SACRAMENTO, CA (BRAIN) Mar 2 2012 04:23 PM MT— Cycle Designs co-owner Wade Barocsi purchased the tubing business of Protube last December and is relaunching the business under Acel brand name. Protube’s largest client in the bike businesses was Cannondale’s Bedford, Pennsylvania, manufacturing plant.
“I’ve been wanting to add tubing to our product line of frame building supplies, but then the chance of buying Protube’s business came up and I jumped at it,” said Barocsi, Acel’s president. “We are showing various aluminum tubing shapes here (at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show) because that’s what we could get ready in time for the show, but we will quickly be adding chromoly and stainless steel tubing,” he said.
The previous owner of Protube, Bruce McGalliard, will continue on with the new company as a consultant, mostly working on new product design. Cycle Designs, a distributor of frame building supplies, will become a part of Acel.
“When Cannondale moved overseas and Protube lost a big customer for its baseball bats it lost most of its business in a few short months. To develop a sales and marketing team to rebuild the business again was not what Bruce wanted to do,” Barocsi said.
“Because we already have working relationships with so many frame builders, getting the word out on the tubes is easier for us,” he added.
As part of the deal Acel takes over the lease on Protube’s building and all its manufacturing equipment. There are 10 employees working on sporting goods tubing products and 15 employees working on aerospace and military tubing products. The factory is based in Shelton, Connecticut.
“We are a small and lean company and can do things other suppliers can’t. If you want to put a variety of butts into an aero profile tube, we can do that for a one-tube order. Given our frame building experience, we know what builder need,” Barocsi added.
