FBM Enters Complete Bike Market – An Interview With John Paul Rogers: May 21, 2008

RockstarRider

• May 21 2008
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• 3 comments

Last week FBM announced and launched their first-ever line of complete bikes. We chatted with the main guy behind the complete line to find out more about their bikes and how they came into existence. Knowledge is power.

Click here to see the complete list of FBM completes along with their specs on fbmbmx.com.

What was the driving force behind the decision to enter the complete bikes market?
FBM wants to be a well-rounded bike company. I think Chris Moeller’s (Owner of S&M/Fit) success with the Fit completes opened the door for all the smaller guys to be taken serious with the overseas vendors, and by bike shops as well. Also, it will separate us from the 75 other BMX companies fighting the mail order grind. Anyone with a computer and the Internet can start a company, completes are a little more involved.

The Executioner is the lowest model in the lineup with a MSRP of $313.

When you first posted the bikes on your site you mentioned that it was a long, crazy process to get the bikes from concept to a reality. Explain some of the steps you had to take to get the first batch of completes delivered.
Coming up with the model names and graphic direction was one of the first steps. You look at the project in a broad scope, a large platform filled with individual pieces you want to use. Then you place them in order. From there, you focus in on every detail of every piece of the puzzle from spec to colors and graphics to price point and everything in between. Sometimes it takes a week to figure out what weapon goes on what head tube graphic, at the end of the week you realize you spent a whole week obsessing on head tube graphic weapons and you’re a kook.

Your bikes range from around $310-$715, how did you decide what price points to get them at and what parts to put on them?
Price points suck. It’s the most restricting factor. Actually, it’s the only factor. You figure out what materials and parts you want to use, you add up the cost, and if it’s not where it needs to be, you start hacking away. Spending an extra 17 cents on something gives our agent a heart attack. I think he’d rather get kicked in the balls.

We developed some proprietary stuff for our new brand Nice, and I tried to use branded parts from companies that I like and wanted to support. Animal, Shadow, Fly and Odyssey parts are on the bikes, which is awesome, but I’m more psyched on getting a Tioga Comp III on a model than anything else. That’s mainly because I’m old.

The Heathen clocks in at a modest MSRP of $374.

What are you most pleased with in regards to the completes? Is there anything you wish would have turned out better?
We paid attention to every little detail and I think it shows. Sure there are minor things, but overall we’re stoked. When will shops have these bikes and who else will carry them?
Last Call Distribution will get the bikes at the very beginning of August. Right now we are doing pre-books, and it’s going really well. All the mail orders will have them, as well as FBM dealers. Our international distributors have really stepped up to the plate with sizeable orders. It’s great, we never even see those bikes and a European kid ends up riding an awesome bike designed by dumb American rednecks that’s built in Taiwan. It’s the new American dream and we get to live it.

What were your first trips to Taiwan like when dealing with the vendors who do the completes for you?
I had avoided going over there for the past twenty years, but I had a good idea of what to expect. Right off the bat I’d mention I was friends with McGoo since I was a kid and almost everyone would tell a story about “The Crazy McGoo”, then I’d show them the Schwinn tattoo and they’d get giant grins on their face and start talking about making parts in the millions.

The first trip I met with a lot of vendors simply to meet as many people as possible and get a feel for the differences in what each of them has to offer. BMX barely exists in reality. It’s not remotely near where it was even in the mid to late nineties. Hardly anyone makes steel frames and the reason everyone uses the same few vendors is they’re the only ones willing to make BMX stuff. I love it when people say BMX is bigger than ever! No it isn’t. It’s more recognized, and it appears bigger now than when you had never ridden your bike out of your neighborhood or seen a video or read a magazine or worked in the industry.

So far it’s been great working with our agent and all the vendors. We’ll be making almost everything over there in the near future.

The Warlard is the highest-end complete with a MSRP of $715.

How do the frames compare to the original USA made FBM frames?
They don’t. Based on consistency and quality combined, our frames and S&M’s US frames are better. We’re happy with our frame maker, he does a great job at the price and quality we need for completes, and his name is King Kong, so that’s a bonus.

It’s a massive fallacy that Taiwan factories are state of the art facilities with dudes walking around in white lab coats and they are pristine and immaculate. Most of them look like tin sheds, they’re filled with machines, other than some of the workers wearing sandals two sizes too small, it’s not that exciting or impressive. It’s more of a cost issue obviously, with all the wang-dang-doodle, flim-flammery on new frames, we can’t cost effectively do the same stuff in the States. To say they have better “welding technology” and superior equipment is a moronic statement.

I think people take the U.S. made thing the wrong way, we are proud because we have the gumption and balls to make our own stuff, not because of where we live. We’re a dying breed, and I think it’s important that people try to keep the legacy of U.S. made frames alive. With that being said, we’re also developing a high-end aftermarket Taiwan frame made by a steel frame maker that has never done BMX frames. I like the Taiwan vendors we are working with, they are all self-made businessmen, and most of them are out of their damn minds—like seriously bat shit crazy.

Click here to see the complete list of FBM completes along with their specs on fbmbmx.com.