tuxbailey

https://www.competitivecyclist.com/wh...pdate.433.html

I shall hang on to my Extralight for a very long time.

patentcad

This doesn't surprise or bother me one tiny bike weenie bit.

mihlbach

All the ti weenies are buying motobecanes.

mconlonx 

I think "The Death of Titanium" is slightly overblow. Sounds like "The Death of Steel" -- now that Ti is not the latest, greatest, and more specifically lightest, popularity is going to fall, but it will maintain its fans. Maybe not at the semi mass production as Merlin at its heyday, or Lightspeed for that matter, but with a small cadre who love the Ti niche. Merlin and Lightspeed size operations, maybe not, but IF spawned Firefly bikes, and when I visited IF last year, they still seemed to be moving a decent amount of Ti bikes through their workshop.

datlas 

Steel is still viable too.

krooj

That letter sounds like an excuse.

RUOkie

To me as well. They decided not to go forward with production because they were not allowed to display the bike at a show?

If they wanted to go forward they could have, given their distribution network.

topflightpro

I have to agree with the line about Moots.

jfmckenna

Maybe bikesdirect will pick up the brand

I never liked how they engraved their logo's into the frame. Otherwise they seemed like nice frames.

surgeonstone

I have been riding the Merlin Ti/CF Lunaris for 8 years now and have never been happier with a bike ( of course I am fairly low maintenance and recognize that buying stuff for the sake of buying stuff will not make me happy). But this bike does make me happy.... very, very happy. And so I see no foreseeable need for another bike within the next 10-20 years. This may very well then, be my last bike.
I have been riding this bike through everything and anything, rain, snow, salt. It is still equipped with it's original Campy Record group and it still operates flawlessly.
For me then, the news is of very little importance.
I am though, a little sad that others will not get the opportunity to experience the beauty and ride of this bike.
C'est l vie!

MegaTom

That's the gist of what I gathered from the statement...

AngryScientist 

its an excuse to throw in the towel. they got in over their heads, especially considering their recent takeover. sad, but i'd rather see the name retire with dignity than to go the way of offshore produced, inexpensive crap.

RIP Merlin.

pallen

very true. sad to see them go though.

BillyD

"what differentiated Merlin was its approach to Ti, not Ti in itself. Its key distinction in the market was its commitment to amazing quality. "




I don't anticipate EVER giving up my Cyrene, either.

pallen

That might be what did them in. I would say that is pretty typical of Merlin owners. They buy a Merlin and keep it forever. A thriving bike brand needs you "upgrading" every few years.

surgeonstone

And that is what makes the CF bikes so good, they just keep breaking!

FrenchFit 

Disposable clothes, cars, computers, homes, marriages, pensions, bicycles. A consumer society doesn't want things that aren't designed to be spent & replaced.

Can you imagine the ad in Bicycle Magazine "The last bike you'll ever buy." ..talk about DOA.

BillyD

Exactly!

Disposable bikes, planned obsolescence.

BillyD

But I digress.

I'd like to see this thread remain on track and not degrade into a bike materials slugfest.

LAJ

May not hurt to take a picture of it with your Kodak camera.

Macster

Ha ha. Cute! Very funny! You have just confirmed Frenchfit's ^^^ observation on rampant consumerism. It's like people just like to spend money because they got it to spend, like it's burning a hole in their pocket. If you buy quality the first time you can then spend that "extra" money on something else instead of the latest and so-called greatest.

mpath

+1.

Another case of history repeating itself. Two hundred years ago the Luddites rebelled and lost. Now we pay a premium for handmade. Tongue and groove furniture is completely lost on Ikea shoppers.

ColinL

Not sure about the breakable being part of it, but certainly carbon frames are perceived as 'still improving'. We can debate how much of carbon frame updates are cosmetic, trivial (50 grams less weight, etc) or impactful (stiffer BB, better bump absorption, etc) but one thing that isn't debateable is that carbon frames are still changing in appearance and shape.

Titanium and steel bikes looked the same for a long, long time because the geometry was well proven and the material didn't allow funny shapes like carbon.

This is what caused the slow refresh in Titanium and steel compared to carbon.

save10

meh.....

Rutnick

The owner of competitive cyclist bought Merlin around two years ago. Last year, he sold competitive cyclists to backcountry.com which moved competitive cyclists from their awesome home in Arkansas to Utah and left employees behind while they trailered up their inventory and move it to Utah.


The REAL reason would be (if you read between the lines) is that backcountry didn't want to fool with the pet project of the previous owner.

And whatever about the death of Ti. Linskey is doing well and they were the heart of litespeed anyway. Linskey did more in year one of operation regarding Ti than the last few years of litespeed. Litespeed got stale when the founders (Linskey) sold out.