closing down sale at RDS

[rapiddescent]

hi everyone,

just a note to say that after 13 years, I've decided to call it day and stop selling proflex parts.  It has been a total blast.  in the early days myself and cliff rode around on 5" cross country bikes with out Long Travel kit - the journalists thought we were mad "who would want a 5" travel bike that's light and has 21 gears?"  We also sold spring upgrade kits for the girvin chubbie forks and a long travel kit for a Kona that I know that later bikes such as the Stab were based on.  It was only after meeting Mike "Hammer", a great guy from SW england who lives in Sweden - and more importantly - a brilliant engineer, that we sold disk brake kits for proflex frames and fabulously light - but fragile - formula disk brake systems!  In the last few years the COR spring range, named after corrine - my wife, have been selling extremely well and have given a lot of hilarity for the spring manufacturing firm who are more used to doing enormous springs for oil pipeline vales!  Perhaps my favourite part was when K2 Bike invited me to their opening ceremony at park City, Utah and I met the K2 worlds XC team, the president of K2 Bike, Bob Girvin and had a VIP trip to the site of the winter olympics (I'm also a skier).  there are many other highlights including the belt-driven 97 beast in my avatar picture.

I'm proud to say that we got about 6000 proflexes back on the trail over the years and I'm even more proud to say that we made pretty much no money on the whole venture over 13 years.  That was my favourite bit - doing this for the sheer joy of speaking to customers, manufacturers and designing parts.  However, I hardly ride any of the 4 proflexes I have anymore so it isn't quite as fun making parts for a bike that I don't ride.  Also, what must seem like a trivial thing - the UK government screwed up our national post office system thereby making it extremely time consuming to send international post.  I'd prefer to be riding, than standing in a post office queue!

I'm going to sell off the rest of the stock over the next month and slowly wind up our stock position.  I've got all sorts of very strange proflex/k2 things (such as workshop manuals, shocks) and all of these will go on ebay over the next 2 weeks.

You'll still see me on the trails - I'm the mtb committee member on our local bike club (that has over 200 members) and I'm entered in the singlespeed european championships riding my pimpy k2 razorback.  I mostly ride an orange 5 nowadays (a single pivot bike that proflex should have become)

thanks
callum

[Willie_B]

Hope you will still check in here to help keep us out and on the trails. Thanks for all you have done.

[orange]

 

Really really sad to hear this news. I've bought bits from you and have sent many, many people your way - you'll be sadly missed...

Any chance of a heads up to us loyal followers here what might be coming up for sale so we can have our trigger fingers ready?

Anything we can purchase before it goes to ebay?

[DugB]

Callum, I have only been a Proflex rider for a year or two now, but thanks to you (and the other knowledgeable folks on this list) for passing on all you've learned, and for making the parts to keep these bikes going. Either in knowledge/spirit or in parts there's probably a little bit of you in every well-maintained Proflex still on the road...certainly in those ridden by forum members.

So I guess this means we wont be seeing the x86/x57/1000/2000 rear shock adapter from RDS, huh? ;-)

Please do give us a shot at your PF bits, though, before they go to the barbarous hordes on eBay :-)

Thanks again for everything, and if you ever find yourself in Washington DC drop me a line...I have plenty of loaner bikes :-)

- Doug

[shovelon]

What's all this?

Hey thanks for all the work you did Callum

Terry

[rapiddescent]

thanks guys. 

sorry about the rp23 adapter.  I really wanted to do that one but it got set aside in the end for another bit of work that I'm doing.  What most of you didn't know  I wanted to make bike frames using a material based from carrots (it's like carbon fire)  but the investment cost was outside pocket money figures - its still quite specialised fabrication and I couldn't run the operation like a small custom frame manufacturer.  This was to be my attempt at following on from K2 Bike's carbon bike series.   

We did make carbon handle bars in 2001 but I never sold any because I just wasn't confident.  However, 9 years later, I'm still using mine and it's only 70grams.

[kiwi]

sad to hear Callum.have fun

[purple gerbil]

O.M.G   

Thank's for putting cyclists like myself back on the road.......

If it was'nt for you i wouldnt have bought my old girl without knowing about RDS..

[Spokes]

Sad news but I wish you all the very best.
It was through RDS I found this site and I have purchased springs and disc adapters from you which are priceless.
Callum your knowledge of Proflex/K2 and its history will be greatly missed.
Best of luck in future

Chris

[Simon]

Sad day, though I'm into the vintage mx scene I do still pop in from time to time,proud to say I was a very very smalll help with the COR spring.
Thanks for all you've done.
Good luck for the future.

[doctorsimpson]

Just wanted to give my thanks as well.  Looks like I picked up my COR spring just in time. Thanks Callum for all you've done for me and all those Pro-Flex loyalists out there.
Iain

[Thunderchild]

Oh man!...  So sad, but thanks for all that you have done for ProFlex MTbers.

Thunderchild
www.urmb.org

[sammydog]

Sad to see you go.

Guess I had better pull my finger out and order some spares for the 854 before it becomes relegated to wall art far too early in its life.

[rapiddescent]

if anyone wants anything let me know.  I am going to switch off the purchasing on the website next week - but I still have most things in stock.

[whisperdancer]

I was of those who came to the forum through RDS page.

What do you have besides what's on the RDS page? Any proflex parts?