"Chris" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> "Voodoo owner" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
> > I own a Voodoo_cycle. I recently noticed the company took down their website. Are they out of
> > Business?
>
> They are no longer producing bikes, which is a shame,
Interesting thing about "production" is that a company like Voodoo can produce bikes with out ever
producing a frame. The early (non-powder coated) hardtails were produced in the Toyo factory (same
place they tig up Ritchey's). The later hardtails were produced by Altitude Cycle Technologies (Jeff
Lindsay), the Canzo's were produces by Tom Teesdale, and the ti production was done by A-Pro
Titanium (the parent company to both Titec and Voodoo).
> but they didn't "go under" in the traditional we-have-no-more-money sense. As I understand it,
> another bike company - some cog in the large wheel of a huge conglomerate - decided they wanted to
> call a bike Voodoo, and wrote Joe Murray a hefty check for all rights to the name.
Joe Murray never owned the company or the name. For that matter, he was cut loose from the company
before the last year of production. Joe Murray's input in Voodoo was as a designer. Similar to his
work at Fisher and his time at Kona, he came up with base designs that were put into production by a
larger parent company.
In fact, it was Bontrager severing ties with Titec that formed the foundation of Voodoo. When
Bontrager separated from Titec (This is about the time that Tom Morran left Bontrager and started
heading up Titec), A-Pro (also maker of the A&A BMX Frames of the 70's and 80's) went looking for a
"Name" designer. Joe Murray got the job. The Voodoo concept grew from Joe Murray's knowledge of
design, and the parent company's desire to get into the mountain bike market.
Voodoo opened its first "Headquarters" in the "Creamery Building" in downtown Palo Alto. This was
just down the Street from Wheelsmith Inc. and Palo Alto Bicycles. The Head of Sales was Roark
Schultz, and the "Cabin boy" (the character who turned Murray's designs into reality) was Eli Secor.
Much of the "Sunk works" stuff was handled by Dan Diaz in Flagstaff.
When Titec moved to new digs in San Jose, the facilities were designed to be large enough to house
both Titec and Voodoo. Unfortunately the move also spelled the end of the original management team.
Roark went to grad school (MBA), Eli went to GT, Flavia (top in sales) bought a farm in Northern
California and moved there with her girlfriend, and Dan Diaz just got fired .... Last I heard he was
still in Flag.
Voodoo's parent company quickly ushered in a new management team, but Voodoo never got the market
share that the parent company wanted. The warehouse space as well as the funding that created Voodoo
was shifted to Titec. Titec had already become a major factor in the OE end of the industry.
> Instead of reestablishing a frame company, Murray apparently gave it up.
Joe Murray was the designer, he didn't own the company, nor did he own the name.
Murray was at Interbike 2003 with a 1sp frame under the working name "Sublime". It is a very
interesting design, but I haven't seen it in production anywhere.
The sad part of Voodoo's demise is that it wasn't for lack of a great product, or for poor marketing
.... Voodoo died because of some bean counter's vision of market share.
Sorry if the story is over simplified, but I have to go ride.
Regards
Reco
(I had to do something after the U.S. Government got done with me)