[Closed] Tomac Bikes name bought by...

Clearly the team at On One / Planet X are shrewd when it comes to business, why oh why can't this nous be applied to their customer services?

They haven't bought the name, looks like they just import/sell the bikes?

Edit, hmm, second paragraph is different to the first...

Apart from when they bought all Jimmy Jangles old racers. Do you think they were bought by paedos like people buy old nazi memorabilia?

Hmmm, they did a Ti road bike with a carbon top tube.

I wonder if On-One plans any Tomac mountain bikes, and if so how they plan to differentiate them from their Titus bikes. Bikes like the Snyper and Carbine from the most recent iteration of Tomac got good reviews IIRC. I wonder of On-One got the rights to those designs as part of the deal.

I had a Tomac Automatic 120 a few years ago (when Joel Smith was in charge)..... really loved it, built-up with quite budget (and second hand) parts it served me well - until the seatstay bridge snapped 🙁

fourbanger - Member

Do you think they were bought by paedos like people buy old nazi memorabilia?

Hah. I hear Lemmy bought them all, he's not actually a paedophile, honest, he just likes the imagery 😆

Yawn. Yet another batch of cross/road/gravel/touring bastard bikes with a different name on.

I'm guessing this will soon be followed by one or more of the following:
- slack head angled 26"/650B hardtail
- 29er hardtail race bike
- 650B 'enduro' type bike

I suspect the range will not include the type of stuff that made John Tomac famous - downhill and duel/4X bikes. Shame... my old Lawill Tomac Magnum was a flippin epic bike. Pedalled crap but soaked up bumps like nothing else and looked staggering!

Looks like it's aimed very much at the niche-minded American consumer.

I'm guessing this will soon be followed by one or more of the following:
- slack head angled 26"/650B hardtail
- 29er hardtail race bike
- 650B 'enduro' type bike

My money's on a drop barred 650B - that is surely a currently unexploited niche. Drop bar fatbike to follow. After all, there is one obvious thing Tomac is remembered for in terms of bikes (well two I suppose, but I doubt they'll revive the Tioga disc wheel).

After all, there is one obvious thing Tomac is remembered for in terms of bikes (well two I suppose, but I doubt they'll revive the Tioga disc wheel).

Let's hope they don't bring back the Farmer John and Farmer John's Cousin too.

[i]I suspect the range will not include the type of stuff that made John Tomac famous[/i]

I'd say the above was pretty close to the type of bike that made him famous?

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Presumably they won't use his name for their tyres, so maybe we'll see the On-one "Small C**ck Hate" or On-one "Blue Movey" on sale soon...

After all, there is one obvious thing Tomac is remembered for in terms of bikes

As a young and impressionable teenager, I saw JT riding a drop bar bike in MBUK, and wanted that - so put drop bars on my British Eagle and bent the straight bar brake levers so I could reach them.

Then, when fashions changed, put flat bars back on and bent the brake levers back.

First time I used the brakes in anger was when I learned about metal fatigue 😉

Never mind Tomac - The Serotta factory lives!

£1550 for an American-made Ti+carbon frameset is actually pretty good.
Especially if it rides as subtly as the Serotta road bike I rode a few years ago.

bencooper - Member

After all, there is one obvious thing Tomac is remembered for in terms of bikes

As a young and impressionable teenager, I saw JT riding a drop bar bike in MBUK, and wanted that - so put drop bars on my British Eagle and bent the straight bar brake levers so I could reach them.

Then, when fashions changed, put flat bars back on and bent the brake levers back.

First time I used the brakes in anger was when I learned about metal fatigue

[img] [/img]

Pretty clear that "American Made" is the niche for them - mention "Made In Taiwan" on MTBR and they swarm on you in hordes.

£1550 for an American-made Ti+carbon frameset is actually pretty good.

Is it just me or is that a massively deepm drop bar in Alex Simon's pic?

Plus VAT.

First time I used the brakes in anger was when I learned about metal fatigue

Ah but you didn't. That failure wasn't fatigue 🙂

Is it just me or is that a massively deepm drop bar in Alex Simon's pic?

It's one of [url= http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/HBCICJTC-26-46-BLK/cinelli_curva_john_tomac_nos_handlebar___26mm_clamp___46cm___black ]these[/url].

I'd probably spec something a lot shallower if this hadn't been amazingly last minute.

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View this post on Instagram

was the frame on the 6th September.

I meant downhill racing, not going back to building bikes that he was knocking about on 20 years ago.

I did write a massive reply but I can't be arsed because STW is full of people who froth over bastardised road bikes with knobbly tyres and taking pictures of them on the edge of flat fields.

Interesting to see On One/Planet X steadily mutate into a cycling Behemoth.

What's next I wonder?

I think the big thing about Tomac was that he wasn't a downhill racer, he was a mountain biker. John of all trades, but doing them all pretty well.

sounds like a mike ashley approach, buy the name, rack em high if sportsdirect and sell more. clearly its a business model that works but clearly has issues. I hope they respect the name associated with the brand and begin to build more tomac-esque bikes, aggresive mountain race bikes.

BTW, whats tomac doing these days? last i heard he'd bought some ranch and retired.

Exactly right on-one / Planet-X are the SportsDirect of mtbing.

Oh and since when were Tomac and Titus good brands anyway? If they were that great they'd have been snapped up ages ago or not gone bust.

hmmm, yeah, Tomac was famous for racing cross-country, downhill, and everything else, most notoriously on a mountainbike with drop-bars, sometimes in a full-body latex suit, and he memorably raced on the road as part of the Motorola pro team, which was quite a thing back then.
but we remember the bits of history we want to don't we?

so a bastardised road bike with knobbly tyres type thing would be pretty apt

What's next I wonder?

SSC 😀

I meant downhill racing, not going back to building bikes that he was knocking about on 20 years ago.

I did write a massive reply but I can't be arsed because STW is full of people who froth over bastardised road bikes with knobbly tyres and taking pictures of them on the edge of flat fields.

Dial down the attitude sweetheart...

Those of us with longer memories probably associate Tomac with the late 80s / early 90's when everyone rode XC and DH was still to a certain extent a "side show"... His NORBA and UCI racing was done in both XC and DH Cat's of course, as was the custom back then...

And TBF Tomac did also so a stint mixing MTB and Pro-level Road racing he was on the 7/11 and Motorola teams at the same time as he rode for Yeti and Raleigh I think...

Yes Tomac bikes did produce some DH/FR bikes in the late 90s / early 00s but they also made some XC bikes...

His cycling career was pretty broad hence I see no reason why a Bike brand baring his name can't have an equally diverse range of products...

Tomac wasn't (Isn't) [I]just[/I] a DHer or for that matter [I]just[/I] and MTBer but I think a professional Cyclist in the trueist sense...

I think some [B]"Tomac"[/B] Race BMXes (20" and 24") would be awsome too...

Surely only a matter of time before they call their old mate Brailsford and become the official supplier of Team Sky bikes.

Or just buy the company that currently do.

Or just buy the company that currently do.

Dunno, I think you're overestimating the Size of On-One, according to the website the Fatty is the best seller, and has sold 500 this year, I wonder how many bikes Pinarello give away to teams each year, there must be 60+ dogmas and TT bikes in the TDF alone!

If they're targeting people who remember him from BITD, they'll need to offer bikes that 40 and 50-somethings actually want.

So that'll be the aforementioned "bastardised road bikes with knobbly tyres" probably.

Tinas - I always thought they were a small Yorkshire bike company. They were when I used to pop into Carcroft on a lunch hour. But they do keep seeming to acquire other brands. And I saw quite a few Planet X road bikes in the alps this year (probably all Yorkshiremen). So maybe, just maybe

[i]I always thought they were a small Yorkshire bike company.[/i]

They're not huge but turnover has risen dramatically in the past few years which is why they have had customer service issues at times, I guess.

Dunno, I think you're overestimating the Size of On-One, according to the website the Fatty is the best seller, and has sold 500 this year

Planet-X bought Tomac (and Titus, etc), not On-One.

Brant and me both go "back in the day" when John Tomac was the man . So it is a great project for us to get involved with , to be clear this is no simple licensing of the name with no input from John , the key for us was that John Tomac is very actively involved in attempting to rebuild the Tomac bicycle line . Without this it was not interesting , with this and with his passion , knowledge , experience and enthusiasm it is a very exciting project for us personally and Planet X / On-One the company.

We are trying to keep as much , even all , of the manufacturing in the USA , starting with Saratoga fabrications, we believe that even with the premium prices we are going to pay for the USA made products our cost to retail business model gives us a decent chance to make some attractive bikes customers might want to buy , and to see if we can swim against the tide .

Hopefully it will be a lot of fun , we hope the bikes will reflect the history and passion and knowledge built up over years but with a modern twist to how both John and Eli Tomac want their bike range to be nowadays .

Well I for one wish you good luck with it. As long as you leave out the gun references from the names 🙂

As long as you equip ALL the bikes with Tioga Disc drives.. :drool:

I'm in.

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[url= http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm ][b]2retro4u[/b][/url]
Marin County, Cali

I have known John literally since he first broke into mountain biking. I saw him a few days ago at the US bicycle trade show, Interbike, and I got him to sign the photo of him in his first MTB race, which ran in a 1986 copy of my magazine, the Fat Tire Flyer.

The bike in the photo is a Mongoose 24" BMX bike converted to a mountain bike by wedging 26" wheels into it and adding caliper brakes. John's inscription reads, "Charlie, this is my first Mt. Bike!"

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he he cool

I'm glad I revisited this 😀

Liking the studs on the heel of those shoes

I reckon the Tomac name has the right marketing misty eyed romantiscism for 35yr old+ people; exactly the type who would shell out on a Ti frame.

but,

to see if we can swim against the tide

haven't planetX got to where they are by surfing that tide?

Did anything ever come out of this?

*bump for the daytime crowd*

I think PX's resources are still stretched to the limit destroying the good name of Titus, they probably don't have the capacity to do the same for Tomac just now.