With Titus in their pocket, Planet X sets up shop in Portland

Yet another company in the bicycle industry has decided to open up shop in Portland.

Planet X, a company based in the UK that owns several bike brands, has moved its North American headquarters to Northeast Portland. Planet X bought Titus Bikes in late 2010 and they also own the On One brand and are the exclusive North American distributors of Guerciotti. According to Rick Kirton, the company’s US sales and marketing manager, they plan to open up a showroom later this month at 57 NE Hancock.

Titus is known for their high-end, U.S. made, titanium mountain bikes. Founded in 1991, the company was originally based in Tempe, Arizona. They went bankrupt in November 2010 and Planet X acquired them in an auction shortly thereafter. On One is known for their singlespeed mountain bikes and urban fixed gear road bikes. Guerciotti is an old Italian road bike brand.

Kirton says Planet X USA will have a full line on urban/city/road and mountain bikes on display at their new showroom. They’ll also use their Portland headquarters to distribute all Titus, On One and Guerciotti bikes in the U.S. In addition to Kirton, the company’s team in Portland includes Michael Golinski, the creator of the popular singlespeed brand Spot, and tech support staffer Shiggy Person.

In a story in Bicycle Retailer magazine in August, the head of Titus for Planet X Brand Richards said the company plans to “keep Titus true to its roots” and retain USA production. No word yet whether or not that production will be done locally.

Stay tuned for more details and photos from the showroom once it opens up.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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are
are
12 years ago

what a grim location

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  are

what makes you say that are? It’s right next door to Portland Design Works and just a block off the Williams bikeway.

are
are
12 years ago

i suppose i could think of worse locations, and as you say this is just off williams. but approaching from any other direction, you are either coming in off broadway between the toyota dealership and the shell station, or you are dropping down rodney from somewhere else. hancock does not go through at MLK. i suppose you could sneak across on schuyler. and actually, by “grim” i kinda meant the ugly little strip mall itself, facing out onto the back of the toyota dealership. sort of an aesthetics issue, i guess.

Ted Buehler
12 years ago

This is where the People’s Department of Skateboarding was, isn’t it? And BikeCraft 2010?

Great location.

Welcome to Portland!

dan
dan
12 years ago

Titus is further east off of William on Hancock. They are in the newly renovated and expanded My Own Labels building.

Matt
Matt
12 years ago

Shiggy?

Jim F
Jim F
12 years ago
Reply to  Matt

Thought the same thing.

Eric
Eric
12 years ago
Reply to  Jim F

I’ve met the guy and ridden with him a few times…great guy.

Eric Also
Eric Also
12 years ago
Reply to  Matt

I think he has changed the spelling to Shiggy!. The ! sounds like percussive sounds in the word pop.

Jeff Wills
Jeff Wills
12 years ago

Oooh, neat- just a couple blocks from my work. If I had more than a 20 minute lunch break, I’d look in on them.

Hugh Johnson
Hugh Johnson
12 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Wills

You should join the Occupy crowd and fight a lunch break longer than 20 minutes!

dan
dan
12 years ago

Eagerly anticipating Titus warehouse sales!

dwainedibbly
dwainedibbly
12 years ago

I have On-One Mary handlebars on one of my bikes. It’s a great bend for a city bike!

Warehouse sales? Yes! 🙂

eric
12 years ago

neat – that’s 2 blocks from my shop.

Jerko
Jerko
12 years ago

It is nice to see more mountain bike stuff coming to PDX, maybe I’ll stay a bit longer.

Eric
Eric
12 years ago
Reply to  Jerko

And Portland will finally get its head out of its a$$ and realize that people love mountain biking and want (and would support) more readily available riding.

mmann
12 years ago

I’m also psyched about local availability for on-one bars. And Guerciotti still makes some very fine bikes. Nice addition to the local landscape.

davemess
davemess
12 years ago
Reply to  mmann

Guerciotti also has done a lot with Cyclocross over the years (back in the 80s), and are trying to get back in the cross game now. Portland is a good place to start for that.

Vincer
12 years ago

Very cool! Not a bad location at all. There are a few shops in the area and the proximity to Williams allows for decent ride-through traffic. Besides, riding there would be ideal…parking is scarce.
Shiggy is the man out on the trail, reppin’ Titus & On-One. Cool guy, LONG time industry ties too!

Mat
Mat
12 years ago

Wow! This is great. I wondered why Shiggy was moving to Portland… now it’s all coming together. Looking forward to getting a new On One frame soon.

Chris I
Chris I
12 years ago

I’m really digging the idea of an Alfine 11 based fast city commuter / light touring bike, similar to On-One’s Pompetamine Versa 11:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOPOMPETVERSA11/on_one-pompetamine-versa-11-speed-pro

Has anyone tried something like this?

Evan
Evan
12 years ago
Reply to  Chris I

Hell yes. But I’d set it up with Mary bars or the FSA equivalent. And put 38c tires on it for that smooooth ride.

john
12 years ago

sounds great.. but Titus is MTB only… Seriously why would you come to portland to for MTB ? .. I quit MTB after moving to Oregon, It’s just so poor, not any fun, compared to Michigan / other place back east/midwest.

Brian
Brian
12 years ago
Reply to  john

Huh? Oregon is one of the best states in the country to ride. Riding inside of Portland is lame, but the state overall is amazing. Not to mention the amazing riding in Washington. The Pacific Northwest is miles ahead of anything in the Midwest.

Jerko
Jerko
12 years ago
Reply to  john

It took me a year to figure out that PDX is not bike friendly (one of the reasons I moved here) PDX is commuter friendly, I’m heading back to the desert for endless miles of sweet single track. Hopefully Titus does well here, I love the brand and would hate to see them disappear again.

Nom de Plume
Nom de Plume
12 years ago

Are the new Titus frames going to be built in the States or off shore? The AZ built ones are highly regarded.

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  Nom de Plume

Did you see the 2nd to last paragraph in the story? Titus chief Brant Richards says they intend to keep production in the USA… However as we all know that could change. Let’s hope they do. I know a Portland-based manufacturer that could do the job (hint hint).

Nom de Plume
Nom de Plume
12 years ago

D’oh! Reading too fast… stupid internets.

Rick Kirton
12 years ago

US production is continuing, SAPA are currently producing our new Rockstar 29er frames and we are in talks with a well known US titanium welder regarding some limited special edition models early next year

Nom de Plume
Nom de Plume
12 years ago
Reply to  Rick Kirton

GREAT, thanks for the input!!!

Nom de Plume
Nom de Plume
12 years ago

D’oh! Reading too fast… stupid internets.

Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
12 years ago

This is great. I love On-One handlebars. I have a Mary on my errand bike and Midge handlebars on three others. Love ’em!

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
12 years ago

This is a great addition to the Portland cycling scene.

And the handlebars, especially, are awesome. I’ve tried almost everything in existence, and the Midge is by far the most comfortable bar for me. For both on and off road cycling.

Travis
Travis
12 years ago

Cool! I just pre-ordered an On-One Dirty Disco frameset from them!

Speedy
Speedy
12 years ago

Sounds like a good partnership between Titus and Zen should be formed.