Dec 17, 2010 at 08:34 PM
While I was away, there have been developments...
* * * Skeletor Still Alive? * * *
It surely seems like another joke, but the Skeletor deal just won't go back into the closet. How's that again? Well, Mickey emailed the team order form to me earlier in the week --in spite of the email I had sent stating that we only had 3, possibly 4 riders truly wanting in on the deal. I thought the deal was off, but his response was: "that's fine." Yes, he is still offering the team discount price to a mere trio of riders!
However, as many of us suspected, complications are setting-in for Spooky. These complications center on a significant delay (3-9 months) on the delivery of the new model Skeletors. Mickey is trying to get people on bikes sooner by getting manufacturing underway on a batch of 2010 model Skeletors for March delivery. For people who order a frame or frameset, you can get a 2010 model in March... then you'll have several options when the new 2011 models arrive. This offer is mildly complicated, so I'll defer to Mickey's description of these options (see the addendum to this post).
I will note my assessment of the Pros and Cons about the offer options:
Con - it's rather weird/complicated;
Con - the 2010 Skeletors have delivery slated for March, but who knows... that delivery may delay also;
Con - if you're wanting a 2010 frameset in March and want to trade-in for a 2011, you end-up paying an extra $250;
Con - there's an option for keeping your 2010 Skeletor and getting a CX or MTB frame for a nice $400, but who knows if your size CX or MTB bike is in-stock;
Con - If you go for the 2010 Skeletor in March and race it till the 2011's come-in, you'll have to adjust your position and/or your setup as the geometries are different (and the BB is different too!);
Con - Time.
Pro - the framesets dropped a little in price (now $735), and include not only the EDGE/ENVE 2.0 fork, but a Cane Creek ZeroStack headset too;
Pro - you can possibly end-up getting a road frameset and a CX frameset at a super excellent price;
Pro - for people interested in getting 2 road rigs, you'll end-up getting an even better deal --$985 for 2 framesets. And the *possible* horizontal top-tube / low BB drop option on 2011 frames may make the 2x road frame worthwhile to some.
Pro - I think Mickey is going to let us choose one of the 17 colors he offers to teams;
TBD - Pro - Mickey is offering to throw-in Thomson seatposts and stems for the teams who order. I don't know if we --as a not-truly-sponsored team-- will get in on that goodness. We definitely don't get custom sticker sets, because that's definitely sponsor-only material.
* * * Some further explanation as to the nature of the delay on 2011 Skeletors * * *
After receiving the team order and confirming that he was still offering the team deal to only 3 or 4 guys on a team (though finer athletes he would be hard pressed to find), I spoke with Mickey about the new and complicated offer. He said the reason for the delay is that their manufacturer extended the expected delivery because the new Skeletor design requires significant retooling (all around the switch to BB30). He added that the manufacturer goes overboard with process and details because they're an ISO-certified outfit. Details sounds good as it concerns bicycle fabrication, so I like it that these people are being hard-assed about their process. These same people will be manufacturing the new lot of 2010 bikes for delivery in March, which can arrive then because they already have the tooling and processes ready-to-go.
* * * What Spooky would expect of Kissena * * *
Marc mentioned a good point above: the question regarding Spooky's expectations about what Kissena would do as part of this bargain. When I first spoke with Mickey, I asked about ordering 1 frameset, for myself. He asked if I would ask others on the team if they might want a Spooky noting that a discount might be available. I said "sure, but I'm just a rider and not an official representative of the club. And, we probably won't pursue another sponsored deal because we are a rather large club and have on-going bike deals with several other outfits that people like." I've repeated that several times to him and he has responded that it's not problem. So, Spooky is not under the impression that we'll be touting Spooky in any way other than riding the bikes to our heart's content and voicing our fanship to the extent that we are fans (i.e., no obligations for endorsing Spooky whatsoever).
Send your questions, comments, warnings, upbraidings, recipes, etc., etc., to normanswygert@mac.com --or-- just post them here for all to see.
Cheers,
Norm
* * * Skeletor Still Alive? * * *
It surely seems like another joke, but the Skeletor deal just won't go back into the closet. How's that again? Well, Mickey emailed the team order form to me earlier in the week --in spite of the email I had sent stating that we only had 3, possibly 4 riders truly wanting in on the deal. I thought the deal was off, but his response was: "that's fine." Yes, he is still offering the team discount price to a mere trio of riders!
However, as many of us suspected, complications are setting-in for Spooky. These complications center on a significant delay (3-9 months) on the delivery of the new model Skeletors. Mickey is trying to get people on bikes sooner by getting manufacturing underway on a batch of 2010 model Skeletors for March delivery. For people who order a frame or frameset, you can get a 2010 model in March... then you'll have several options when the new 2011 models arrive. This offer is mildly complicated, so I'll defer to Mickey's description of these options (see the addendum to this post).
I will note my assessment of the Pros and Cons about the offer options:
Con - it's rather weird/complicated;
Con - the 2010 Skeletors have delivery slated for March, but who knows... that delivery may delay also;
Con - if you're wanting a 2010 frameset in March and want to trade-in for a 2011, you end-up paying an extra $250;
Con - there's an option for keeping your 2010 Skeletor and getting a CX or MTB frame for a nice $400, but who knows if your size CX or MTB bike is in-stock;
Con - If you go for the 2010 Skeletor in March and race it till the 2011's come-in, you'll have to adjust your position and/or your setup as the geometries are different (and the BB is different too!);
Con - Time.
Pro - the framesets dropped a little in price (now $735), and include not only the EDGE/ENVE 2.0 fork, but a Cane Creek ZeroStack headset too;
Pro - you can possibly end-up getting a road frameset and a CX frameset at a super excellent price;
Pro - for people interested in getting 2 road rigs, you'll end-up getting an even better deal --$985 for 2 framesets. And the *possible* horizontal top-tube / low BB drop option on 2011 frames may make the 2x road frame worthwhile to some.
Pro - I think Mickey is going to let us choose one of the 17 colors he offers to teams;
TBD - Pro - Mickey is offering to throw-in Thomson seatposts and stems for the teams who order. I don't know if we --as a not-truly-sponsored team-- will get in on that goodness. We definitely don't get custom sticker sets, because that's definitely sponsor-only material.
* * * Some further explanation as to the nature of the delay on 2011 Skeletors * * *
After receiving the team order and confirming that he was still offering the team deal to only 3 or 4 guys on a team (though finer athletes he would be hard pressed to find), I spoke with Mickey about the new and complicated offer. He said the reason for the delay is that their manufacturer extended the expected delivery because the new Skeletor design requires significant retooling (all around the switch to BB30). He added that the manufacturer goes overboard with process and details because they're an ISO-certified outfit. Details sounds good as it concerns bicycle fabrication, so I like it that these people are being hard-assed about their process. These same people will be manufacturing the new lot of 2010 bikes for delivery in March, which can arrive then because they already have the tooling and processes ready-to-go.
* * * What Spooky would expect of Kissena * * *
Marc mentioned a good point above: the question regarding Spooky's expectations about what Kissena would do as part of this bargain. When I first spoke with Mickey, I asked about ordering 1 frameset, for myself. He asked if I would ask others on the team if they might want a Spooky noting that a discount might be available. I said "sure, but I'm just a rider and not an official representative of the club. And, we probably won't pursue another sponsored deal because we are a rather large club and have on-going bike deals with several other outfits that people like." I've repeated that several times to him and he has responded that it's not problem. So, Spooky is not under the impression that we'll be touting Spooky in any way other than riding the bikes to our heart's content and voicing our fanship to the extent that we are fans (i.e., no obligations for endorsing Spooky whatsoever).
Send your questions, comments, warnings, upbraidings, recipes, etc., etc., to normanswygert@mac.com --or-- just post them here for all to see.
Cheers,
Norm
