So I just heard there were some layoff notices given out. Anyone know what's up, what is true? 
Kinesis? Mountaincycle?
- Thread starter evilbob
- Start date
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luelling
Guest
I thought I had heard about a bankruptcy filing....I could be way off though. Wouldn't surprise me if they did it to restructure.
Nothing to contribute here. Excuse me....
From what I've heard, and you didn't hear this from me. Mountaincycle was given huge amounts of money to advertise and try to turn a profit. Well it didn't work and now they may be going out of buisness. Kineesis itself won't have an issue just MC
Crap, that stinks. Their new stuff was pretty cool.
Plus, that means no support for my DH frame...which is not cool....
Plus, that means no support for my DH frame...which is not cool....
No wonder the Rumble frames are on sale.
Not shure exactly what the issue is but I was told notices were definately given out to MC employees. They were just starting to look really good again, nice products, better service, competitive pricing. I think the new slope style frame was gonna be a killer and the rest of there line looked to be picking up very well. What a shame, sounds like time just ran out. I was also told that this would be a really good time if somebody wanted to come in and make an offer, MC could probably be had for cheap. Sad day....
I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the slopestyle bike makes it to production...
Bummer, truth to be told they were All-Mountain before the term All-Mountain was even thought of.....
Yea I think my best all around bike so far was my last San Andreas (I've had 2). I trailed it, did XC on it, did my first DH race on it (and wonSkookum said:
). I gave it to my son the following year and he put it on the DH podium 4 times at Snoqualmie the last year that place was open. The last time I saw it was last year over in Port Angeles on the MTX course. That thing got the hell beat out of it but allways seemed to provide fun in return. Good bikes!:love:
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JRB
Guest
You might have confused this with the drivel you normally post in.jdcamb said:
*something like that.
The problem is the new stuff isn't selling. But I know Adrenaline has it on pretty good discount. As for the shockwave, toward the end of the year, you should be able to pick up a replacement for cheap, and Kineesis will stand behind it for the rest of the warrenty period.JRogers said:
The official word:
Kinesis Trims Fat at Mountain Cycle, May Sell Brand
APRIL 03, 2006 -- PORTLAND, OR (BRAIN)—Kinesis Industrial, parent company of Kinesis USA, is restructuring its business model after laying off most of the management team at its Mountain Cycle brand. Talks also are underway with several potential buyers of the brand.
In March, Kinesis laid off almost all of its Portland based Mountain Cycle staff.
“When it was started in 1987, Mountain Cycle pioneered motocross-inspired monocoque suspension frames for the emerging downhill MTB scene,” said Michael Chen, Mountain Cycle’s president. “After a string of misguided niche-market introductions like our road and cyclocross frames, Mountain Cycle’s core customer didn’t recognize the brand any more.”
Going forward Mountain Cycle will return to its core business—freeride and extreme terrain bicycles.
Kinesis hopes that it may be able to announce the new owner of Mountain Cycle at soon as Sea Otter. Until then, daily operations for Mountain Cycle are still happening at the company’s headquarters in Portland. Any parties interested in buying overstock inventory or capital assets such as manufacturing equipment or team vehicles should contact Michael Chen at (503) 294-1012 ext. 11.
Kinesis Trims Fat at Mountain Cycle, May Sell Brand
APRIL 03, 2006 -- PORTLAND, OR (BRAIN)—Kinesis Industrial, parent company of Kinesis USA, is restructuring its business model after laying off most of the management team at its Mountain Cycle brand. Talks also are underway with several potential buyers of the brand.
In March, Kinesis laid off almost all of its Portland based Mountain Cycle staff.
“When it was started in 1987, Mountain Cycle pioneered motocross-inspired monocoque suspension frames for the emerging downhill MTB scene,” said Michael Chen, Mountain Cycle’s president. “After a string of misguided niche-market introductions like our road and cyclocross frames, Mountain Cycle’s core customer didn’t recognize the brand any more.”
Going forward Mountain Cycle will return to its core business—freeride and extreme terrain bicycles.
Kinesis hopes that it may be able to announce the new owner of Mountain Cycle at soon as Sea Otter. Until then, daily operations for Mountain Cycle are still happening at the company’s headquarters in Portland. Any parties interested in buying overstock inventory or capital assets such as manufacturing equipment or team vehicles should contact Michael Chen at (503) 294-1012 ext. 11.
Will Pacific buy it and sell them in Wal-Mart?
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luelling
Guest
That is such a bunch of crap...when MC was owned by Rob he was selling killer XC and Road bikes. That WAS the original MC....sure he focused on freeride and DH, but he always had a nice XC frame and road frame and many good racers to support that program. To say they "lost their core" is a f**ing cop out of bad management and crappy business practices.....I onl y hope Rob buys the company back and goes to their roots again.Mike B. said:
Yes it's all B.S. And Mountain Cycle didn't start selling frames untill about '91. They made Suspenders forks and Pro-Stop disc brakes first and started selling them around '89.luelling said:
Robert is just into motocross now. He doesn't seem too interested in Mountain Cycle anymore. He started in motocross and basically brought that technology to bicycles. I just got home from a long practice session at the arenacross track (www.hindsightmx.com) on my CRF 250r myself.
Mountain Cycle WAS on the on the right track. the last few months had a lot of new prototype frames being engineered and tested. It was just the strings that tied it to Kinesis Taiwan that were the problem.
You know, Mountain Cycle is still selling and shipping frames, and may continue to due so for quite some time. But the company will be 100% Taiwan very soon. That means no innovation or rider inspired designs.
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luelling
Guest
I'm glad to see someone else knows a bit of history as well. To me that will be a ****ty day when I see a company that helped drive the industry go to Taiwan and become another mainstream manufacturer with no inovation.TWISTED said:
Didn't you work for MC or something like that?TWISTED said:
I heard about this awhile ago. This is teh sux.
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luelling
Guest
I bet I know you you or have at least met youTWISTED said:
Breezer made awesome bikes, then started in with Chinese production, and now only make commuting bikes. Bontrager made awesome bikes, then Trek bought them, and killed all frame production after two years. Klein made some incredible bikes, and Trek shifted them over to Taiwan as well. GT used to make a lot of stuff in house, then production shifted to Taiwan when they were bought by Pacific.luelling said:
IMO the Taiwanese bikes are just as good as the American bikes, if not better, but there is a bit of soul (for lack of a better word) lost when you can't meet the welder of your bike, and never really witness the pain, focus, and effort that went into the frame.
The Taiwan framebuilders have no idea what they are building. They are not riders. Their job is to try to make "this" piece look like the drawing within a large measure of tollerance. When the frame is done and painted they ship it off, and there you go. How can that be better than having a team of riders design a bike, be right there to QC it, and then test ride it? They could quickly and easily oversee the product and be sure the product matches the concept and be certain that quality is focused rather than economy.bikenweed said:
Working as the QC guy for Kinesis USA, you would not believe some of the out-of-alignment, clearance problems, and often worse frames that I saw from Taiwan. Sure, they are painted all shiny and pretty, and usually cost less than the domestic products. For someone to say that they prefer Taiwan built frames is ridiculous to me.
Kinesis USA made the US built GT Zaskars and I-Drives, among many others.
If you honestly think there is a difference between a quality taiwanese made frame, and a quality American made one, you are delusional.
There is crap coming out of both areas, and quality product coming out of both locations. Saying American welded frames are better is simply wrong.
I have seen a ton of American/Canadian frames I wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole. Alignment off, bad welds, crappy finish etc. After working for a few suspension companies, i ended up being able to figure out what brand frame a shock came off of judging by the damage to it (brody 8 ball anyone?). Alignment is pretty bad on a ton of frames made in North America.
There is crap coming out of both areas, and quality product coming out of both locations. Saying American welded frames are better is simply wrong.
I have seen a ton of American/Canadian frames I wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole. Alignment off, bad welds, crappy finish etc. After working for a few suspension companies, i ended up being able to figure out what brand frame a shock came off of judging by the damage to it (brody 8 ball anyone?). Alignment is pretty bad on a ton of frames made in North America.
OK, I'll be more specific. Kinesis Taiwan frames are not as good as Kinesis USA frames. I have 100% proof of that.Transcend said:
Would you like to see the pile of 150 Taiwan built frames that were scrapped after being built into "high-end" bikes and sent out to dealerships? The problems with these frames are clearly evident to anyone who knows bikes, yet the Taiwan production continued on untill the order was filled. This is just one case.
What about the problems with the most sought after DH race bike? All the Taiwan built bikes were recalled, yet the USA built frames of the same design rolled out to the riders ready to rip and win championships.
A Taiwan built frame CAN be perfect, it just needs the correct supervision, quality control, and interaction between the engineer and production process. When the priority is economy, quality will suffer.
I remember some frames that came from Taiwan as 7005 al. that were supposed to be 6061. 7005 is cheaper, so that's what THEY decided to spec.
Now THAT, I'll buy. I am just tired of people saying that taiwanese stuff is junk in general, when it simply isn't the case.TWISTED said:
A lot of the taiwanese manufacturing firms I have heard of have an issue reading simple blueprints. Their workmanship is top notch, but they need major supervision...sorta like pre schoolers.
Those are from the good ole' USA. As far as I know the shockwave was never produced overseas. The quality is quite good on them so I wouldn't worry about it anyway.nooby7757 said:
Yes, we have come to an understanding.Transcend said:
The Chinese guys at work, who have been there for fiveplus years, still have absolutely no clue how to tell the small handfull of Mountain Cycle frames apart. Virtue al. /carbon road frame or big 9.5 DH frame, it's all the same to them, and they are in charge of inventory.
Now that's a disaster waiting to happen.TWISTED said:
I used to work for MC's biggest dealer and you're right they had no clue how many of what they had. They once told us they had about 15 San Andreas frames give or take 20. Screwy company but sick bikes.Transcend said:
So who is still there? Landon? Tony? John? Anyone who rides bikes? That would suck if they arnt able to release the slopestyle bike, new zen and finish the new hardtail. MC was finally coming out with good designs again and then they do this.
Right now can you sell me one?TWISTED said:I was cleaning out the memory card of my digital camera and thought you guys might like this shot of me preparing this bike to be shipped down to Sea Otter.
This is seriously bs, just about the only bike out there that i want to ride at this point and i cant get one. cmon twisted can you pull some strings!
I'm thinking that if the powers that be should take a look at the roar that is coming out of these boards regarding the future of mountain cycle...Kinesis is nuts if they dont spit out this MC slopestyle bike, everyone and their mother wants one...
Are you guys listening, dont be marketing morons.
Are you guys listening, dont be marketing morons.