That would be sad
If you ask on the CRC thread Neil might answer.
Lol, who am I kidding?
I thought they were moving out of the bike market.
This brings me as much glee as the fall of CRC did Neil.
Good riddance.
Well in 2023 Superstarcomponents was showing as having £1m+ in nett assets. If they've gone tits-up something drastic has happened.
I’d be sorry to see them go: pedals, headsets, chainrings, all good.
A load of us have their wheels so may be wanting spares.
And as a made in UK component manufacturer I would be sad to see them gone.
As above - i think they were getting out of the bike industry - well at least the retail side of it..
Never really got the hate for UK based manufacturing. In my experience the products I used were spot on.
From comments on previous threads I think the owner simply diversified into more profitable manufacturing.
Never really got the hate for UK based manufacturing.
Neil/Fruit has a bit of previous here that a few with long memories elect not to forget/forgive.
I've got a a couple of chainrings and a couple of pairs of pedals from them I really like.
Bought some great stuff from them over the years and UK manufacturing is a big draw. Never liked the branding or the shades of their anodising, just a bit cheap and naff, so it makes sense for them to supply to other brand.
Never really got the hate for UK based manufacturing.
I don’t think folk hate UK manufacturing, i suspect there ire is rather more focused than that.
Unfortunately for those who hate Neil, I think this is a case of us needing him more than he needs us.
Neil/Fruit has a bit of previous here that a few with long memories elect not to forget/forgive.
That was probably 15 years ago now, people have had shorter life sentences for murder.
This brings me as much glee as the fall of CRC did Neil.
Did it? I got bored of the thread but from the bits I read he was quite robust in the failings of the business model and overstretching themselves, but sympathetic to the inevitable human cost. Ready to be corrected though.
Fair point convert. Some of the stuff from years ago wasn't great but personally I found some of his commentary on CRC insightful and honest but what do I know. It didn't come across as particularly gleeful to me.
If they’ve gone tits-up something drastic has happened.
Would the toughest 12 months trading the UK Bike Trade has seen in living memory count as 'drastic.'
I wasn't a fan of their original 'order out of a Chinese catalogue and stick your logo on it' business model but, credit where credit's due, they've put the work in since, started designing and making in house etc, it would be a shame if the current iteration disappeared.
Maybe they’re restocking all of CRC stuff.
There’s 684 tech caps that need selling.
Had a prompt reply to a query on Monday, so hopefully just a website glitch.
That was probably 15 years ago now, people have had shorter life sentences for murder
True.
And since the days when every set of superstar pads seemed to delaminate before it wore out I've used them a lot as they're a cheap known quantity, same with uberbike (although they didn't go through the early delaminating bit).
The catalogue parts were just crap. BB's that lasted a few rides, cranks that fell off, etc. I don't think it's vindictive in any way to not want to go back there, it's been a crowded marketplace, why would I go back to a company that I felt gave truly awful products customer service when other companies exist.
The UK made stuff, there always seemed to be something to put you off in long term reviews. Seemed like they'd invested in CNC kit an order of magnitude better/more expensive than what Hope were using, but didn't have the experience designing stuff to back it up. And for Hope priced hubs, you can also get Hope hubs, it's a difficult sell.
I've had loads of stuff from them and it's almost all been great.
My favourites are the alpine 30 rims bought as part of an Enduro wheel set for stupid cheap maybe a year ago when they sold off all the wheel stock.
They've taken a beating and are still true and undinged despite many a hamfisted landing onto a load of rocks. I'd put them equal to DT ex511.
Superstarcomponents are great, and I write that as someone who's had and forgiven their shonky brakepads and robust customer service back in the day.
Current headsets, seatclamps etc. are excellent and on a par with Hope IMO (in fact their bolt-up seatclamps are a better design).
AFAIK they are making plenty from medical CNC machining so hopefully they do remain in the bike biz too.
Only had good experiences buying from superstar. Hopefully they'll stick around in the biking parts market.
I've liked the items I've bought from them. Couple of sets of wheels. Some other bits n pieces.
All been good.
Recently bought a chainring and their response to an email to them was rapid. Really good service and I hope all is ok
I got another one of their brilliant headsets delivered last week. There was something in an email about warehouse moves/changes
Years ago there was someone on here who had had a bad experience with a wheelset and won his money back in small claims court. Anyway, he set up a website slagging them, something like superstarripoffmerchants.co.uk off convinced he was going to bring them down. I doubt it ever got indexed by any search engines, let alone have anyone visit it!
Anyway, he was adamant he would be their nemesis.
It has been up this week as I wanted to order a headset. I hadn't got round to measuring the head tube until today. I am hoping it is a temporary glitch
Gave up on getting a response from them when I wanted to exchange some wrong hub adapters they'd sent me by mistake. Still using a spare 'temporary' front wheel 3 months later 🙄
Shame though TBH as I've bought all sorts from them over the years with no probs.
I've been happy with all the bits and pieces I've bought from superstar over the years, would be sad to see them go.
Always had great stuff from SS and I've bought pretty much every product they've made over the years.
Would be a shame if SS did go, though I feel they no longer beat the rest of the market in the way they used to most - price.
Lots more competition now and their stuff does look a little 'dated' - pedals have gone up a huge amount in price.
As others say above though, I think Neil has enough to do and the bike biz he continues with is just a sideline now vs the other way around.
Less UK manufacturing is bad - more choice good.
Lets be honest though the current SS website is horrendous, like properly terrible so maybe its being taken down for re-design.
This brings me as much glee as the fall of CRC did Neil.
Good riddance.
I'm not exactly a Neil/ Fruit/ SSComponents fan but that's a ****ish thing to say.
As expected with some of your comments on here your weren't as brash and loud when we met in the real word.
You ****ed up with your hamfisted rock mechanics and tried to blame someone else.
That was a long time ago.
Plenty of time to grow up for most folks...
I’ve only bought pedals and they’re a bit crap frankly, had to change bearings inside 12 months of sporadic riding whereas my Wellgo flat pedals at less than half the price are still going strong and smooth 10 years later with no servicing.
This was from Superstar when I got my order sent last week,
Hello thankyou for your email, we will update status via emails on your order and account. You will get a notification once your order has been shipped and collected by our shipping partners when it happens.
We are moving to a fulfillment warehouse so parts are in several locations. Your order may ship as two shipments. While this is underway we are not shipping every day from the Lincoln warehouse.
We apologise for the inconvenience and will process orders and emails as fast as we can. while we transition to the new warehouse
So the company maybe shut while the transition happens?
Never had an issue, always good service. Their pedals are a favourite of mine, the wheels have lasted well, if a bit of a pain to set up tubeless. I understand some have a gripe, I think we can all agree that less choice is a bad thing.
Hopefully Superstar are still going strong for all that work there and their suppliers.
Judging from the email about fulfilment centres its likely a new site is being put up - the current (or past) website is utterly horrible and probably didn't have the functionality to deal with multiple fulfilment centres for order shipping.
Likely see a shopify type website pop up in the next few days, though it is a bit silly not announcing this on facebook / instagram or putting a holding page in place.
Get that Neil is a bit Marmite on here but IME the company has always provided well for customers.
Haven't bought anything from them for a while but they used to be one of my go to 'bits and pieces' vendors/manufacturers. Wheels, pedals, pads, all good. When I did need customer service (freehub explosion halfway round the Jacob's Ladder loop, which was nice) it was excellent - free, upgraded hub laced into my rim super quick with no quibbles.
Would be sad to see them go. More choice is good + UK made... so hope it's just a website thing/glitch.
They might get out of the bike trade, but it sounds like his CNC machines are spinning constantly on other stuff so I’m sure they’re fine. Bought loads wheels off him, a Pacenti rim failed- he laced it onto a stans one instead. No dramas at all.
How can you tell the machines are spinning constantly? The odd Facebook flex doesn’t really say anything.
He does have some properly serious machinery though so must have / had a lot of work at some point (and probably still has) to justify their purchase.
The economy is in a strange place right now though, not just the bike world, so anything could happen - hopefully not.
True, I have no idea TBH, just going on what Neil has said.
