LAS VEGAS (BRAIN) — Jason Faircloth, a former vice president at Marin Bikes, is launching a new company selling Whyte brand bikes consumer direct in the U.S. Whyte is a U.K.-based brand that's been around since 1999.
Faircloth's company, Whyte Bikes USA, launched its e-commerce site, whyteusa.bike, on Wednesday morning. The site will offer 11 models of mountain and cyclocross bikes, ranging in price from $1,100 for a youth mountain bike to $5,500 for a 130mm travel carbon trail bike with Deore XT components. Sales will begin next month.
Faircloth was with Marin for 11 years and was the company's vice president of product development by the time he left in early 2014. Since then he's consulted with several companies on design and engineering.
Whyte Bikes is a brand of ATB Sales LTD, a U.K. distributor. ATB Sales was Marin's U.K. distributor until 2013; the company also consulted with Marin on bike design. "We go way back," Faircloth told BRAIN on Wednesday.
Whyte will fully assemble, tune and test ride the bikes at its California warehouse before partially disassembling them and shipping to consumers. The bikes will ship with a small tool kit and an assembly how-to video.
Faircloth plans to establish a program next year to ship bikes to participating shops for assembly and delivery. He said he's also open to selling bikes through shops if there is interest.
"I like shops; I've worked with shops for a long time. And I'm a retailer too, now. But I don't think at the moment that shops need any more brands," Faircloth said.
