This makes me so sad:
I feel terrible for everyone who worked there, and all of the builders who used their products. I think all of my bikes (hobbyist builder, so not a big number) have at least one PMW machined component.
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Yeah that’s awful news. Great products and super nice people to deal with, especially Coco. Hopefully everyone is able to find meaningful employment!
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Wow. Was not expecting that. I just ordered a drop out and Headtube. Good luck for everyone involved.
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This is horrible news. These are huge shoes to fill. I wouldn’t be surprised if they never get fully filled. For the sake of professional and hobby builders everywhere I hope someone tries.
On a side note, PMW gave dealers a heads up today and were planning to make a public statement tomorrow, but the Radavist beats them to it by making this public today? Just wait a day FFS.
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Their website is crashing now.
Edit: it’s slow, but I was able to place an order.
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Yes, terrible and sad. I just placed a hundred dollar order, just grabbing some things I need. Many of the things I would have bought were out of stock.
End of an era. We won’t see their like again.
I can make for myself lots of stuff I bought from them , like holesaw arbors, dummy axles and tube blocks, but I’ll miss some of their complex CNC parts like dropouts and Z-couplers.
I wonder if the G-code could be sold or licensed to other makers who have CNC. I know squat about CNC, so no idea if the code is transferable to someone else’s machine. I know even less about whether you can make a buck on these parts — PMW closing seems to indicate you can’t. Small companies making small quantities would be less efficient and have to charge more. Giant companies (like Giant?) have their own CAD/CAM staff, no need to buy PMW’s IP. Is there a Goldilocks Zone?
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They used to provide PDF and STEP files for all of their parts, which was amazing and could be used to make copies of their parts. Unfortunately all of those were deleted in the last few weeks.
I didn’t need anything right now (as a lapsed hobbyist builder who recently placed an order), but would love to send them some dollars for a non-commercial/personal use license to those STEP files. I could then make dropouts myself (I have a CNC machine).
I’ve seen on another forum that people are nervous about availability of dropout inserts and are ordering those.
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Maybe they removing the PDF and Step files indicates they are trying to sell or hoping to sell them to another shop. Like someone else said these will be big shoes to fill. I just did an order for an upcoming build.
This is super sad. I am happy that I was able to stop there and got a tour.
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Really sad news.
I emailed with Calvin (owner) and he said machines and IP will be available to purchase and stay tuned. No other details.
I am pretty bummed as we had plans to start Canadian Paragon parts distribution in the coming months and had emails back and forth about it recently with no indication of this coming.
Big love to all the Paragon crew for keeping us kitted out for so many years.
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yikes I was just thinking as a my building is like a JOB-HOBBY and not getting to big that this economics and things wouldn’t be a issue for me because it just a one person in a basement. Thinking can do it when ever. Because you have staple like Paragon will have your parts when you need them.. I am sad about this I was assuming it was going be going for years to come because they were the staple in the industry. I just purchased a bunch of stuff just to sort at least 4 mtbs out..
I was emailing Andrew from bike fab supply about 3d printed yoke availability and he said he was feeling the crunch to
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this is very sad news! wish everyone well with whatever the future holds.
As far as I know PMW drove a few designs that are now thanklessly ubiquitous and I always felt like I was investing in future designs and ideas when I bought materials from them. Whether or not their plans make it back into the wild, I really hope forward thinking (especially around dropouts) doesn’t hit the skids. Mighty big shoes to fill for sure.
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Sorry to hear this! Hopefully Metal Guru and First Hand will be able to fill the void.
This sucks – it was always a minor dream of mine to work there. To anyone from Paragon – My work is hiring a CNC machinist, DM me if interested! Development CNC Machinist
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I wonder if the STEP files are accessible in the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive?
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A handful are available. There are enough for me to get key measurements off of rocker and slider designs so that I could make my own inserts.
I totally respect their decision to try and sell the IP. I’m just sad that I didn’t grab more of them when they were available.
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Damn! Literally had a cart full to check out this week. Now most items are gone. Knew I should have checked out earlier this week. Been watching inventory, making sure I was good to wait till today. Couldn’t have predicted this.
As basically the only supplier of machined dropouts, I didn’t anticipate they’d disappear like other suppliers to fabricators have. Sorry to everyone affected.
Man, that’s a real bummer and a blow to the framebuilding community. Such cool and high quality stuff.
A handful are available. There are enough for me to get key measurements off of rocker and slider designs so that I could make my own inserts.
Can’t you get those in BIKECAD?
OMG! This is such a shock. I’m stunned. Did somebody die? There was zero indication that this would happen. No leaks, rumors, or anything. Paragon has been here for the framebuilding community before the internet! I remember their little ads in the back of Velonews. This is beyond bad for the framebuilder industry. They made parts that you can’t get anywhere else. I’m so sorry for Calvin, Coco, and everybody, and their little feral cats that wander in. What the heck happened? I’m really saddened to hear this. I hope they are ok. 
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