i'm not sure serotta's race-cred history matters to anyone under 50, and they probably
killed trashed their reputation with scads of weird looking overpriced frames, but if serotta is serious about continuing as a going concern, then they (he) should seriously consider being
the stock titanium
racing frame out there, the titanium equivalent of the
crumpton corsa team, gaulzetti corsa and spooky skeletor.
with the most recent death of merlin, it seems like a good time to make the case for the stock titanium racing frame; undercut moots on price, don't offer any custom options or paint, and keep the frame, fork and headset price as close to 3k as you can. do the right thing and rip off gaulzetti's sizes--after all he ripped 'em off from ridley--or rip off your own stock sizes from 15 years ago, use top-notch straight-gauge round tubing, sell direct to customers, and be ready to build the frame as soon as the order is paid. make the case, the
good case, for titanium as a great privateer racer's frame material in advertising that is completely independent of any dentist's-specials custom frames you will or won't still make. hell, go all in and have a great ti off-road
racing frame program, too. same deal as with the
road racing frames, 26 or 29 wheels as the only option, and keep the price as close to 2.5k without fork or headset as you can. serotta should still know how to make a great no-bullshit frame, and now that they've downsized themselves bigtime, this could be a great fit for them and a great choice for serious riders considering a stock crumpton or gaulzetti.
update: for some reason, i was never a big moots fan; they're good and all, but something. well, what i did like about them was the simplicity of their frames. now that's over, though. the hardtails are ugly now, with those needlessly curved tubes and shit. the vamoots has a terrible geometry and to get a real race frame with a level top tube, you need to order custom? that's fucking bullshit. that's where serotta, with their capacity and their titanium experience could really increase sales. a
level top tube road
racing style frame, and a racing/xc-trail titanium hardtail without any stupid curved tubes.
this moots is not a good-looking ti hardtail. serotta should be able to squash this like a bug, if they had a fucking clue.
Who would waste their dough on a Serotta? Moots is best.
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment. moots are good, real good, and afaik, moots is doing well, and serotta is not. serotta needs a hook, and the _stock_ titanium _racing_ frame could be it for them. so many of their recent bikes have been atrocious, not to mention obscenely priced.
Deletewe have an aluminium stock frame from gaulzetti and a nice new entrant in the stock usa (via italy) carbon from crumpton. nobody wants steel, so the uber-race slot for titanium is open. serotta could rip off gaulzetti's rip-off of ridley for geo or go with their own stock sizing from 20 years ago, and use that stock ti frame as a hook.
as i said above, a mountain-bike version might be cool, too. why not? they're all done, otherwise.
i added an update to the post which pretty much says the same thing as the original post and my reply, so that makes it three times for the same basic point.
DeleteI love my Ti Max -- classic lines -- Moots is OK, but the Ti Max is magic. I'm not a dentist. I do porn for a living.
ReplyDeleteThanks for comment. Are you the porno dentist by any chance?
DeleteHardly anybody listens to poor Zathras...