LEOMINSTER, MA (BRAIN)—Northern California-based The Hive, known for its cranksets and hubs, has bought E.Thirteen, which was owned by suspension guru Dave Weagle. The Massachusetts-based company is best known for its chain retention systems.
“Dave actually approached us,” said Chris Costello, director of sales at The Hive. “He wanted to focus on suspension. He’s got a lot of different projects going on.”
Costello said the E.Thirteen purchase made sense on many levels including brand awareness. “E.Thirteen has a strong brand following,” Costello said. E.Thirteen also has a powerful lineup of international distributors, which The Hive doesn’t have. “That is one of the biggest things The Hive will get out of this,” Costello said.
The Hive provides resources of its own including a strong team when it comes to engineering, sourcing and supply chain.
“The voids each company has each company fills very well,” said Costello, adding that The Hive caters more to the XC crowd while E.Thirteen the gravity rider.
Moreover, with Weagle out of the picture, there should be no more conflict of interest when it comes to E.Thirteen product being spec’d on certain brands.
“There have definitely been brands that haven’t used E.Thirteen because of the success of my suspension platforms,” Weagle said. Weagle launched E.Thirteen about 10 years ago.
Weagle said he really wants to get back to being a designer and fabricator and said he’s “got a million ideas” running through his head. The man known for his dw-link suspension design is focused on his newest one called Split Pivot, which is his concentric dropout pivot linkage suspension system. He just received a patent on it on May 18, he said.
Smaller brands like Seven Cycles and Spooky Bikes will feature new Split Pivot suspension on upcoming models, according to Weagle, with some bigger brands doing the same this summer, although these licensing announcements haven’t been made public yet, Weagle said.
Weagle said he’s also about to get a patent on a new moto specific suspension design called Orion. He’s even got ideas beyond suspension including a trailer hitch lock. “I’m going to build,” Weagle said. “I’m going to get back to fabricating again.”
Costello said the most immediate changes retailers and consumers will see is a rebranding of certain products. Current Fifteen.G cranks will be rebranded as E.Thirteen. Also, The Hive will have additional product offerings under the E-Thirteen off-road Phylum—both gravity and XC. The Hive product now consists of E.Thirteen Offroad, Chub Wheelgoods and Revi Road. E.Thirteen will also be coming out with a platform pedal in the very near future, Costello said. The Hive, which was launched in 2008, also acts as the U.S. distributor for Formula Disc Brakes.
Costello said E.Thirteen’s sales and service will eventually move to the West Coast, while the rest of E.Thirteen will stay in place in Massachusetts. E.Thirteen product is all made in Massachusetts, according to Costello.
This is the second company Weagle has sold in the last two years. In 2008, Weagle sold Evil Bikes to a friend of his, Kevin Walsh, who still owns the company that’s based out of Seattle.
—Jason Norman
jnorman@bicycleretailer.com
