Sick Bicycles Ceases Titanium Production

Makers of titanium madness, rad T-shirts, and self proclaimed industry shakers and agitators Sick Bicycles has just announced that it is ceasing production of its titanium frames.

A newsletter just issued reads (published here complete with apparent typos and odd formatting):

Say goodbye to Ti :/

At least for the foreseeable. 

If it’s so good, why you getting rid of it?

Putting it simply, admin, admin is a hassle.

Lot of chasing couriers, manufacturers, customs, lots of customers wanting updates on where their baby is, endless emails and needing to manage and track. The business is growing, the volume of frames is going up and up rapidly and we need to do something to regain control (the drop system sill solve 90% of the problems we have). We want to keep our customers happy.

We can offer prices almost half that of other manufacturers, even the big ones, as we utilize ‘downtime’ of those manufacturers (when other brands are not producing or can’t complete the size run they thought) to produce at a reduced rate. As we sell direct too, we have a smaller margin too.

I LOVE Titanium, its a wonder metal, it makes amazing bikes, if I had my choice I would be making EVERYTHING out of this wonder metal. However, its hard to import, its an expensive risk to buy it in without orders. So for the foreseeable future financially its too much of a commitment.

This will be the last ‘to spec’ production run we do, it usually takes a couple of months to arrive in the UK – Including messing around with couriers and customs.

Is it worth it? Well if you want a transcendent bike for life with an amazing warranty, the must supernatural ride characteristics
yeah, be patient, take the plunge. We will continue to offer support (including replacement dropouts etc). And ONE DAY We will inevitably release a run of Ti bikes again.

Is this going to be like the ‘end’ of salad cream? Will we really see no more Gnarcissists, or Death From Aboves (Deaths from Above?)? Certainly there will be some who are sad (our own Fahzure was hoping to figure out a test ride opportunity), and probably others who think that it’s not surprise that industry upstarts are struggling to do their admin. Surely though, anyone that thinks bikes are for fun has got to be a bit sorry to hear this news.

There’s a short sale – be quick, orders end Friday – so if you’re in the ‘sad they’re going’ group, get on over to their website and bag yourself a Christmas present.

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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