[Serial Midget]

I've owned many Race Face products over the years startling with cnc Turbine LP cranks from the mid 90s - for me their products didn't really stand out as superior. I've had 3 sets of Race Face cranks lose teeth - I've never lost teeth from any other crank set.

 

[insanitylevel9]

i like raceface, a lot of my parts are from them

even my dog is sad raceface is closing

 

[slowitdown]

inevitable when you go from making a few core components that everyone loves, to trying to make something for everyone who rides some type of MTB

when will people realize the go-go-go-go-go-diversify-expand-mega attitude is foolish?

sad to see it happen to a company who made a lot of great stuff in the late 90s and early 2000s. wish they'd stuck to their old game.

 

[epic]

Bummer. Love the bars and posts, but hate the cranks. Sorry to see them go.

 

[toodles]

From what I've heard.
"Business owner got a huge loan from the bank based on fraudulent inventory valuation statements. With the money, he paid himself a ridiculous wage: >$30k/mo. Bank auditors finally figured out what was up and shut the place down. He's facing a civil suit for the loan (over $3MM) as well as likely facing criminal charges."

 

[FCLinder]

R.I.P. Race Face!!!! They were a great sponsor of mine and think they made some of the best parts for bikes!!!! It is very sad to here this.

JP, I hope you are taken care of along with all the great people that made that company so damn great to work with!!!!!

Cecil

 

[TheMontashu]

I've owned many Race Face products over the years startling with cnc Turbine LP cranks from the mid 90s - for me their products didn't really stand out as superior. I've had 3 sets of Race Face cranks lose teeth - I've never lost teeth from any other crank set.

And I think there spine interface is TERRIBLE! they use a ton of bull**** little plastic spacers to adjust chain line, as well as a single fixing bolt on the drive side. As well as the quality being only on par with the rest of the industry.

That being said, I love my atlas FR bars

 

[teamkranzelbike]

This would be a perfect opportunity for the Hayes Bike group to add components to their Brake and suspension business.get a little closer Giving Sram a little competition?

 

[4xBoy]

This would be a perfect opportunity for the Hayes Bike group to add components to their Brake and suspension business.get a little closer Giving Sram a little competition?

Would that mean buying the rights then having all the product building done in Asia then?

 

[Sandwich]

ugh. Somebody will buy the brand and churn out sub-par parts in asia real quick I imagine. Super sad.

I just bought some light urple bars for refabbing the sunday....have my eye on their evo knee shins too.

 

[roel_koel]

its always sad news when a NA manufacturer / company goes down, people with good intentions lose their jobs due to financial mismanagement and misdirections

RF? they made good handlebars, stems and body armour

their seatposts and cranks were sh*t with poor warranty backup - I speak from experience after having both my "lifetime warranty" RF Diablous crankset and seatpost totally fail, and getting no support from Race Face

ditched the crankset for Shimano Saint HT2, and the seatpost for Thomson, and never had to claim "warranty" ever again..

(Roach) RF knee / shin guards and elbows / forearm guards were simply AWESOME, and I also rate their "body armour jacket" which they stopped making as quickly as it appeared?

their clothing? shorts were good, jackets were p*ss poor value in terms of fabric tech.....looked pretty but overpriced and sweaty compared to competing brands

 

[davet]

This would be a perfect opportunity for the Hayes Bike group to add components to their Brake and suspension business.get a little closer Giving Sram a little competition?

you mean like Answer?

 

[RayB]

From what I've heard.
"Business owner got a huge loan from the bank based on fraudulent inventory valuation statements. With the money, he paid himself a ridiculous wage: >$30k/mo. Bank auditors finally figured out what was up and shut the place down. He's facing a civil suit for the loan (over $3MM) as well as likely facing criminal charges."

That would do it.

Explains why this was such an all-of-a-sudden thing. Somebody will inevitably front some cash and swoop the company and its assets up. If there were some private equity group in the MTB industry, this would be a pretty good deal. RaceFace has a strong brand, decent products, but unfortunately as we've seen... HORRRRRRIBLE management.

Corporate fraud only works when you're directly working with the Feds.

 

[dan-o]

While the nostalgic side of me is sad to see RF go, there's no shortage of quality offerings to fill the void.

 

[epic]

With this talk of a buyer moving their production to Asia, I gotta say I assumed that's where they were all along. Isn't it?

 

[teamkranzelbike]

you mean like Answer?

Wow, Forgot all about answer.

 

[Silver]

Corporate fraud only works when you're directly working with the Feds.

Oui.

If you gotta owe the bank money, you're better off owing the bank billions than thousands...

 

[Big J]

bummer......What's going to happen to the clothing line, ie Roach/Raceface? The new black armour looked great.

J

 

[norbar]

While the nostalgic side of me is sad to see RF go, there's no shortage of quality offerings to fill the void.

Imho there are no better cranks on the market. Yeah the interface may be bad if you are lazy, a halfwit or take your cranks off very often but for regular riders they are as good as saint without the overbeefed bash tabs and at the same time are lighter. I know that's not by much but still it was a good competition. E13s apparently don't clear some frames and Truv has to make an OCT descendant.

 

[TheMontashu]

Imho there are no better cranks on the market. Yeah the interface may be bad if you are lazy, a halfwit or take your cranks off very often but for regular riders they are as good as saint without the overbeefed bash tabs and at the same time are lighter. I know that's not by much but still it was a good competition. E13s apparently don't clear some frames and Truv has to make an OCT descendant.

Atlas FRs aren't hallow, why do descendants have to be?

 

[gemini2k]

Imho there are no better cranks on the market. Yeah the interface may be bad if you are lazy, a halfwit or take your cranks off very often but for regular riders they are as good as saint without the overbeefed bash tabs and at the same time are lighter. I know that's not by much but still it was a good competition. E13s apparently don't clear some frames and Truv has to make an OCT descendant.

http://www.sicklines.com/weights/cranksets/

Save 25g and you get to have a dogsh*t interface and cheesy overall setup! Definitely worth the weight savings in that lowest and center part of the bike.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

what will happen with any warranty issues?

Iron Horse will handle them.

 

[John P.]

50+ men and women - most of whom are passionate riders - have lost their jobs.

Let's not forget that fact while we're all having fun cracking jokes, bashing on the product, and generally tap dancing on RF's grave.

 

[norbar]

http://www.sicklines.com/weights/cranksets/

Save 25g and you get to have a dogsh*t interface and cheesy overall setup! Definitely worth the weight savings in that lowest and center part of the bike.

I had no problems with the interface, none of my friends did. I understand that if a few people on the net have than all of the net has but I'm very happy with my cranks.
25g is not important but it adds up.
Also - I can get a cheaper bash chain guide because of atlas because saints uses stupid tabs and you can never find a deal on "special saint ed" guides.
Also - you missed the in my opinion part. I like them, you don't have too. Especially when the differance is quite small.


btw. I rub my feet much less on them vs saints.

 

[Inclag]

50+ men and women - most of whom are passionate riders - have lost their jobs.

Let's not forget that fact while we're all having fun cracking jokes, bashing on the product, and generally tap dancing on RF's grave.

John,

Any prospect of some of the employees purchasing the rights to the Race Face name? Or does the liquidation of the company entail that all IP, tooling, raw materials, and naming rights go to the highest bidder?

It would seem to me that this unfortunate incident could provide a great opportunity for some of these employees to pursue their own startup.

 

[stumpjump]

Im just crossing my fingers and waiting for the post to come that RF was bought by (insert awesome bike company) and their products will live on. Ive ridden RF since the beginning and I will ride it till there aren't any products left. A great canadian company.

All you internet haters can say what you want. This is one of our own here.

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

All you internet haters can say what you want. This is one of our own here.

couldnt have put it better...like the product or not, it was a big part of our product development esp in the early years.

 

[stiksandstones]

Sh1tty tale of business here. Sad...Always absolute crap to have a player in the bike business go down, like John P said, 50+ bike people have lost their jobs.

 

[waterdogs]

50+ men and women - most of whom are passionate riders - have lost their jobs.

Let's not forget that fact while we're all having fun cracking jokes, bashing on the product, and generally tap dancing on RF's grave.

Well said!....... I hate to see you guys go myself. I've liked everything I have from RF.

 

[snowskilz]

Wasn't race face a spin off of rocky mountain???

 

[Bikael Molton]

Let's hear some more about this shady owner/CEO guy...

 

[norbar]

Wasn't race face a spin off of rocky mountain???

It was but they separated long time ago.

 

[big-ted]

lol at the demo9 tag...

 

[TheMontashu]

I had no problems with the interface, none of my friends did. I understand that if a few people on the net have than all of the net has but I'm very happy with my cranks.
25g is not important but it adds up.
Also - I can get a cheaper bash chain guide because of atlas because saints uses stupid tabs and you can never find a deal on "special saint ed" guides.
Also - you missed the in my opinion part. I like them, you don't have too. Especially when the differance is quite small.


btw. I rub my feet much less on them vs saints.

I ran the RF track cranks and I had the splines on my fixie get totally destroyed from side loading in skids. I have since ordered some DX cranks for my bike

 

[norbar]

I ran the RF track cranks and I had the splines on my fixie get totally destroyed from side loading in skids. I have since ordered some DX cranks for my bike

Atlas. I don't care about any other For a road bike I'd defo get something else. Also maybe rf simply doesn't support hipsters

 

[stiksandstones]

Let's hear some more about this shady owner/CEO guy...

tmz dot com

 

[toowacky]

Im just crossing my fingers and waiting for the post to come that RF was bought by Devinci and their products will live on. Ive ridden RF since the beginning and I will ride it till there aren't any products left. A great canadian company.

Something like that would be cool.

Always been a fan of their chainrings... love the machined cranks but preferred a Shimano-style spindle interface.

 

[big-ted]

Hayes Bicycle Group to buy Race Face?

 

[-BB-]

I've run NOTHING but Raceface (And Raoch) leg pads... Will have to stock up on the closeouts!!

Also loved their cranks (Turbine LP's back in the day and now the Deus cranks).
Had some handlebars, but they were nothing special.

 

[toodles]

You'd have to think that if, dodgy owner aside, a relatively successful and competitive components manufacturer went into receivership that either another component manufacturer or a bike company would make the call to put in a bid for it.

Unfortunately even if that does happen, it wouldn't be overnight and thats little help to the employees who are left high and dry for now.