Ben Serotta and Bill Watkins Out of "New Serotta Company"

http://saratogian.com/articles/2013/08/08/news/doc520432b2452a6615658295.txt?viewmode=fullstory
 
I don't know if this link above will work but for those of you that know Serotta Bicycles...Ben Serotta (Founder) and Bill Watkins (CEO) being terminated from Serotta Cycles is like Yvon Chouinard being terminated by Patagonia.  This is a freaking travesty and we wonder why we can't build anything of quality in the US.  It killed me when K2 sold out to the Chinese too.  

Moral of the story:  Learn to speak Mandarin

The last paragraph in the press release on Serotta's site...
"The restructuring will involve putting in place a management team that is aligned with DCG’s expanded production strategy. As a result, Serotta CEO Bill Watkins and founder and President Ben Serotta have left the company. “We wish them well in their future endeavors,” Case said."

I wish I had one built before this happened...I hope they build a company that burries DCG
Best wishes Ben and Bill...Saratoga and the cycling community will miss you...for now

Eh. Why did Serotta become part of Divine? Why would Ben Serotta give up control of his company to Divine? Honest question, but I have to assume it was financial issues, no? And Divine clearly doesn't want to fund a part of their company not making ends meet, no? Probably because there aren't a lot of folks that can afford to drop $8,000-$10,000 on a bike. Their framesets start at a price point that you can by an off the rack bike with full DA components or even DA Di2 on end of season discount. There is just too little demand and too much competition for that high level customized USA made product, Seven and Moots are also doing it as well. Always a bummer to see a much respected company close and people loose their jobs. But if a company is bleeding money, it needs to restructure. You can't just sell out to a bigger company and expect the new management to tolerate unending financial loses.

I'm going to make a guess that Mr. Serrotta took his equity out of the company a year or 2 ago when he sold to Broadway Financial.  

I agree, he probably got his payout when he sold to Broadway Financial.  It's hard for small business owners to devise an exit strategy.  If it happened the way it's described in the news article, the new owners sound like incredibly cold SOBs.

On the other hand, as another poster wrote many customers are there for a $10k bike?  That ain't my tax bracket,

Serotta makes beautiful bikes, I hope Ben got paid and will continue doing stuff when he's able to like Grant Peterson did after he got forced out of Bridgestone.

Now Rivendell makes great bikes in the US.

Back to Earth from El Zumpango on Vimeo.

Holy crap!

I'm a Serotta owner. Been riding a steel custom for ten years. Lived in Saratoga Springs for three years and met Ben a few times, too. This is sad news indeed. I thought the company was stabilized after he came through his difficulties from the financial crash, but, it looks like it got swallowed up by an evil corporate entity who think that they can actually sell crappy  bikes with his name and fool people. That is not going to happen. Dumbasses.

Ben's a nice guy. But, he overextended himself through the good times,it seems, ultimately buying a carbon fiber facility in California before the market for $14,000 bicycles went the way of the home equity loans that were fueling that market. I figured that he was in bad financial shape, (ordered bikes were not being delivered, the web site changed dramatically, and, at one point, his factory in Saratoga was listed for sale), but I thought he found some capitol to save him. I thought that CEO dude was the savior, but, nope, I guess not. Now, how in the world these people think they can market the name without him around is beyond me. Idiots. This isn't Schwinn.

I just bought a new bike (or, another bike, as a friend insists on calling it), and I went to Carl Strong http://www.strongframes.com out in Montana to custom build it. It will be a copy of my Serotta, because I love the fit. The Strong frame is about half the price of the Serotta (which isn't even possible anymore, because they stopped making steel frames, and, well, who knows, now.....) because Carl and his wife are the only employees. He picks up the phone and welds and e-mails and everything else. Ben built a little empire that collapsed under it's own weight. Sad. He made beautiful bikes. But, there are still many small custom frame builders out there. I heard once that a former welder of Ben's is out there making custom frames on his own, as a matter of fact.

I hope the best for Ben Serotta, although, he may have sold his name in order to cash in for retirement, so, he may be in the same boat as Warren Miller, unable to use that name because it's somebody else's copyright. Ech.

edit: He also had the best paint shop around in that newer facility he built just a little over ten years ago. The paint job on my bike, after maybe 20,000 miles, is still awesome. Now I have to find a new painter to repaint soon. damn.

Benny Profane wrote

But, there are still many small custom frame builders out there. I heard once that a former welder of Ben's is out there making custom frames on his own, as a matter of fact.

Kelly Bedford, K.Bedford Customs.
I just talked to him for a while today. One of the new owners at Serotta (who he hadn't heard from in years), contacted him out of the blue and wanted to have a meeting this afternoon.

I know Kelly and one of his old Serotta buddies who runs Grey Ghost Bicycles in Glens Falls were just talking about pitching his product to 20 or so dealers across the US. Proactively trying to expand.

Cool, yeah, I saw one of his frames in the Serotta dealer in north Jersey a while back.  Good luck to him, but, he's gotta get his prices down a bit. The world can no longer support 3500 dollar steel frames, I'm afraid.

Hmmmmm....it lives!

REANIMATED

Serotta lowers prices, accepting frame orders
Published August 22, 2013
by BRAIN Staff

Steven Breault inspects a new Serotta frame on Wednesday. Photo courte...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (BRAIN) — Serotta is now accepting frame and bike orders again and has lowered its prices on frame and repair and re-finishing services, the company announced Thursday.
 
The company said it is negotiating agreements to manufacture frames for other brands.
 
Serotta was merged with Blue Competition Cycles and Mad Fiber Wheels in June as part of the Divine Cycling Group. In July, company founder Ben Serotta said he was winding down bike production at its upstate New York factory and had closed its California factory. Ben Serotta and former CEO Bill Watkins left the company soon after that.
 
In a statement Thursday, Serotta chairman and DCG director Brian Case said restructuring is underway at Serotta.
 
“The contract frame-building agreements we are negotiating will stabilize our business and allow our American craftsmen to continue to do what they love doing: Building great bikes here in Saratoga Springs,” said Case.
 
“We aim to build our manufacturing business around multiple customers across multiple distribution channels,” Case said. “In addition to handling contract framebuilding for other brands, we will offer private label framesets designed and crafted for top dealers and fit studios. This, in turn, will support the continued production of our legendary high-performance custom and stock frames.”
 
The company is accepting orders for the fully custom Ottrott SE, Legend SE and Viaggio SE models, as well as for Standard Geometry MeiVici SG, Legend SG, Pronto SG and Fondo SG framesets. With the exception of the Pronto and Fondo, the MSRP has been reduced for all models by up to 20 percent.
 
“We’re also improving margins for our dealers,” Case said.
 
Serotta also reduced its repair and refinishing prices by 25 percent and will now accept refinishing work for other brands.

Oh man, this is a train wreck in progress.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=135227&highlight=saratoga+springs

"Copy Paste from an email:

"Apologies for the delayed response. Serotta has gone through some changes recently and we are in the process of restructuring.

The current ownership of Serotta – which began on May 3, 2012 – has made the difficult decision not to honor the original warranty of bikes delivered before that date which were manufactured under the company's previous ownership. This was not a decision we arrived at easily.

If your bike does for some reason require repair due to manufacturing or materials defect in the future, we would evaluate your bike and determine the extent of the damage. If the frame is beyond repair, we will offer you a new frame at 50% of retail price. If the frame is repairable within a reasonable scope, the repair bill would be your responsibility.

If you would like to send in your frame and fork for evaluation, please write back and I will set up an RA for you and send shipping instructions.


Team Serotta
Serotta Cycles
41 Geyser Road
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518.584.8100
518.261.4409 fax""

Ben's new blog:    http://benserotta.com