Planet X buy Titus at auction

8 comments
By BikeRadar UK | Wednesday, Nov 24, 2010 5.30pm

UK-based internet retailers Planet X have bought US mountain bike brand Titus Cycles at auction. The Rotherham-based company purchased all of Titus's assets from major lender Factors Southwest (FSW) on Tuesday night after emerging victorious from a second round of bidding.

“Titus have a lot of followers and as a result we had strong interest,” Robyn Barrett, founder and managing member of FSW, told BikeRadar. “We're very pleased with the outcome of the sale and believe Planet X are a great fit and will carry the brand through and take the company to the next level.”

Arizona-based Titus closed their doors a week ago after failing to keep up with loan repayments. The company had trouble finding stable footing following the departure of founder Chris Cocalis in 2006 and two changes of ownership.

Planet X's finance director, Paul Bennett, told BikeRadar that the British company would be making a statement on the acquisition later today. When asked whether Titus's manufacturing might move to the UK, he said it was too early to comment on any details of the sale, adding that "it's all happened very quickly".

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"Clearly it's very early days and we need to respect a whole load of variables that need careful consideration," said Bennett. "Not least the history of the brand and its values and virtues."

When we spoke to Factors Southwest last week, spokeswoman Juliet Straker said it was expected that the new owner of Titus would "honour warranty issues and handle the need for parts".

Cocalis founded Titus in 1991. He remained at the head of the company until 2006 when he sold his final stakes in the company to Vyatek Sports. In 2008, Vyatek sold the brand to GAI Cycles of Phoenix. From there it went through two CEOs before the FSW foreclosure last week.

Planet X were founded in the mid-1990s by Dave Loughran – who had previously been the UK distributor for the likes of Lemond, Fondriest, Casati, Rocky Mountain and Odyssey – to sell dirt jump and trials bikes and parts. They quickly gained a reputation for top performance at bargain prices, before branching out into road bikes and launching the offshoot On-One mountain bike brand.

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User Comments

There are 8 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 8 of 8 comments

  • WOW!!!

    That'a NEWS :)

    Might be veeeerrry interesting...

    Cheers!

    I.

  • "Titus's manufacturing might move to the UK"

    Doubtful. A fine bunch of blokes though Planet-X are, with good service and excellent prices, they don't manufacture make anything themselves. Their titanium frames used to be US-built by Lynskey but I believe are now made by Van Nicholas wherever they build stuff. Eveything else, especially their plastic frames, will be made in the Far East.

    In fact the idea that the industrial production of any physical, non-perishable product might transfer *to* Britain is ludicrous. The one area where we lead the US is the destruction of our productive industries in favour of parastic, unproductive bullshit like banking, marketing and property. Hell, even our software industry has almost gone, and even design and architecture is showing signs of following the trend.

  • Great news for Titus and Planet X. I wonder were it will all lead?

  • It's going to be very interesting to see how this one pans out as they are not a brand partnership you would place together. I just really hope that Planet X don't try to turn it into some off-shoot of their own internet based products and move manufacturing to the cheap far east manufacturers who they presently use.Titus already manufacture some frames out there and I think that only the Ti stuff is done in the States, but the quality of all the products is top notch and it would be a shame to see that disappear

    As the guy from Planet X said, it's all happened very quickly and it's early days (like they don't have a plan in mind !!)

  • well assumtion would be they bin the planet x name for the frames and rebrand as titus. aka rock lobster and merlin cycles. i hope they do as i would happily have a titus/planet x cyclocross for £1000. lets face it by titus going bust they lost all value and prestige anyway.

  • Titus still had most of its production in the states other than carbon and the El Guapo frames. Hopefully, Planet X will see the value in the brand and refuse selling frames to web dealers like Jenson. This did nothing but sully the Titus name and reduce the brand to a fringe manufacturer status. They're bikes ride way better than their current reputation would lead you to believe.

  • Hopefully see a 456 full susser... that would be awesome...

  • @eliphas_levi

    +1!

    A carbon 456 with Titus FTM rear end. I'm drooling at the thought already....

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