Re:
Hello RBUK,
Thanks for getting a discussion started here about my passion project, while I was busy learning the social medias this week.
Terra One is an abbreviation of my legal name; just remove the part in the middle. It’s a one-man, self-funded start-up company, with my time split between consulting work for other firms on e-bikes and making my own designs for ”we-bikes”: the classics that our community loves.
I’ve contributed to other companies’ tyre designs for over 20 years, so it’s exciting to have paid for the molds for the first under my own brand, and frustrating to wait for the brown parcel with the prototypes for testing and confirmation of the production specification.
Despite popular demand, don’t expect any reproductions from Terra One. Beyond the sizable legal hurdles to use other organizations’ IP, the pressure to get all of the details precisely the same as back then would be intense. Excuse me, but I’m not going to risk the failure of my new business by failing to live up to differing, fading memories of other brands’ products from thirty years ago.
What you can expect from Terra One is more “me-productions“: new designs informed by the products which were available back then, incorporating key elements from the best of them, and making sure that the end product looks as if it could have come from the period, whilst making the most of modern manufacturing and materials.
Preserve history, build community and ride frequently: these are my goals for both my new brand and its products for vintage bikes. Thanks to those in this community for their support so far, and while I may not post here daily, I’ll be sure to let you know when and where you can treat your old bikes to new kicks.
On to more important matters; where’s that Fading and Splatter BOTM competition? If only my best current bike in that category wasn’t rolling on Smoke and Dart repros!
Sincerely,
Terrance Kevin Malone
Terra One GmbH
