Ax Lightness - no more! -Not so much, read page 2 respond by Nils

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RussellS
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:31 am

by RussellS

cyclespeed wrote:I love my AX saddles to bits. I don't know what I'd do without them. I would definitely buy up at least 1 more if I saw one for sold cheap.


You pretty much explained exactly why AX is no longer in the bike business. People demand high quality. Demand it!!!! But want it for free or real cheap. Not always, but usually, cheap and quality are mutually exclusive.

jano
Posts: 151
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:15 pm

by jano

This week I bought my first Ax product, the Ergo 4200 Handlebars, wonderful piece of carbon fiber technology.
I had planned to buy some more stuff from them, sad to hear they will stop production.

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mrtkcmz
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by mrtkcmz

terrible news. never had one but a huge fan of them.

NiFTY
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by NiFTY

If fhis is true it is a great loss for the ww community. Have a set of ultra 25t and they have been excellent.
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Alfonso
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 7:49 pm

by Alfonso

It is a sad news for those of us who like light, quality and exclusive material.
It's a shame that manufacturers and stores of light material such as BTP, concept64, veloflyte, Ax lightness, etc. disappear. Hopefully good manufacturers of this type of material, such as Berk, kevosinn, etc ...
I've been using this kind of material for years on my light bikes and I'm very happy with all of them.

sp3000
Posts: 180
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Location: Sydney

by sp3000

I believe Nils from Ax will respond to this thread soon, word is it is only their distribution that will change to a direct model.

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cyclespeed
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by cyclespeed

RussellS wrote:
cyclespeed wrote:I love my AX saddles to bits. I don't know what I'd do without them. I would definitely buy up at least 1 more if I saw one for sold cheap.


You pretty much explained exactly why AX is no longer in the bike business. People demand high quality. Demand it!!!! But want it for free or real cheap. Not always, but usually, cheap and quality are mutually exclusive.


That's not really what I meant.

I paid full retail for 2 of my AX saddles and picked up a third 2nd hand for a good discount.

I just mean that if as suggested on this thread, people start selling AX stuff off cheap, I for one, am a buyer!

reedplayer
Posts: 805
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:10 am

by reedplayer

the only ax-product i used are engage gavial brakes. the worst brakes i ever owned. i am using those on my tt, braking force much to bad for a bike being used in the mountain area.

RussellS
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:31 am

by RussellS

cyclespeed wrote:I just mean that if as suggested on this thread, people start selling AX stuff off cheap, I for one, am a buyer!


And why are people going to start selling AX stuff off cheap? Did it instantly become junk or worthless or non functioning the instant AX said they are not making it anymore? If that had any logic at all, I would have to instantly sell every bike I own. Because NONE of the nine bikes and all their parts I ride have ANY products being currently produced today. By your "logic" everything that is not currently in production is defective and bad.

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jimaizumi
Posts: 717
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:48 am

by jimaizumi

I can't find the reasoning for anybody to sell items off just because the respective company shuts down. If anything, it makes one care for their items much more granted the absence of any real service to repair/replace.

As an owner of several brands of high end boutique parts, I've noticed that most items, if sold, tend to hold their value and can't see any pot holes where users intentionally conduct a fire sale just to rid themselves of parts.

Thats just me tho..
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Dilbert
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by Dilbert

Sad. I aspired to get some of their stuff for my road bike.

sp3000
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Location: Sydney

by sp3000

Dilbert wrote:Sad. I aspired to get some of their stuff for my road bike.


You still can, as I said in an earlier post, Benotti will sell directly via their store, they just won't be selling through distributors anymore.

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cyclespeed
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Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:45 am

by cyclespeed

RussellS wrote:
cyclespeed wrote:I just mean that if as suggested on this thread, people start selling AX stuff off cheap, I for one, am a buyer!


And why are people going to start selling AX stuff off cheap? Did it instantly become junk or worthless or non functioning the instant AX said they are not making it anymore? If that had any logic at all, I would have to instantly sell every bike I own. Because NONE of the nine bikes and all their parts I ride have ANY products being currently produced today. By your "logic" everything that is not currently in production is defective and bad.


Wow, chill out. It wasn't me that said that, it was some other bloke on Page 1.

sp3000
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Location: Sydney

by sp3000

The whole thread can chill out, it's all cool, Ax are not going anywhere.. I hate to use the term, but, fake news..

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pk0r
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by pk0r

Thanks already for the clarification sp3000!

ax is definitely not gone as the topic suggests nor do we have any intention to do so, actually in fact quite the contrary as we are currently setting up a new and much larger facility - still in Germany of course as this is our driving philosophy! This allows us to use technology that is not possible in a mass production, e.g. already down to the processes, variations of fiber angles, autoclaves, or very specialized raw materials.
Of course even the new factory we won't ever make us go the mass production way, but this simply is not our goal or philosophy either. The new factory however will allow us a higher efficiency in production, fast reaction times and also a better scaling.
We do not want to cut back on our technological level and the most recent test results, be it in Tour-Magazin, Rennrad or Procycling prove us right here with several test wins. At the same time tests as in Tour-Magazin also too well show how unique a German or non-Asian production are nowadays with us having been the only company in the "art of German engineering" special to in fact produce here (in Germany) as well with Storck, Canyon, Lightweight all producing in the Far East. Not our approach as said.



That said the technology does come at its costs. With everything being conducted in house with us, starting with the engineering, over to the testing and finally also the production, the downside are high production costs (which already suffocates the idea of a mass production model).
In order to still keep a competitive price level and not demand crazy prices such as 9000 EUR for a frameset, we are going the step to a direct distribution and won't be selling through LBS any longer. There will still be a couple of distributors around the world, but at least for Europe we will be selling directly. This allows to bring the leadtime down for a customer as well as to get the better service (as quite honestly there had only been a handful of shops anyways who have really been stocking our products).
We will also launcha very unique full insurance policy which will show how much we stand behind our products and how much you can trust them. There has been A LOT of work in the past 20 months with us - to the better for sure.


Nils Wiedemann
Factory Manager
ax-lightness composites GmbH & Co KG

TLTR: ax is NOT out of business, but extending their production. At the same time they are going the step to a direct distribution.
| works for an European bike manufacturer |
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