More on Serotta rebirth

[Matthew]

I've owned four total. 93 T-Max, 97 Atlanta, 02 Concours, and an 06 Meivici. Only have the Meivici now. Love the bike and really enjoyed the others too. Wish I still had the Atlanta. I met Ben years ago at a shop in Grand Rspids. Seemed like a great guy. Hoping he can be successful again. But if I were in the market for a high end roadie I'd look at multiple other builders and maybe one of the big brands.

[nobuseri]

He’s still welding frames. Does Spooky (I got one from him about a year ago), and probably still does the VYNL frames. He also does his own (FTW) frames.

Still out there, still baller.

Originally Posted by Malinois

What’s FTW up to these days? He’s based out of Vermont, maybe a couple of hours away. I don’t know if he’s still involved with Spooky but he may have the ability to push through some small batch production runs.

As far as buying one for the proposed price point, as stated by a few, will be a tough sell. Lots more (big) fish in the sea these days.

With that said, I wish him well. I try to support to MUSA builder market when/however I can.

[weaponsgrade]

I have a Classique Ti I bought new. Still have it, but it resides at my in-laws now. I put a lot of miles on it but I don't feel a strong pull to the brand. The brands I feel strong emotional pulls to are the mtbs of the 90s. That's where I'll do something irrational like buy a clapped out canti 26er with a triple. Maybe it's b/c I was more impressionable back then.

[merckxman]

I have an Ottrott that was passed on to me. Excellent ride but being retired now the prices are way to high to consider a new Serotta.

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by merckxman

I have an Ottrott that was passed on to me. Excellent ride but being retired now the prices are way to high to consider a new Serotta.

hard trying to differentiate on product that is hard to differentiate.

IMHO he would have to be $1,000 under competitors to get people to sit up and take a closer look. At that discount people would trust his pedigree to close any perceived product gap. Any less, and meh, why take a risk funding Act V.

[alwayssnacking]

still searching for a t-max


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . of animosity almost any time Ben's name is mentioned here. Granted, there was turmoil in his business at times. He was not perfect. But who is?

Just keep in mind that he DID successfully operate a custom bike business for FORTY YEARS before things went south in 2012. If there are others here who can also make that claim, then please let us know and feel free to throw stones. Others, please give a little respect and benefit of the doubt as he ramps things up again. i wish him the best of luck.

I just hope that lessons have been learned from his previous experience. My own take on it? . . . He leveraged himself to the hilt to build the new Saratoga factory and lease all sorts of CNC fabrication equipment just before the 2008 meltdown. He also targeted the upscale market too closely, and had no intro level price point bike to help new, younger customers get into the brand. Like Toyota trying to sell only Avalons and Highlanders without a Corolla to get younger buyers on board.

I've had my Legend since 2001 and plan on riding it the rest of my life. Superb bike.

BBD

Originally Posted by 93KgBike

ahem


What's with the desire to bury a master craftsman? The guy designed tubesets that are still considered too expensive for anyone in the industry to mass produce. If he just started doing that, again all over again, whoever welds them together will be working with some industry leading materials. Not exactly the baitandswitch you are implying.

Having the most technical carbon layups in the biz might just require Taiwan...

I remain excited as always, and super grateful that there is a bike biz and a Ben Serotta. More bikes please.

[cmbicycles]

I think Ben will do just fine. He knows how to design great bikes, he knows how to stay in business in a tough industry for 40ish years and has hopefully learned from his mistakes, so I'm sure he has realistic expectations for what this business venture can/will accomplish. I doubt he wants to be anywhere near as big as Serotta was. He is of typical retirement age, so staying involved in something he has a passion and expertise for at a sustainable level would be great for him. I hope he does well. I'm not his target customer, just not in that income bracket, but I appreciate quality craftsmanship, and enjoy the Legend I have as its a great bike. I'm sure his bikes will be well made on all levels, if he can command a premium price for that, good for him.

[ultraman6970]

What u mean is that the dude needs to re position him self in the market? I do agree with that.

Originally Posted by pdmtong

hard trying to differentiate on product that is hard to differentiate.

IMHO he would have to be $1,000 under competitors to get people to sit up and take a closer look. At that discount people would trust his pedigree to close any perceived product gap. Any less, and meh, why take a risk funding Act V.

[cmg]

I wish him well. bought first Serotta Atlanta new from a local shop. introduced me to the brand. Made me look into geometry. Had 4 customs so far, tweaked Serotta geometry on all of them. Current Kish has tweaked Serotta geometry, lower bottom bracket, taller head tube, relaxed seat tube. yea, hope he makes memorable rides.

[ibis]

Soooo, is he re-launching Serotta as a brand? Because they do not look like they are being branded as Serotta's:

https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/amodomio

https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/duetti

Maybe it's just really odd paint jobs that are throwing be off. Perhaps there are legal reasons why he can't/won't use the old Serotta downtube graphics?!?

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by ibis

Soooo, is he re-launching Serotta as a brand? Because they do not look like they are being branded as Serotta's:

https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/amodomio

https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/duetti

Maybe it's just really odd paint jobs that are throwing be off. Perhaps there are legal reasons why he can't/won't use the old Serotta downtube graphics?!?

Try www.Serotta.com

[Doug Fattic]

What I find interesting in this discussion is whether Ben's new venture can make it in today's marketplace. Of course things that didn't work perfectly in the past will be brought up as examples of potential problems. The question of success naturally arises when the profit from the pie is split several ways. So we have Ben the designer and whoever is the fitter and then there is the fabricator and painter all getting a cut. And I'm guessing they won't use standard tubes so that adds expense. I'm too lazy to check and see if these are all sold direct or whether the go through another middle man. All these divisions are going to keep the price high while at the same time prevent too many hours of labor to be invested in each frame to maintain a decent profit for everyone involved. So I think it is normal to speculate on this venture's future success when it is competing with some marvelous one or 2 man shops that can do it all.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by BumbleBeeDave

I've had my Legend since 2001 and plan on riding it the rest of my life. Superb bike.

BBD

It's been a while since we've seen the Bee machine. She looks classically modern.

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

It's been a while since we've seen the Bee machine. She looks classically modern.

its matchy but just enough. personally I would go for black hoods to hold a southern hemisphere yellow + northern hemisphere black (let the tiny accents speak louder) but this is nicely played to honor the pollinator.

As for Ben, I wish him well but it's a tough road ahead. No one is discounting his skill or contribution but we all watched with disappointment as the ball was being fumbled a lot at the end.