LF, Hyperlite, and CWB owned by the same company??

(jovedawake) · (jovedawake) **Join Date: Mar 2006** 04-17-2006, 8:19 PM

Some guy at a wakeboard shop told me today that LF, Hyperlite, and CWB (if not cwb, then obrien)were all owned by the same company...is this true?

I dont know if I can believe that one...

(wakeriderixi) · (wakeriderixi) **Join Date: Jan 2004** 04-17-2006, 8:23 PM

same source, yes

(wakedad33) · (wakedad33) **Join Date: Oct 2005** 04-17-2006, 8:38 PM

Bob Archer owns all the above mentioned company"s

(anodyne) · (anodyne) **Join Date: Feb 2006** 04-17-2006, 8:45 PM

all owned by the same guy, but managed separately.

(bksmith) · (bksmith) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-17-2006, 10:00 PM

Actually Bob Archer is a great guy. Are you ready for this! He owns:
Hyperlite/HO/Accurate
O'brien
LF
CWB/Connelly/Proline/SWS
KD/Blindside
Kent Mfg. They pretty much make all the vests in the USA.

He tried to buy Straight line too when the were in trouble. Coming from the inside he lets each company conduct it's own business. When I first heard about this I thought "Monopoly" But the way the companies are structured and run it is technicly not. Also it is not a publicly traded company like Microsoft. This is probably the main reason Herb left Hyperlite. Lets just say it is a very small word in the watersports industry.

For other good reads check out my latest waste of time http://www.tranquilbase.com

(jpk) · (jpk) **Join Date: Sep 2005** 04-17-2006, 10:27 PM

Jeez. The only company missing from that list is Straight Line and Jet Pilot.

(zride) · (zride) **Join Date: May 2001** 04-17-2006, 11:06 PM

can you say Manopoly. Whats up with that..

(zride) · (zride) **Join Date: May 2001** 04-17-2006, 11:09 PM

Okay....he can be a great guy and all but he cant own the entire industry. This has just made my search for a better company deepen. Man I cant wait for Square One to start poppin. By then I will definately be in need of a new board.

(markj) · (markj) **Join Date: Apr 2005** 04-17-2006, 11:25 PM

Can you spell monopoly? (kidding)

(markj) · (markj) **Join Date: Apr 2005** 04-17-2006, 11:27 PM

Who is "Square One"?

(kristian) · (kristian) **Join Date: Nov 2002** 04-18-2006, 1:11 AM

Who is Square One? The O'briens and friends.

(iamnathanhudson)

Come on now....you also have Krown and Gator.

(wakedad33) · (wakedad33) **Join Date: Oct 2005** 04-18-2006, 5:37 AM

J-Star is still owned by Herb O'brian, with a pretty nice team of pro riders.

(bksmith) · (bksmith) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-18-2006, 6:12 AM

Duh Spelling is not my forte, and do I take the time to re-read it. if your trying to label this as a big company type thing, where you should only support the small guys they are small. All the water sports manufactures combined including water-skis and tubes do not even come close to the snowboard market in terms of sales! The water sports industry is very small and Archer is actually working on getting all the companies on the same path to make money, provide a better product at a lower cost. I can assure you that all the brands have different engineers, sales and manufactures than the other brands. They keep all this separate. I guess that is except for O’Brien. O’Brien stopped pressing about a year ago and all the skis are made a Connelly now. All the board production is made in China.
For other good reads check out my new waste of time at http://www.tranquilbase.com

(jjakober) · (jjakober) **Join Date: Apr 2002** 04-18-2006, 7:09 AM

bksmith,

You might want to check your facts about O'Brien.

Later,
jjakober

(jovedawake) · (jovedawake) **Join Date: Mar 2006** 04-18-2006, 9:19 AM

so Bob Archer owns them...as in he has the final say and makes profit from them, as long as he helps them out with finances?

but each company (LF, CWB, etc.) still controls what they make right? example:LF makes wood wakeskates coz they want to...not because of BOB is telling them to, and HL will make foam ones?

(wakeriderixi) · (wakeriderixi) **Join Date: Jan 2004** 04-18-2006, 9:23 AM

Basically..

(bksmith) · (bksmith) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 04-18-2006, 9:25 AM

Well lets just say that was the plan when I quit 6 months ago. I know they were planning on pressing all the higher end glass skis in Lynnwood at Connelly. They had even moved some of the O'brien presses to Lynnwood. The boards are mainly main in china at Playmaker like Hyperlites, LF and some CWB. hyperlite does not press any of there boards any more. they are all pressed in China or other countries in ASIA. If you go to HO/Hyperlite where presses use to be and finishing was is now racks for wear house!

check out http://www.tranquilbase.com for more good reads.

(fox) · (fox) **Join Date: Jul 2002** 04-18-2006, 11:11 AM

Monopolies only apply to publicly traded companies. Personally, I think all of the companies "he" owns make some pretty nice stuff. Don't tell me we're going to go down the road proclaiming that someone who makes a profit in buisness is always a bad guy?

(jpk) · (jpk) **Join Date: Sep 2005** 04-18-2006, 11:42 AM

Since when do monopolies only apply to publicly traded companies? That's not true. A monopoly can be run by anyone. If that were true, everyone that was ever accused of being a monopoly would just take their company private again.

Heck, ski resorts have been found guilty of being monopolies when they control all of the skiing in a region. Anyone the government feels like taking down a notch can get declared a monopoly.

zcarnage 04-18-2006, 3:52 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

(ronnyboy27) · (ronnyboy27) **Join Date: Nov 2005** 04-26-2006, 2:01 PM

I heard a rumor that noone is getting shipments from hyperlite? Are they done?

(ttrigo) · (ttrigo) **Join Date: Dec 2004** 04-26-2006, 2:15 PM

I have been waiting over a month for my 2006 3ds. according to the people at Hype, it will now be here the third week in May. sweet. last time I buy anything from them....

the shop in my town still has only like four or five boards in stock, along with a couple of bindings. what a joke. its almost friggin May!

(entrustclothing)

i heard a rumor that only CWB made a profit last year? just what i heard

(ronnyboy27) · (ronnyboy27) **Join Date: Nov 2005** 04-27-2006, 8:46 AM

any word from the pros who ride for hyperlite. If they're not shipping boards are they going to bounce to a different board company

(mobv) · (mobv) **Join Date: Jun 2002** 04-27-2006, 9:07 AM

CWB boards and bindings are still made in the USA. The only ones of the big companies.

(ronnyboy27) · (ronnyboy27) **Join Date: Nov 2005** 04-27-2006, 9:09 AM

What about JStar anybody know anything about them.

(innov8) · (innov8) **Join Date: May 2005** 04-27-2006, 9:30 AM

I think the O'briens still own J-Star