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Fox Factory Holdings Buys Race Face & Easton Component Brands

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Looks like Fox is using some of that IPO money for something fun, acquiring Race Face and Easton Cycling.

Race Face owner Chris Tutton reopened the brand in 2011 after the original ownership brought them close to bankruptcy. Then,  earlier this year, Tutton purchased the Easton Cycling branch of Bell/Riddell/Giro. Since then, the products from both brands have been pretty stellar, in particular the Cinch cranks from Race Face, which must have presented a very attractive package for a brand that might want to add some carbon fiber to their offerings (or, at least, we can hope!). Fox fork with carbon crown and steerer anyone?

Full PR after the break…

PRESS RELEASE: Burnaby, BC – December 5th, 2014 – Race Face Performance Products Ltd and Easton Cycling President, Chris Tutton, announces the sale of both cycling brands to Fox Factory Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FOXF) (“FOX”).

“FOX is the perfect fit for Race Face/Easton. All three brands complement each other with our distinct high-performance product lines,” said Chris Tutton, President of Race Face/Easton. “The added operations, marketing, and engineering support from FOX will allow us to innovate faster while remaining focused on our core businesses.”

“We are very excited to complete the Race Face/Easton acquisition and welcome their team to the FOX family,” stated Larry L. Enterline, FOX’s Chief Executive Officer. “This transaction demonstrates the execution of our strategic initiatives to increase FOX’s product penetration into both existing and adjacent product categories to help drive our bike sales and profitability long-term. We look forward to leveraging our global marketing, engineering, distribution, and supply chain resources to collectively develop next-generation, high-performance bicycle ride dynamics solutions.”

Race Face / Easton operations will remain at the current Burnaby location with Tutton at the helm into the forseeable future. No changes to the operation are planned.

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KJR
KJR
9 years ago

By Chris Sutton, I’m sure you guys mean Chris Tutton, right?

buttmonger
buttmonger
9 years ago

RIP RaceFace.

Kyle
Kyle
9 years ago

RaceFace has some of the best customer service… FOX has, hands down, the worst ( all in my own experience and opinion ). Lets hope RaceFace compliments the other in this situation. If not, buttmonger, I am with you.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
9 years ago

Ugh…public cycling companies seem to always pander to the lowest common denominator. If feels like were back in the 90’s when all the companies thought it would be brilliant to hire outside the cycling industry for heaving hitting exec’s. That was a horrible mistake. Here’s to hoping Race Face survives with its ethos intact.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
9 years ago

Funny story to go with my above comment. I had one of said “exec’s” hold a meeting to tell us he had the next great idea. We had introduced a Campagnolo compatible rear wheel to our lineup at the time and it was selling out faster than we could make it. His big idea was to corner the market on “Campy FRONT wheels”…never laughed to myself so hard in my life.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
9 years ago

Took freaking forever to reign him in and explain to him that it would never work too, still not sure he understood why.

Turtlehead
Turtlehead
9 years ago

RIP race face.

The good news is I now don’t have to spend my money on some cinch cranks.

Also, does this mean easton fork crowns will now start creaking?

ken
ken
9 years ago

what about giro belll Blackburn and the other astonn affiliated companies

Patrick
Patrick
9 years ago

Goodness…. When am I going to get my Easton race wheels fixed?!? Under warranty and the rear blew apart in June. My LBS has been contacting them monthly and it’s been nothing but excuses (and wheel rentals) this entire time.

Damien
Damien
9 years ago

Having worked in the industry for 6 years, and being the guy generally responsible for warranties and shop parts, I can only say FXX K. Fox customer service is the most awful customer service to deal with. The worst! Between losing entire orders, being rude and condescending, etc. All I can hope is that Race Face & Easton, but especially Race Face, continue to uphold their amazing level of awesome customer service.

And I still want a Next SL crank. It will now probably creak though……..

Ventruck
Ventruck
9 years ago

My RaceFace Cadence was starting to creak and loosen this week. A replacement Ultegra set is on the way, but the RF set was solid for its 8 years. Personally loved the X-Type removal system.

hellbelly
hellbelly
9 years ago

I have been a RF fan for years. I wish them well with their new keepers and hope they maintain their high level of customer service and innovation. Who knows? Maybe some of it will flow up to Fox Shocks too.

kc
kc
9 years ago

I hope RF doesn’t end up like their Canadian cousin Syncros.

judderston
judderston
9 years ago

Can’t understand the love for the RaceFace cinch cranks? X-type was great, been riding Deus SL’s for years, not missed a beat… The new ones use the awful FSA type flower shaped interface which sucks to the point of being utterly useless! Seen a lot of these fail (even on youth riders bikes) at races in the last couple of years, they’re rubbish, can’t think why RF use it.

jooo
jooo
9 years ago

Sounds like a load of rubbish to me. The 30mm spindle that RF have chosen to use has already been proven to work just great on SRAM and Cannondale cranks (@judderston)

Colin Theobald
Colin Theobald
9 years ago

Why is fox using a Wolf as a mascot?

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