Sixth Element Wheels Ceases Trading

by 8

Sixth Element Wheels is reported to have ceased trading. Forum users who are Sixth Element customers have reported receiving an email containing the following letter:

Dear Sir/ Madam

Re : Monsun Limited Trading as Sixth Element Wheels (“the Company”)

I regret to advise that the above named Company has ceased trading and is unable to pay its debt due to you or to other creditors. This means that warranty and crash replacement cover is no longer operative. No refunds are available.

As director(s) I/we have sought advice from a licensed insolvency practitioner with a view to having the Company wound up. It became clear early on in our meeting that the Company has insufficient assets to meet its liabilities and is insolvent within the meaning of the Insolvency Act 1986. In addition there are insufficient assets to meet the cost of winding up the Company, either voluntarily or compulsorily.

Given the above I am writing to all creditors of the Company notifying you of the fact that the Company has now ceased trading. While the Company has no assets with which to fund a liquidation we understand that for credit insurance purposes a creditor may wish to have the Company wound up. To this end any petition to wind￾up the Company would not be opposed and we now invite creditors to take steps to wind-up the Company compulsorily.

In the event that no petition is received from a creditor within the relevant period / three months I will write to the Registrar of Companies, attaching a copy of this letter and a list of creditors to whom it was sent requesting that the Company be struck off.

I thank you for your past support.

Yours faithfully

G Stock

Director, Monsun Limited

Trading as Sixth Element Wheels”

In addition to the above reports, the website, social media and phones all appear to have been taken down or disconnected.

Sixth Element founder, Graham Stock, left his life in Town Planning behind him to found Sixth Element in 2015. The company quickly acquired a reputation for eye catching carbon wheels at affordable prices, and by 2017 were runners up in the Singletrack Reader Awards for Best Hardware, and Best Online Service runners up in 2018 and 2019. They even supplied the British Olympic XC team with wheels for Tokyo 2020.

In recent years the carbon wheels market appears to have become more competitive, with more companies offering better warranties and lower prices than in the early days of chi-chi carbon wheels. And as we’ve seen time and time again this year, trading is tough in the bike industry.

We’ve made efforts to reach out to Graham for comment. Once again, a sad day for those personally affected, and for the bike family in general.

While you’re here…

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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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  • Sixth Element Wheels Ceases Trading
  • dissonance
    Full Member

    The while you’re here article of “Quit Your Job! Work with pushbikes instead!” is a bit unfortunate.

    stwhannah
    Full Member

    @dissonance that article includes the story of how Graham came to start Sixth Element, so it’s relevant if bittersweet.

    @stwhannah sadly I think there will be more articles like this in the coming months.

    Bregante
    Full Member

    Sad times. While I was never the target audience for the wheels, the shop is less than a mile from my house and was originally set up in the old Eddie McGrath roadie shop around the corner.

    ceept
    Full Member

    Sad times. I bet it’s the hardest thing Graham has ever written. Unfortunately it looks like there are more similar stories on the horizon.

    It’s interesting that only 2 of the 5 people in the “quit your job” article are still involved in the businesses mentioned, and only one is a “household name”.

    The self employment/founder life is a challenge at the best of times.

    Akers
    Full Member

    Sad news for the company and it’s employees, but also for customers who bought the product with a warranty that is now worthless.
    I am told they are great wheel, but I do know people who have cracked them, and while the warranty has been good, any future damage will now be costly.
    I have a set of Reynolds carbon wheels, and the warranty policy has changed twice since I bought them, so ultimately I feel at the whim of the manufacturer, and the premium paid for a product with good the warranty feels exploited. Great as they have been, I think in future I’ll be sticking with good quality alloy rims, which will be cheaper and easier to buy and replace, in exchange for the small weight penalty.

    beaker
    Full Member

    I collected my ISEN Workshop frame  in April last year. By this May they’d gone under. I only found out after trying to sort a replacement rear mech hanger. I suspect there will be plenty more small companies going under in the near future

    pmurden
    Full Member

    To sum up: this is just 5hit for everyone to be honest. Gutted for the company, its employees and suppliers alike.

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