Reply to "JTs GT5's New Wheels"

Julian

I spent a lot of time with Daryle, of Kodiak, after he bought Fikse talking about the acquisition, manufacturing processes differences, business plans etc. We probably ordered one of the first sets of Fiske wheels from him after he bought them and he gave me a great price on that set. Although, that set was for another person's vehicle I was restoring.

Daryle hired Alan Baylis as National Sales Manager for Fikse shortly after we bought that set. Alan previously led the marketing initiatives at Kinesis and HRE. Alan reset prices and apprised me that Daryle lost money on the first set he sold me. I believe it and wish I had ordered more in his moment of generosity. Although, in our defense, he was ramping back up and didn't know for sure he could deliver the product as previously built.

My point is I do not know how much Fiske charges as I have received preferred pricing and, in effect, recieve a discount comparable to a distributor as I have ordered several sets and developed a relationship with them.

Fikse has brought on Quella as a distributor as well. No surprise here as Quella obviously worked with Baylis as a distibutor of Kinesis wheels previously. They are respectful of their distributors and sensitive about bypassing them with discounts directly to the consumer. So, it will be difficult to get a discount through them directly.

Regarding anodizing your Kodiak wheel centers. Two points.

1) For me, the biggest benefit is annodizing the rim halves. They clean up so easy with detergent and never corrode.

2) A local Pantera owner bought a set of Kodiaks on the group buy a few years back and had the factory anodize them. The result was not as good as desired. I spoke to Daryle about this after he acquired Fikse and he said Kodiak had stopped offering the process because they couldn't get it right. After he aquired Fikse, he learned their methodology which involves a process whereby no one touches the wheel after machining, it is chemically coated, bagged and set to the anodizer. He said the process is another example of why the wheels cost him more to manufacture. It was another Aha moment for him.

My thinking is that if it is your intention to have an existing set anodized, it may be a more difficult process at this time.

http://www.fikse.com/2010/classic.html