Mountain bike racing legend John Tomac is licensing his name to U.K. internet retail Planet X for a new line of bikes.
Planet X also owns the Titus brand, which it purchased at auction?in 2010.
"I have a license agreement with Planet X Group for the production and sale of Tomac bikes. I finalized that this summer with them," Tomac said in an email to BRAIN this week.
Tomac previously licensed his name to American Bicycle Group, the owner of Litespeed. Later, Tomac Bike was operated by Joel Smith, who stopped production earlier this year, according to BikeMag.com.
Planet X's first project is a gravel grinder. Prototypes of the titanium and carbon frame are being made by Saratoga Frameworks, the former Serotta factory in New York.
"It is a model that I find very useful personally as it allows me to get out on so many more county or forest roads and away from most traffic which is a huge bonus when road riding," Tomac said. "The amount of riding this bike opens up is amazing and although it is road geometry-based it also becomes quite useful in 'cross, touring, commuting and winter weather riding applications."
Tomac noted that he raced on Serotta frames during his pro road racing career, so he has experience with the results of the factory.
"I have always had a high opinion of Serotta bikes and the craftsman there in Saratoga that built them. We really want to make an effort to keep USA bike production up and rolling as much as possible and also do our part to keep the craftsman in Saratoga building high-performance product as they alsways have."
