer service. A few are supported by founders/owners with large wallets who just like what they do regardless of the bottom line.
Moots has not had a meteoric rise. Kent Eriksen founded the company in 1981. They had a number of unique MTB products in the early days like a fork with two sets of fork ends, that gave effectively different rakes/fork lengths for 26 and 700c wheels. And Moots Mounts, that allowed infinite vertical adjustment of cantilever bosses. Very cool stuff, but they were a very small, yet respected, brand back in the day.
More recognition and sales resulted with Ti models and the YBB suspension. Company was sold to someone with deeper pockets, and the "new Moots" is what you see currently. Who knows if Moots actually makes any money.
Merlin had 5 employees until they adopted a corporate structure and secured venture capital in 1989. One of the founders was a DuPont trust-funder. AFAIK, they were never in the black, even when shipping 2,400 frames a year, which lead to the ABG merger and eventual demise of the brand.
Like others have mentioned, if Ben can make another go, small and simple with a complete re-think, Serottas will be available again.
Go forth and prosper all involved at Saratoga and Poway!