Over the past day or two the rumour mill has been working overtime, with rumours that the legendary Canadian component manufacturers Race Face were in trouble. Reknowned for making bombproof components since starting in the early 90’s, they were on the forefront of the freeriding scene and have sponsored a huge number big name freeriders over the years.
It now seems that the rumours were correct, with a story on trusted bike industry news site BikeBiz confirming that the 18 year old company has entered liquidation.
The company, whose factory still produced some of their high end equipment near the famous North Shore in British Columbia, Canada, had 60 employees in total with 30 of those based in Asia. It looks like most of those will now be laid off, with only a core remaining temporarily to oversee the liquidation.
Bike Biz reports that the closure came as a “big surprise” to one staffer they spoke to as “the order book was strong”.
There’s no more news yet on whether anyone will step in to recover the company or buy their intellectual property and trademarks but we’d be very surprised if this is the last we’ll hear of such a massive name in the bike world.
Whatever happens, existing customers should be alright as we’ve spoken the UK Race Face distributors Silverfish who say they will continue to honour all genuine warranties…
This just in from Pete Drew of Silverfish.
Silverfish UK is sad to announce to its customers that after 18 years Race Face has gone into administration. Friday 11th March saw one of the leading mountain bike component companies announce it was closing its doors, at least for the short term.
Silverfish UK has been the sole UK distributor for Race Face since the late 1990s and has always been proud to be associated with such a cutting edge and innovative brand. We remain solidly behind all Race Face products sold by Silverfish 100 per cent, and will continue to support the brand whilst a new owner is identified.
Silverfish UK Marketing Manager Pete Drew added: “There remains a huge amount of interest in the Race Face brand among our customers and we are confident that the current position will have a positive outcome. We still have an excellent range of Race Face products in stock and will continue to sell these in the coming months. We are confident that a new owner will be identified shortly.”
Obviously, Silverfish will continue to provide support to all our customers, both in the form of warranty back up and sales support.
We hope to work closely with Race Face and their administrators in the coming weeks in an attempt to ensure that our customers can continue to use the high quality products that have become synonymous with the Race Face brand.
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Seems a really odd decision if they were doing alright
Full order book does not necessarily mean the cash is coming in. No cash = no business. Hopefully a buyer will come along…..
I thought they were blue chip by now.
wonder if PlanetX/on-one will add them to their recent firesale aquisition of Titus
I’m quite surprised they only had a staff of 60, I thought they were a bigger organisation than that. most fabrication subcontracted I suppose
Here’s to hoping a buyer steps in, mountainbiking’s better for having its raceface on!
They made cheese BB’s though !
Yep healthy order book means nothing if no one is paying your invoices and thus you can’t pay your invoices. This is one reason why banks withdrawing overdraft facilities put the bullet in the head of some businesses. Some companies, maybe a lot, at one time or another rely on an overdraft to cover the gap between cash coming in and going out.
A sad day, especially for the workers. I wonder how attractive a company like this is in the current climate. Even their budget kit is hardly cheap. But maybe if the order book REALLY is healthy they will get a taker.
Fingers crossed.
I’ve very mixed feelings about this.
On one hand I feel for the individuals who’ve lost their jobs as a result and it’s a shame to see such a long standing sponsor disappear.
On the other, the £149 I spent on a set of Evolve X-Type cranks proved to be one of my most expensive bike related mistakes. Thanks to some uttely boneheaded design flaws, they were landfill within 18 months.
hmm, new acquisition for CRC/Hotlines?
Heres hoping someone steps in
an iconic brand …they’ve had a couple of
dodgy designs over the years
but i still like there stuff
would be a shame to see the go under
sorry missing an “m” in there somewhere
thought it was due to fraudulant borrowing against the company by one of the owners and nothing to do with the buissness? allegedly
you’d of thought of something mentioned on their website – but can’t find anything
Too much of a focus on aftermarket and not enough on OEM (where the real money is made).
For a business that size 30staff (USA) & 30 in asia i reckon they were spending too much on advertising and sponsorships.
There are plenty of rumours flying around as to why this has happened, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Seems that they’ve actually been in bank administration for the past month and it’s only just now that the bank have decided they are no longer a going concern…