Another one bites the dust

Here's where some of you think I might be going off the rails -you are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. This post is one I have not only put some thought into but waited until other folks sounded off about this news that hit the small frame building community last week.

It was early last week that I and anyone who was paying attention got informed that True Temper as a company would cease making tubing for building bicycle frames. While there are several other sources for steel tubing to make bike frames , none of them are made in the US like True Temper. Also, there are no other tubing companies that offer the catalog of unique and durable tubes that True Temper proudly made in the US. There are steel tubes in the True Temper catalog that represent the highest level of engineering available for bike builders. There are also some tubes that the other manufacturers don't seem to make- i.e. , shit that doesn't break hardly ever. I'm not saying that the other companies make crap-they really don't.......it's just that they make stuff that is less durable for harder uses such as 29ers and the like.

O.K., now that we know that in nine months that True Temper is shutting down it's bicycle division we need to assess their reasons ( or stated reasons..) for doing so. We have been told in writing that the bicycle division has not been profitable and that the company will shift it's steel resources fully into golf products. As I see it, they are dumping cycling, an 'everyman' sport in favor of golf, largely a sport for the privileged ( I used to golf several times a week when it was a lot more affordable). Sure, custom bikes are not an 'everyman' product but I don't fully buy the whole " the bicycle division was not profitable enough " line. True Temper tubing prices have been under market for at least a decade-I am sure if they raised the prices the tubing would still be a good value and would still sell. I guess that they didn't bother thinking about a price adjustment. True Temper probably never bothered to do a detailed cost analysis as someone high up the food chain in the company decided to do away with the cycling division no matter what.

Back when I decided to go full time with my frame building I became aware of True Temper and started buying their tubing to make MTB frames. This was 1988 and I, and True Temper had a lot to learn about bicycle frames. After about a year and a half I decided that the tubes from True Temper lacked the quality control of some of the other offerings . With this realization I decided to switch brands and went to Tange, a high quality Japanese made steel. It was not for many years that I came back to True Temper but when I did, it was because they, True Temper had done the hard work of making their product better than just about anyone else at the time. Engineering and experience and probably a good deal of expense had yielded a level of steel that had not existed for bicycle builders.

This brings me to the thought-what a waste to take all that time and effort developing such an excellent product and toss it all away. The loss of these tubes will be a problem for me as a builder but not something I can't deal with-as I said before, there are other places to get tubing from. The people who will really be hurt are the builders that rely exclusively in True Temper for their materials and don't really have an alternative. The re-seller that sells to the builders will take a huge hit as the True Temper tubes were their main product. Now they will have lost the product that was their main source of income. Other people who will get the shaft ( as in golf club shaft ) are any of the few folks at True Temper who were in the cycling division. Essentially , a lot of people are going to get fucked by this.

So, who will benefit ? My thought is that there's a handful of people on some board of directors who will get bonuses and pats on the back for saving the parent corporation money by eliminating this insignificant department and its products. After all, the free market allows for this and actually encourages people at the top to do whatever it takes to make as much profit as possible. These people's strong suit is just that-making more profit. They have nothing in common with the people who saw the need for better steel bicycle tubing and did the hard work to make it happen. Those people with the passion for the bicycle are most likely long gone. They have been replaced by people who are not willing to do the work or have the knowhow to create a product-the new people don't have any connection to any product. They are only connected to balance sheets. Should I be more understanding and applaud their ability to make money by eliminating a product that made a real difference to people in my trade ? Sure, they have the right to do whatever they want with their company. While I do understand this I do not like it one bit. This is just another example of how the free market can be far from free-there is a cost when things like this happen and it isn't seen on balance sheets.

The people in charge of this elimination of the bicycle division of True Temper might not see what the cost to the craft of frame building will be as they are not likely to bother looking. The cost will be seen in the coming years as people who depended on this company will have to figure out what to do with their lives- after giving money to and putting their trust into a company that ultimately let them down.
R.I.P , True Temper bicycle steel.