Video: Ellsworth is reborn
Update: September 23, 2015
We caught up with Ellsworth at Interbike and found a whole new crew that was energized to be there. New branding and new bikes gave them a fresh look for the season. Though excited, they were well aware that they had a lot of work to do ahead of them. The bikes have been updated but not revamped. New bikes, new rear ends and linkages are all being engineered behind the scenes and it doesn’t happen overnight. But they’re setting the groundwork to bring back manufacturing of the rear ends back to San Diego next year, then a complete bike after that.
The new Plus bike from Ellsworth was a hot commodity at the Interbike Outdoor Demo (click to enlarge).
Bikes were really popular to take out in the Bootleg Canyon testing grounds specially this Epiphany Plus bike. It’s one of the exciting new categories Ellsworth is able to pursue. And Plus bikes seem to do really well in these loose, sandy and rocky conditions.
The linkage is now stronger and lighter (click to enlarge).
Published: September 13, 2015
BST Nano Carbon, a design and composites manufacturer, acquired Ellsworth in September 2014 and set forth a series of events to put Ellsworth in a competitive position in the bike industry. Expert in carbon, Ellsworth is getting ready to begin manufacturing carbon frames in its San Diego facility.
We talked to Marketing Manager Ryan Johnson and he was excited to tell us about a huge influx of new hires in the design and engineering team. Couple that with a new management team and he feels good about their ability to create exciting and competitive products in quickly and support them with a great dealer network.
This motorcycle fender manufactured by BST is an example of their carbon fiber prowess (click to enlarge).
They want to put a hold on all the carbon outsourcing so prevalent in the industry as they set the ground work for manufacturing new carbon designs in their San Diego Facility right here in the U.S of A. Prototyping lead times will be cut drastically and lead times and shipping times will be much improved. Lots of enthusiastic American employees too will be gladly creating future Ellsworth bikes.
A worker for BST owned Aztek paddle creates a paddle according to customer’s specifications (click to enlarge).
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