Craig Calfee's side of the story

As Carbon Fiber takes hold Calfee "could have dominated the marke
supplying what we bent folk need in parts and accessories fo
various bents. This is market Calfee just closed the door on fo
years to come.

If its such a great market then why did'nt Freddy take the piece he wa
offered, better yet start his own company with his own money instead o
expecting someone else to pay him for his name? From the outside i
looks to me like Freddy was expecting a payday without wanting to tak
any risks with his own money


-

"my proposed deal was well in excess of the $X per year minimum"

I like this wording. I get so excited when someone offers me
"well in excess of the minimum."

Calfee's next big sale: HUGE DISCOUNTS!!!
(on all our recently
marked up inventory)



"Craig Calfee" wrote in message
om...
Yes, it is true that Freddy and I have parted ways. I am saddened by
this turn of events and wish it did not happen. I had high hopes for
our collaboration.

Last year, Freddy came to me with the idea to have Calfee produce a
carbon LWB recumbent based on the Easy Racers Gold Rush design.
Freddy said if I can build it, he can sell it. I said that sounds
like a great idea but I don't have much time to manage the project. I
could do the design work and finance the project, but I would need
someone to do the footwork. Freddy agreed to be that person and would
be compensated on an hourly basis. We both saw Freddy's main value in
the selling of these bikes. The real payback for him would come when
we were in production and he would make a decent commission on every
sale. The amount of that commission would be determined later, when
we had an idea of what it was going to cost to make the bikes. Freddy
had a certain figure in mind at the beginning. I said that I really
hope that the profit margin would allow for such an amount. There was
no agreement about the specific amount, just the idea that he would be
paid on commission basis.

I designed the bike using the Gold Rush seating position to start
with. Freddy's contribution to the Stiletto design was to suggest
Gardner Martin's classic seating position. I designed the new
steering arrangement, the frame construction technique, the fiber
orientation, the passive suspension, the fairing mount method, the
modified aero fork and 80 mm spacing on the Phil hub, the production
tooling and the handlebar arrangements. Freddy test rode the bike and
declared it good.

Just prior to Interbike in October, when we had to determine a price,
Freddy and I sat down to negotiate the commission. We had most of the
costs except labor figured out. It looke like we would have to raise
the price of the bikes substantially if either of us was going to make
any money. Even with a serious price increase, Freddy's commission
was not looking like what he had hoped for at the beginning. He said
he hoped to be able to at least make $X per year, which was a
reasonable number.

We continued to refine the production and supply issues and in
January, shipped the first bikes. We had a good enough estimate as to
the labor costs. In early February, we sat down again to negotiate a
commission arrangement. Freddy insisted on his original amount and I
proposed a lesser amount based on what a top level independant sales
rep would make (but we would still pay his expenses, unlike real
independant reps). That wasn't good enough, so I offered significant
profit sharing of the whole business (not just in recumbents). Based
on Freddy's own estimates of what he believed he could sell, my
proposed deal was well in excess of the $X per year minimum figure he
had in mind just before Interbike. If there was going to be any
growth in sales, Freddy would get even more. He would be the most
highly paid person at Calfee Design. But that wasn't good enough.

Freddy walked out of my office and I assumed he was going to think
about it. But instead, he decided to quit and take the tooling with
him. Under threat of having him arrested, he brought the tooling
back. To me, this demonstrated poor judgement and emotional
instability on Freddy's part and I could not tolerate that in my
business. As had been his pattern at other jobs, Freddy asked to come
back and try to work things out. I decided against it.

In prior times, I might have overlooked this behavior and figured
something out. But I need to lift my business to a more professional
level and not demonstrate to the rest of my employees that a person
can behave like this and still remained employed here.

There is a chance that Freddy and I can come to some agreement on an
endorsement level, but I am not very optimistic about it at this
point.

We will continue with the Stiletto and eventually a SWB bike (which is
why couldn't continue to sell components to Karl Swanson). We will
continue to make the frames at the highest quality and with a full
warranty. I am personally very excited about the Stiletto and it has
replaced my Dragonfly as my favorite bike to ride.

I have no personal animosity towards Freddy and wish him the best in
whatever he strives for. I wish I could have managed his expectations
better or somehow convinced him of the practicalities of this low
profit margin business. This is a lesson I will not forget.

Craig Calfee

"my proposed deal was well in excess of the $X per year minimum"

I like this wording. I get so excited when someone offers me "well in
excess of the minimum."

Calfee's next big sale: HUGE DISCOUNTS!!!
(on all our recently
marked up inventory)

"Craig Calfee" wrote in message
om...
Yes, it is true that Freddy and I have parted ways. I am saddened by
this turn of events and wish it did not happen. I had high hopes for
our collaboration.

Last year, Freddy came to me with the idea to have Calfee produce a
carbon LWB recumbent based on the Easy Racers Gold Rush design.
Freddy said if I can build it, he can sell it. I said that sounds
like a great idea but I don't have much time to manage the project. I
could do the design work and finance the project, but I would need
someone to do the footwork. Freddy agreed to be that person and would
be compensated on an hourly basis. We both saw Freddy's main value in
the selling of these bikes. The real payback for him would come when
we were in production and he would make a decent commission on every
sale. The amount of that commission would be determined later, when
we had an idea of what it was going to cost to make the bikes. Freddy
had a certain figure in mind at the beginning. I said that I really
hope that the profit margin would allow for such an amount. There was
no agreement about the specific amount, just the idea that he would be
paid on commission basis.

I designed the bike using the Gold Rush seating position to start
with. Freddy's contribution to the Stiletto design was to suggest
Gardner Martin's classic seating position. I designed the new
steering arrangement, the frame construction technique, the fiber
orientation, the passive suspension, the fairing mount method, the
modified aero fork and 80 mm spacing on the Phil hub, the production
tooling and the handlebar arrangements. Freddy test rode the bike and
declared it good.

Just prior to Interbike in October, when we had to determine a price,
Freddy and I sat down to negotiate the commission. We had most of the
costs except labor figured out. It looke like we would have to raise
the price of the bikes substantially if either of us was going to make
any money. Even with a serious price increase, Freddy's commission
was not looking like what he had hoped for at the beginning. He said
he hoped to be able to at least make $X per year, which was a
reasonable number.

We continued to refine the production and supply issues and in
January, shipped the first bikes. We had a good enough estimate as to
the labor costs. In early February, we sat down again to negotiate a
commission arrangement. Freddy insisted on his original amount and I
proposed a lesser amount based on what a top level independant sales
rep would make (but we would still pay his expenses, unlike real
independant reps). That wasn't good enough, so I offered significant
profit sharing of the whole business (not just in recumbents). Based
on Freddy's own estimates of what he believed he could sell, my
proposed deal was well in excess of the $X per year minimum figure he
had in mind just before Interbike. If there was going to be any
growth in sales, Freddy would get even more. He would be the most
highly paid person at Calfee Design. But that wasn't good enough.

Freddy walked out of my office and I assumed he was going to think
about it. But instead, he decided to quit and take the tooling with
him. Under threat of having him arrested, he brought the tooling
back. To me, this demonstrated poor judgement and emotional
instability on Freddy's part and I could not tolerate that in my
business. As had been his pattern at other jobs, Freddy asked to come
back and try to work things out. I decided against it.

In prior times, I might have overlooked this behavior and figured
something out. But I need to lift my business to a more professional
level and not demonstrate to the rest of my employees that a person
can behave like this and still remained employed here.

There is a chance that Freddy and I can come to some agreement on an
endorsement level, but I am not very optimistic about it at this
point.

We will continue with the Stiletto and eventually a SWB bike (which is
why couldn't continue to sell components to Karl Swanson). We will
continue to make the frames at the highest quality and with a full
warranty. I am personally very excited about the Stiletto and it has
replaced my Dragonfly as my favorite bike to ride.

I have no personal animosity towards Freddy and wish him the best in
whatever he strives for. I wish I could have managed his expectations
better or somehow convinced him of the practicalities of this low
profit margin business. This is a lesson I will not forget.

Craig Calfee

"EVSolutions" wrote in message
...
I have wondered myself to what extent (if any) this will impact on the one
person who dares to buy and ride a Calfee made bent. My own feeling is
that
the person will be as popular as a hooker with T-B and SARS in a brothel.

Ha, ha. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a single person within 100
miles of me who has even heard of this controversy.

Dare I suggest you are overdramatizing, just a tad?

Who me overdramatizing something?
Probably so...but it has been an unusually slow month and even the smallest
morssel of gossip is newsworthy.
Sometimes ARBR behaves like a bunch of old women at the backyard fence
exchanging the latest news about who did what to whom and why.
The notion that a maker of DF bikes who admitted he knew nothing about
recumbents, would then take a position against one of our own was just too
good to pass up.
T'is them or us pardner. Simple Bent folk being pushed out of the picture by
a DF bike maker...the shame of it all, but NOT unexpected for we all know
they never liked us anyway. Riding faster up hills than us while showing us
their tight firm buttocks in their skin tight Lycra Hot Pants...not that I
would notice you understand.

I personally hope everyone kisses and makes up before hostages are taken. In
my world the Calfee Stiletto is DOA without the blessing of Fast Freddie and
therefore Craig has to take the 1st step to make all this right again (get
everything in writing this time guys).

Joshua
*****

"TimH" wrote in message
...

"EVSolutions" wrote in message
...
I have wondered myself to what extent (if any) this will impact on the
one
person who dares to buy and ride a Calfee made bent. My own feeling is
that
the person will be as popular as a hooker with T-B and SARS in a
brothel.

Ha, ha. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a single person within
100
miles of me who has even heard of this controversy.

Dare I suggest you are overdramatizing, just a tad?

give me a break, if the bike is fast and well made, nobody will care if
was made in collaboration with Osama Bin Laden.

EVSolutions wrote:
I have wondered myself to what extent (if any) this will impact on the one
person who dares to buy and ride a Calfee made bent. My own feeling is that
the person will be as popular as a hooker with T-B and SARS in a brothel. My
feeling is the person be shunned by other bent riders. To buy a Calfee
recumbent is supporting a company that behaved badly towards Karl and Fred.
.
"TimH" wrote in message
...

"EVSolutions" wrote in message
om...

This is market Calfee just closed the door on for years to come.


Time will tell if you're right. I'm more of the mind that if Craig

markets

some nice recumbent products, buyers will come. Personally, I hope the

SWB

he has mentioned is going to be a high racer. He has a good reputation in
the DF world for making a fine product and standing behind it. Perhaps if

I

personally knew Freddy or Karl I would feel differently, but I don't.

"EVSolutions" wrote in message
.. .

T'is them or us pardner. Simple Bent folk being pushed out of the picture
by
a DF bike maker...the shame of it all, but NOT unexpected for we all know
they never liked us anyway.

I saw it another way - a DF maker, who is highly regarded amongst fast
DF'ers, embraces recumbents and we definitely take a big step forward
fueling the growth and acceptance of recumbancy. And also push the envelope
in manufacuring higher performance, lighter weight bents.

Oh Really

What you have now is a recumbent built by a DF maker who claims he knows
nothing about bents and the bent designer (Freddie) is saying the bent is
NOT complete, that more work on the design was needed before it is released.

Dunno, but if Dick Ryan designs a LWB and has it made in Taiwan...am pretty
sure Dick would go over ever bent with a magnifying glass before his name
and reputation goes on the bent.
IF Fred Markham is saying the Stiletto still needs more work before it ships
and the person making the bent is saying he knows squat about bents...I
cannot see a line up forming to buy that bent.

Question: IF the bent breakes apart, fork blade snaps etc., who gets sued?
Cannot be the designer (IF) he is saying the bent is not ready.
That leaves Craig Calfee alone.

"bentbiker" wrote in message
...
give me a break, if the bike is fast and well made, nobody will care if
was made in collaboration with Osama Bin Laden.

What you have now is a recumbent built by a DF maker who claims he know
nothing about bents and the bent designer (Freddie) is saying the ben
is NOT complete, that more work on the design was needed before it i
released.?

It seems to me that the bike was fine in Freddy's mind until he lost hi
job, then suddenly its not a very good bike


-

Didn't Fred say that after Interbike there where several issues about the
design he wanted to work on (before) the bent was finished. The idea was the
bent was not quite ready to go on sale when Fred walked out.

I suspect Fred would never be fully satisfied with any bent he is involved
with at the design level. This is one the other issues that Calfee would
have to deal with now that Fast Freddie has left the building Fast
Freddie would be wanting to refine and update the design and that won't
happen now.

I wonder if Fred and Karl have checked out the chap in Poland working in CF
that Mikael Seierup introduced ARBR to last year. Might give the 2 a good
excuse to take a european working vacation. Shipping would be a bitch, but
labor costs are lower and it opens up the American designed bents to the
european bent community.

I still feel Fred and Karl have Calfee by the short and curlies here and
Craig needs to Pucker Up and hope the 2 return to Calfee Designs. Failing a
reunion Fred & Karl need to shop for a new CF maker to connect with.

Personally I would just walk away from all this. Fred and Karl found they
could not deal with Calfee and that should be it...end of story.
IF Fred and Karl want to move forward with CF bents, seats and fairings,
then they need to find another bike frame maker working in CF.

Joshua
*****
"watsonglenn" wrote in message
...
What you have now is a recumbent built by a DF maker who claims he knows
nothing about bents and the bent designer (Freddie) is saying the bent
is NOT complete, that more work on the design was needed before it is
released.?

It seems to me that the bike was fine in Freddy's mind until he lost his
job, then suddenly its not a very good bike.



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