[sanjuro]

montashu-free

Answer Products is reorganizing in the wake of the departures of R&D director Jose Gonzalez and brand and sales manager Joel Smith.
Both longtime employees were the public face for the company that has fallen on hard times of late, losing much of the market share it gained for Manitou suspension after SRAM's purchase of RockShox in 2002.
"Jose and Joel were instrumental in building the Answer and. Manitou brands. They will obviously be missed. But our reengineering initiatives, which were initiated 18 months ago, are still moving forward;' said Glenn Miller, Answer Products' president.
Chris Smith is joining Answer as director of global sales and market
ing, bringing with him over 15 years of management experience-including eight years as a sales manager at RockShox and five years in senior management at Giant Bicycles.
Jerry Long has been hired as the director of technology and product development, heading a newly combined
R&D and engineering department. Long has extensive Asian sourcing experience' and Miller said he is focusing on improving communication between
Answer's European and American locations and Asian engineering groups.
"Frankly, we are working hard at regaining the confidence of our core customer base and the dealer community. We know that we have a lot of work to do. Expect further personnel additions as we continue to strengthen the organization;' Miller added.
Miller said that while the company had engaged in merger discussions with HB Performance, the companies were unable to reach an ;agreement.
1he company is not engaging in any sale discussions and its corporate owner, Swander Pace Capital, remains committed to the company it has owned since 2004, when it purchased Answer from Lacy Diversified Industries (LDI). Answer lost substantial spec for the '06 and '07 model year because of unreliable delivery, and service issues became too troublesome, according to product managers.
Miller is quite candid about the issues, acknowledging that Answer delivered product that did not meet performance expectations in an effort to meet customer commitments that had rocketed after SRAM purchased RockShox.
'after the purchase we saw a big opportunity to grow market share while SRAM worked to integrate RockShox. So we went out very aggressively and were rewarded by phenomenal sales growth;' Miller said.
Answer expected RockShox to come back at any moment so it kept up its aggressive product development expansion for the '04 and '05 model years, and sales continued to climb.
In retrospect Answer went out too aggressively, Miller said. "We overburdened our internal and external supply chains. The resulting performance adversely impacted our OEM customers and their dealers;' he said.
But the damage is done and Miller
admits the company has quite a bit of ground to make up. But one lesson is learned: Answer no longer harbors aspirations to be the biggest suspension company. It wants to get back to doing what it does best-technologically in
novative product delivered to extremely high levels of quality.
The company has beefed up its bilingual engineering staff at its Asian manufacturing facilities to improve communication with its Valencia, California, staff and its Asian subcontractors.
"The key to recapturing market share is to win back the trust and confidence
of consumers and retailers. That is our entire focus;' Miller said.
Jose Gonzalez, long associated with Answer's cutting edge technology, is headed out for a few weeks of biking and twisting the throttle on his motorcycle before he looks at his next move.
"My 11 years at Answer have been great. As a company we had a positive impact on the sport, allowing people to go faster with more control;' Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez cites the trend-setting technology Answer was able to deliver to the market as the highlights of his career.
Joel Smith is heading to Lincoln, Nebraska, with his family, after eight years at the company. He is looking forward to leaving the freeways of Southern California.
'~nswer took me from my career in journalism and gave me a huge educa
tion and opportunity, to where I ended up as director of sales and brand management. It's been a great time here;'
Smith said.
Smith is already entertaining some interesting offers. Given his love for bikes, he imagines he will stay involved in the industry in some way. But for now he is looking forward to spending time with his daughter. BRAIN

 

[dhbuilder]

i wish them luck.
our sport needs as many strong healthy manufacturers as possible.

 

[ghettogt76]

i wish them luck.
our sport needs as many strong healthy manufacturers as possible.

I agree. The past few years I haven't been a big fan on manitou's products, so hopefully the only way they can go now is up.

 

[vitox]

ah ok so it was just like i thought, they gaped too big and got in trouble for it, just like RS before them, well, at least if they didnt pay attention to what got RS in trouble, they would have to be pretty stupid not to learn from RS and see what to do to get out of trouble.

i sincerely hope answer makes a strong comeback, with a lower hype content and the same orientation towards innovation.

 

[sanjuro]

btw transcend, i apologize for my coworker musing on bicycles which closed the last thread.

 

[stiksandstones]

Like I said in the other thread, with those guys gone, they (Manitou) have nothing but an uphill battle. Jose and Joel are 2 very talented guys.

 

[CBJ]

I always surprised reading stories like this from the bike industry. Well at least the saw an oppertunity and went for it but didn't have the skills and/or luck to pull it off.

Not to sound like a smart ass but what are these innovations that makes them special? Or put it in another way were have they been more innovative than other suspension company.

 

[CBJ]

Like I said in the other thread, with those guys gone, they (Manitou) have nothing but an uphill battle. Jose and Joel are 2 very talented guys.

But didn't the company go down hill when they were head of technology, marketing and sales?

 

[dhbuilder]

remember how they were going to change the industry with the upsidedown fork ?

see any as you look around ?

 

[stiksandstones]

But didn't the company go down hill when they were head of technology, marketing and sales?

Ya, when every idea/plan got shut down by upper management.

 

[Micro-Sanjay]

Ya, when every idea/plan got shut down by upper management.

it's funny how little you know and presumptious you are considering you are a washed-up golden-days-of-bike-industry has-been. quit putting industry people you thought you shared urinals with on pedestals way too much.

 

[Transcend]

It's awesome how whenever someone on here wants to call someone else out, they go to their secondary gimmick account.

 

[sanjuro]

It's awesome how whenever someone on here wants to call someone else out, they go to their secondary gimmick account.

You caught me. TheMontashu is my backup account.

 

[Transcend]

It's ok, the hammer is gonna drop shortly on quite a few people.

 

[stiksandstones]

it's funny how little you know and presumptious you are considering you are a washed-up golden-days-of-bike-industry has-been. quit putting industry people you thought you shared urinals with on pedestals way too much.

Elaborate further on this perception you have...I am eager to learn.

 

[sanjuro]

My perception as a shop mechanic is that OEM Manitou forks were unreliable even new and hard to service.

As a rider, I was envious of some of their features, but I felt the greatest fork was of no use if it didn't work right.

I am sorry two guys in my industry lost their jobs. I am sure they did the best job they could, but sometimes that is not enough.

 

[James]

I'll tell you what though, Chris Smith is one of the smartest, nicest guys in the biz today, I think that having him on board will be nothing but good for them. I was sorry to hear about the other folks leaving, I've only met Joel once or twice, but he was so f'n fast on the trail we rode, on a hardtail, that he dropped guys on 6" bikes. This was yeaaars ago, but it was awesome to see. So smooth.
Everything comes in waves, road bikes, BMX, MTB, companies, I'm sure there are great things to come from these guys. They just lost their way a bit.

JJames

 

[stiksandstones]

Micro Idiot...I think I said I have great respect for JS and JG...they are friends of mine and I enjoyed working with them over the years. Am I saying Manitou products kicked ass while they were at the healm? no...I do know for a fact some really smart things they had in the pipeline that got shut down by upper management...and some things were not so cool-cant win all the time.

I have chosen to not ride manitou stuff for the last couple years on my personal bikes because I personally liked other products better. All I am saying is manitou has a rough road ahead of them with those guys leaving and with some shady financial stuff going on with the company.

Will these new guys make things better? I have no f-ing clue.

Only thing I am guilty of here is replying to a fu@king idiot message board dork-so sue me.

 

[Superdeft]

I'm hoping we'll see some excellent products coming under the Manitou brand name soon. Also I think it's important to remember that we as consumers only get to see a tiny fraction of what a company lets out their doors, and more often than not it's the stuff we don't get to learn about that reveals where a firm has been and is going.

 

[bjanga]

In the other thread I mentioned that in my opinion Manitou pursued silly 'innovations' like 1.5, RA, and SPV when forks just needed some minor refinements here and there. Now both Manitou and RS have clouds over them, Fox is expensive, so that leaves Marzocchi the only company I trust at the moment.

Someone mentioned that Manitou had better materials inside their forks than Mazrocchi . . . anyone want to chime in?

 

[JohnnyBoyDH]

Jose is one of the nicest and coolest guys in the biz (smart as hell too!) Met him a few times over the years. Hope he stays in the bike biz.....

 

[vitox]

Someone mentioned that Manitou had better materials inside their forks than Mazrocchi . . . anyone want to chime in?

cant imagine other than that means that said person thinks motorex is better than golden spectro (OEM oil on manitou and zocchi respectively)

 

[Transcend]

I'm hoping we'll see some excellent products coming under the Manitou brand name soon. Also I think it's important to remember that we as consumers only get to see a tiny fraction of what a company lets out their doors, and more often than not it's the stuff we don't get to learn about that reveals where a firm has been and is going.

Exactly. The off the hook stuff gets nixed right away as being too expensive to produce, too limited a market.

 

[Superdeft]

Exactly. The off the hook stuff gets nixed right away as being too expensive to produce, too limited a market.

I don't know if you got the same feel I did for the article, but the idea that they're now trying to rebuild their reputation rather trying to claw back some more marketshare is nice.

Maybe the revox and travis came before these changes took place, but it seems like these are higher-end, higher risk products that could gain a following in our (upper) end of the market and shape customer perception of what the company's about.

Anyone else see these as part of what could be a new wave from them, or won't that come until SPV is gone and we see some more obvious turn-around?

 

[Transcend]

I don't know if you got the same feel I did for the article, but the idea that they're now trying to rebuild their reputation rather trying to claw back some more marketshare is nice.

Maybe the revox and travis came before these changes took place, but it seems like these are higher-end, higher risk products that could gain a following in our (upper) end of the market and shape customer perception of what the company's about.

Anyone else see these as part of what could be a new wave from them, or won't that come until SPV is gone and we see some more obvious turn-around?

Well the stuff we are seeing now hit the drawing board over 2 years ago, so it's fair to see it was pre changes.

What i was referring to is the really high end, really cool products we will never see. I'm sure just like fox and RS etc, the enginerds at answer have some up with some sick product ideas that will never see the light of day. They are simply too expensive to produce, and would never sell enough units to make them actually profitable.

Of course that said, it only takes one great product to transform an industry...just look at what the original boxxer did for downhill.

 

[vitox]

Of course that said, it only takes one great product to transform an industry...just look at what the original boxxer did for downhill.

we need a boxxer-pro appreciation thread

 

[Jm_]

Of course that said, it only takes one great product to transform an industry...just look at what the original boxxer did for downhill.

well, it was the only mass produced DH fork for a while, and it had lots of advertising. As far as the "impact", I'd say that the 1997 marzocchi super T had a far greater impact. The super T had adjustable progression with oil height. It had the c-rings above the oil seals to help them work under intense pressure (and not blow out oil because as the pressure increased, the seal got better). Externally adjustable preload and rebound (and the rebound adjuster even did something usefull). They used HSCV damping, which is essentially "shims". Hey, guess what the boxxer FINALLY uses?

The boxxer was mainstream at the time, and it existed due to production and marketing.

Other than that, the only real "technology" it brought was the one-peice cast lowers.

This is my semi-annual boxxer-bash, but apart from that, I don't think the boxxer had a big impact on the products that were developed after it. RS rode the "boxxer craze" as long as they could without changing the internals, and we've already heard enough from the riders how much "better" the new boxxer is. Welcome to shim-stack performance, but only 9 years after other companies were using it.

 

[punkassean]

It's awesome how whenever someone on here wants to call someone else out, they go to their secondary gimmick account.

I think lots of people know the login for Micro's account, but actually micro is a real person not an alter ego FWIW.....

 

[Transcend]

well, it was the only mass produced DH fork for a while, and it had lots of advertising. As far as the "impact", I'd say that the 1997 marzocchi super T had a far greater impact. The super T had adjustable progression with oil height. It had the c-rings above the oil seals to help them work under intense pressure (and not blow out oil because as the pressure increased, the seal got better). Externally adjustable preload and rebound (and the rebound adjuster even did something usefull). They used HSCV damping, which is essentially "shims". Hey, guess what the boxxer FINALLY uses?

The boxxer was mainstream at the time, and it existed due to production and marketing.

Other than that, the only real "technology" it brought was the one-peice cast lowers.

This is my semi-annual boxxer-bash, but apart from that, I don't think the boxxer had a big impact on the products that were developed after it. RS rode the "boxxer craze" as long as they could without changing the internals, and we've already heard enough from the riders how much "better" the new boxxer is. Welcome to shim-stack performance, but only 9 years after other companies were using it.

Wow and your rant was old about 9 years ago..give it up dude, no one really cares what you think about rock shox.

For an awful long time the boxxer was the only mass produced DH fork. It was also the fork many people lusted after when it was on Beneke, Donovan, Palmer's bikes and they couldn't have one.

 

[Pbody]

It was also the fork many people lusted after when it was on Beneke, Donovan, Palmer's bikes and they couldn't have one.

I've only seen Palmer on a Manitou, never a Boxxer.

 

[Transcend]

Pretty sure he had a boxxer on his intense at one point, but that wasn't really the point anyways.

 

[stiksandstones]

I've only seen Palmer on a Manitou, never a Boxxer.

This just in from a washed up has been....

Palmer did ride a boxxer. McAndrews demanded he be on one in 1996 and had the parts shipped out to europe for Tim Flooks to build him one.
He also rode it to a silver medal at the worlds in Cairns, .15 behind Nico.

Did I drop enough names?

Has been-over and out.

 

[sanjuro]

I'm hoping we'll see some excellent products coming under the Manitou brand name soon. Also I think it's important to remember that we as consumers only get to see a tiny fraction of what a company lets out their doors, and more often than not it's the stuff we don't get to learn about that reveals where a firm has been and is going.

Really? So I should ignore that every Stance to grace my shop needed to be serviced before it could be sold? How about a simple cartridge removal during a Minute warranty recall that couldn't be done because we couldn't push it out?

I think Manitou forks are poo, and apparently so do bike manufacturers. Your comments about the secret suspension doesn't really mean much to someone on the front lines.

I never recommend Manitou on any level, and I could care less if they had golden forks sitting in their laboratory.

 

[punkassean]

Sanjuro, you keep referringto Manitou in the past tense, they are still around!

 

[jonKranked]

Sanjuro, you keep referringto Manitou in the past tense, they are still around!

still around? yes. still relevant? depends on who you ask (most people would say no - myself included)

 

[punkassean]

still around? yes. still relevant? depends on who you ask (most people would say no - myself included)

relevant or not they are still "here".....

 

[dropmachine]

This just in from a washed up has been....

Has been-over and out.

Quiet you! Get back to your storage shed for ex-mechanics, or I'll tell your missus you were trolling for 18 year olds on the internet.

Good luck outrunning her.



So Jm_, now that the Boxxers are shimmed, when we can expect to see you on the top of the podium at a world cup?

Go ride your bike, and quit with the obsessive compulsive boxxer crap. Do you stare at boxxer techsheets and cut your arms too? Maybe have little bird skulls around the house with rockshox logos on em? Few dolls around the house with sewn eyes and Boxxer carved into thier forheads?

Little creepy man.

 

[dante]

So Jm_, now that the Boxxers are shimmed, when we can expect to see you on the top of the podium at a world cup?

hey, Jm_'s been pretty good lately, it's gone from a semi-weekly rant to a semi-annual rant. :applause:

 

[Pbody]

This just in from a washed up has been....

Palmer did ride a boxxer. McAndrews demanded he be on one in 1996 and had the parts shipped out to europe for Tim Flooks to build him one.
He also rode it to a silver medal at the worlds in Cairns, .15 behind Nico.

Did I drop enough names?

Has been-over and out.

Wow, I know some of those other threads have you excited Stik, but I wasn't trying to be flammatory, it's just an observation. I've been privy to some of Palmer's sponsorships and didn't remember him ever being on a Boxxer. The facts speak for themselves, not the names associated with them.

 

[Jm_]

So Jm_, now that the Boxxers are shimmed, when we can expect to see you on the top of the podium at a world cup?

Racing doesn't interest me much.

BTW, if anything, maybe the boxxer gave Answer hope that marketing and hype could substitute for performance....