Athens Archery Closing Reaction

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Athens Archery Closing Reaction

Рет қаралды 12,530

5 ай бұрын

With the news that Athens Archery is shutting its doors, I wanted to see how this impacts Athens Archery dealers. I reached out to Nate from Average Jack Archery, who just so happens to run an archery shop that sells Athens bows to get his thoughts on the news.

Пікірлер: 99

@atlurker8037 4 ай бұрын

I wrote Bowtech off years ago even before they were Bowtech, (Oregon), due to all their limb issues. Issues that continued for years under Bowtech. I never felt safe around them.

@positivenotekeyboard 4 ай бұрын

I have been a loyal fan and purchaser of both Bowtech and Athens bows. I figured the new Accu-tune system might pose a legal risk, but I wasn't mad at Athens for trying to slay Goliath. I own the Athens Vista 35, and was on the fence for months in buying the Axxis 35--largely for the Accu-tune system and the improved grip. Still, I hesitated because of the high $1,399 price tag. In business, sometimes growth means taking risks, thus in so doing you might win big, or lose everything. What I'll most remember is that both Jim and Tracie were always eager to put the customer first, and always cordially responded to my pre-purchase questions via phone or email. Tracie also offered the personalized touch of including a greeting card, thanking buyers for their order. The collapse of their company feels like a death in the family, but somehow I know they will come back with another enterprise.

@justinroethel7424 4 ай бұрын

If bow tech wants to play that game with Athens I hope Mathews sews them to the point they close their own doors for the same i.e.: Bridge Lock Tech vs Center Mass Tech. Not to mention BowTech has been a garbage company for years, and even more so since cutting the head off their most venomous snake in the 3D world (Tim G)

@pathfinder5804 4 ай бұрын

Matthews did sue Bowtech and won. Infringe upon patents and get what you deserve!!!!

@justinroethel7424 4 ай бұрын

@@pathfinder5804 I didn’t know that but a win is a win

@AaronLester-rt7iu 4 ай бұрын

Good point, and an overt double standard.

@Morpheen999 4 ай бұрын

Order spare parts for the bows in stock and sell them with the spares at a discount.. I think a lot of people will still buy them

@AaronLester-rt7iu 4 ай бұрын

Great point! Every year bow companies boast of innovations that in truth are nothing to write home about. The arc of the limbs, the lightness of the riser, colors, grips, IBO speed--all have been on the drawing table for years. But in essence, accuracy in hitting a target often boils down to the skill of the archer, and not the nuances of the bow. The Deadlock tuning system is Bowtech's bread and butter, and they knew this copycat system would reduce their market share. My heart goes out to Jim, Tracie, and the people there at Athens. They bought the company and pumped new life into it.

@brockpeck7073 4 ай бұрын

In just bought a athens axxis 35 in January. I really like the bow a lot! Its a shame there done and closing shop. I guess ill just have to take care of the bow.

@paf1474 4 ай бұрын

I don't understand the boycott Bowtech call that is happening. If someone copies your technology and you have a patent it shouldn't matter if it's a small guy or not you have the right to protect your investment. How loud would the keyboard warriors be if it was a Chinese company ripping off Bowtech? I do hope that Athens can come back in some form, the Vista series was an awesome bow.

@Morpheen999 4 ай бұрын

The way they dropped a couple of their pro staff shooters recently, really isnt helping their image... They keep heading down this route treating people questionably, maybe a little less then fair we'll say.. it'll only get worse

@jasonhoge5333 4 ай бұрын

I'm not boycotting just got wife new bowtech yesterday and mine came in today.athens was great company and owners sad see them go last few years they really been using their game for sure.

@coltonhurley2525 4 ай бұрын

People wanna point the blame at someone. So their pointing the finger at bowtech. But all in all athens infringed on a trademark and paid the price for it.

@zachlewis9451 4 ай бұрын

Close to same tech but not identical. Athens axle system is in the limb. Bowtechs axle system is located/attached above the limb. Also like how mathews attached their axles above the limbs this year but no issues from bowtech with that though. They got scared athens was and is a better company and better bow!

@poppasmurf15 4 ай бұрын

@@zachlewis9451 the patent is on deadlock and how it operates, not where it is in the limb…and axles mounted above the limb means nothing if no one patents it. Athens played with fire

@coltonhurley2525 4 ай бұрын

I look at it from my perspective. If all it took was a simple lawsuit to put them under then they were already on shakey ground to begin with. But as far as the dealers go there just screwed. They have inventory there gonna have to lose big on and theres nothing they can do about it

@jasonnester9514 4 ай бұрын

Not really dealers will still sell the Athens bows they have

@jeremylandphier692 4 ай бұрын

Bowtech isn’t making very good decisions to begin with , they have been guilty of infringement themselves years ago , and canning two pro shooters mid contract who are now tearing it up with a different brand bow !

@goredwhiteblue 3 ай бұрын

Good for Bowtech for protecting their design. Athens shouldn’t have ripped them off and now their paying for it.

@patrickosier3644 3 ай бұрын

I'm in the market for a new bow. Bowtech was my top pick. Not anymore, not cool to sink a small business

@328am 4 ай бұрын

I'm sad for Athens but it's just shocking that they were not prepared for this

@poppasmurf15 4 ай бұрын

They were prepared for this… they completely saw this coming, come on… I’m no bowtech fan in light of recent events obviously….but Bowtech has a right to their patent…and if Athens won’t pay the royalties and rips it off anyways…sorry…it’s your own fault

@328am 4 ай бұрын

@@poppasmurf15 I agree. They played with fire, and got burned in the worst way

@randallflores-qr8cs 4 ай бұрын

The dealers are gonna have to discount those bows deep. Who would buy one new with no warranty, when you could get another brand with the warranty?

@MrRay645 4 ай бұрын

what bugs me is that small companies cant afford to go to court and let a judge decide if they stole / infringed. A large deep pocket company just has to file and they lost, thats it, game over DONE. Truth, rights, justice, facts lol.... its all nonsense, you need to be able to afford those things, they have zero bearing on 85% of our population. It is not just bows or business, its a fact in normal everyday life... If someone has the money they can crush you with legal costs regardless if you are guilty or not , that cost is usually far worse than the punishment even if you were found guilty.... thats why everyone just settles, we no longer have our day in court thats a luxury for the extremely wealthy only. ***meanwhile china can knock off anything they want and we buy it by the tons, this country is so screwed.... the comments here are proof of that sad fact.

@chengsterboi07 4 ай бұрын

A lot of bow companies are coping each other no matter how you look at it. Bowtech got sued by mathews for how a cable was routed on a cam. There is only so much you can innovate on a bow. Mathews came with 8 limbs system and angled cable guard. Obsession yoke system is identical to pse system. Martin and hoyt are indentical risers. Hoyt inline vs prime inline. It sucks. Elite with their 1/4 in adjustment in draw while others are 1/2 in. Xpedition was similar to most 1.5 cam system.

@Waty8413 4 ай бұрын

A lot of companies are copying each other but most of those design concepts are either older than most guys think and thus the patents have expired, or the various companies are paying royalties to the patent holders. When the copying happens and it is potentially illegal, we see legal battles.

@ronhimmelreich238 4 ай бұрын

Bowtech is just defending their products which is expected. Athens should have got an official determination from a patent attorney prior to going into production if there was any doubt. Spread that cost over all bows sold for the next year or two. It is just business…

@BassWhoopinFishingTeam 4 ай бұрын

Supposedly they did..

@sneakybow1 4 ай бұрын

Mathews sued Bowtech for patent infringements before. Bowtech isn't any different than any other company

@Muskiehunter92 3 ай бұрын

@@sneakybow1 Well, the way they treated 2 of their pro shooters that were putting their bows on the podium consistently sure was slimy beyond all heck. The other big companies dont seem to have an issue with treating their pro staff well. Bowtech's executives have really tarnished their reputation. Alot of local shooters were all talking up bowtech with their reckoning gen 2 last year and a few people bought one... Now, no one wants to shoot a bowtech unless they already have one. My first bow was a bowtech and I want to like them, but I just cant like a company with poor ethics..... its a shame that I will never buy another one... not until they show the archery world they aren't a pile of slime. And to be clear I dont just feel this way about archery companies. There is a bike company I will not support because of how they treated their staff as well. There are PLENTY of excellent products out there today, that there is no need to support a company with garbage ethics... thats my opinion anyways. To each their own.

@jasonnester9514 4 ай бұрын

Dealers will have to sell em at cost or less

@wrsayraw8472 4 ай бұрын

Darton, potentially, just picked up some new dealers.

@joshuadouglasarchery 4 ай бұрын

Bowtech really was so butthurt about Mathews suing them that they had to close a bow company down.

@sammyhughes6769 4 ай бұрын

Has nothing to do with being mad. Protecting what they designed. Just like Matthew's did. Only Matthew's lawsuit was so much different. Lots more twists and turns. Still can't believe all bow manufacturers still pay Jennings and Pearson royalties every year for these very things. Copyright infringement and patent copying is big business. For lawyers.

@Muskiehunter92 3 ай бұрын

Bowtech has really shown their hand this past year of being a total slimebag company. Im sure the regular employees are all fine people and they have decent engineers, but the executives making the decisions belong in washington, not the archery community. Almost all the other companies are happy to support the archery community as much as they can, and treat their pros well... Bowtech has been the opposite. I'm really dissapointed with them. Bowtech was my first bow and I want to like them, but they sure like to make that impossible. At this point, I have given up on them. Their ethics are total trash and there are SO many amazing bows on the market that there is no need to buy a bowtech.

@user-ve2fs6rq2x 4 ай бұрын

Sad but before Athens got bought recently, I never said anything but a lot of the Athens bows where named after a product line of discs from vibram, like the person in charge of the names was using the new disc lineup and I assumed the owners didn’t know and could have possibly got a lawsuit from that too. I am told that if you have lifetime warranty issues it can be filled with a reimbursement from there bankruptcy filing?? I literally just bought a budget bow diamond deploy for a build and jumped the gun and got a new Athens axxis immediately following this news

@spirobouloukos511 4 ай бұрын

That's a shame! I really like their product.

@erxkeel 4 ай бұрын

I think it was a dick move by Bowtech, but I'm just a consumer schmuckatelly. Only thing I can do it choose not to ever buy that brand.

@Waty8413 4 ай бұрын

You wouldn't think it was a dick move if you were the patent holder and someone was making and selling your product without paying you a royalty.

@johngarnergarner6724 4 ай бұрын

I understand your view. We all root for the little guy. I'm certainly not an engineer but when I saw the new Axxis bows, I thought to myself then, they are going to have a problem. They blatantly stole Bowtech's patent. I don't know what they expected but I understand that they ignored Bowtech's cease and desist letter.

@josephfolsom2030 4 ай бұрын

Did Athens actually think they could copy something like that and it go unnoticed. What were they thinking. This reminds me of the Kevin Strother saga

@AhronLong 4 ай бұрын

My understanding is they ignored more than one cease and desist letter and then were sued in early February. They obviously knew they would lose. They then continued to push and sell bows to their unwitting dealers and to the ultimate customer. Sell everything and fire everyboy … strange.

@user-wh8bu2ky2k 4 ай бұрын

Mathews sueing bowtech for coping riser center core

@Matt-jl8xf 4 ай бұрын

Good. Cant stand bowtechs ethics anymore. They are innovative and make a quality bow, but they just give off this slimy shady crook like vibe to me now. I still own one and I used to love them. I was even considering buying another one not long ago... but then they did their pro staff sooo dirty by firing them out of the blue at the end of the season when everyone else had locked in their contracts already. Mathews took in both of bowtechs shooters that were dropped and made room for them after they already had their shooter lineup settled. Mathews cares about the sport which is nice. They are costly and they are profit driven, but they do still care about archery at least. Bowtech seems to be a bunch of old arrogant A holes sitting around a table wondering how they can rip as much money out of archers pockets while giving nothing back to the community... I am sure their engineers are great and they have some good employees in their company... but the executives running that company right now are just arrogant pricks and there are far too many high quality bows being made now, so there is no need to buy a bowtech and support a company with poor ethics. Mathews, Hoyt, PSE, and Elite are all putting out some next level bows and they all seem to care about the hunting/shooting community .... Bowtech needs to take a hit so they can rethink the way look at the community that uses their products. Thats just my .02 anyways!!

@danielsmith8659 4 ай бұрын

What’s gonna happen with obsession now ?

@johngarnergarner6724 4 ай бұрын

You bring up an interesting question. Obsession and Martin both have been teetering on the brink for a long time. But yet, Obsession came out with a line up of several new bows for 2024. That surprised me. I doubt that they are selling many bows, But the difference between them and Athens is that they are owned by people with deeper pockets. So, they might be able to last a bit longer. Frankly, the new bows that Obsession has produced for this year look really nice. I'd love to see reviews on them. But the reality is that unless they get their sales numbers up they won't be around.

@jasonnester9514 4 ай бұрын

Where can I get an archery talk hoodie

@ArcheryTalkVideo 4 ай бұрын

It’s the only one. Had it made for videos at least five years ago.

@jasonnester9514 4 ай бұрын

@@ArcheryTalkVideo ohhhhh ok you part of archery talk admin ?

@chrississon2646 4 ай бұрын

😜

@ArcheryTalkVideo 4 ай бұрын

@@jasonnester9514 I'm not a proper admin for the site, no. I just make videos for the KZfaq channel and look after the FB page.

@jasonnester9514 4 ай бұрын

@@ArcheryTalkVideo nice man

@l.i.archer5379 4 ай бұрын

Yeah, I'm done with Bowtech. Their customer service sucks, and now they're bullying the little guy. F*** 'em. I've switched to Bear Archery and already bought the Whitetail Maxx and Alaskan XT. Both tuned great, shot great, and with a few tweaks, are quiet as hell.

@david.6040 4 ай бұрын

😢😂

@matthamilton0081 4 ай бұрын

I can understand you not liking bowtech as a company, But this is not about bullying" The little guy"... They infringed on a patent and now they're paying the price. If someone that had less than you stole your stuff, you wouldn't be bullying to get it back! That being said, I do not like bowtech 😂

@user-ci9ip4bk3w 4 ай бұрын

Out of curiosity, what tweaks did you make to the Alaskan XT to reduce noise? I’ve changed my limb dampeners and string stop for significant improvement.

@jasonnester9514 4 ай бұрын

Bowtech also f@&@ many shooters outta contracts to hell with Bowtech

@l.i.archer5379 4 ай бұрын

@@matthamilton0081I was a fanboi of Bowtech since 2007 and I own 6 of their bows (down from 8), but I have seen lots of changes in their modus operandi over the years for the worse. Every freaking bow from all the different MFRs have all the same elements, that have all been borrowed from each other. Cams are all pretty much the same across all MFRs, with slight changes in shape and draw-force. This is no different with the Deadlock system and Athens' designs. Personally, I hate the Deadlock system, because it's prone to failure, and have failed. I'd rather shim cams - set it and forget it - without fear that something's going to move on me.

@ivoryjohnson4662 4 ай бұрын

That’s the price of doing business the big guy hammers the little guy

@matthamilton0081 4 ай бұрын

So it's ok to steal stuff if you're the little guy?

@ivoryjohnson4662 4 ай бұрын

@@matthamilton0081 no one should steal but the deepest pockets always wins

@WolfinWolvesClothing713 4 ай бұрын

Little guy knows he's the little guy. Should have had the patent examined, and decided on first.

@ivoryjohnson4662 4 ай бұрын

@@WolfinWolvesClothing713 its would be nice if things worked out that way I wasn’t there so I will let it go

@sneakybow1 4 ай бұрын

@@matthamilton0081ask Bowtech. They've been sued themselves for patent infringements.

@jeffeager9779 4 ай бұрын

Athens did a stupid move on there part, everybody knew it and said it. If you cant run with the big dogs stay on the porch!

@shaneg8531 4 ай бұрын

Idk.. I have NO kudos to a company who drops shooters under contract and this? NOPE... supporting archery. I don't know the legality but, without seeing more transparency of the topic it wasn't the same to say. All bows have strings, cams, bearings, limbs, grips, and risers.. now a great brand( one I don't supprt ) but was happy was there is now gone.. 2 left turns in one year in my eyes. Myself and a lot of people I know will never give them a dime again. Like what I say or not. I'm aloud my opinion and I lost all respect for that name

@Waty8413 4 ай бұрын

Bowtech introduced one of the biggest innovations in decades, and they patented it. Athens ripped it off and payed the price. Bowtech is not the bad guy and this has nothing to due with them cutting the fat from their "pro staff" Hell, 99% of Bowtech's customers wouldn't have been able to tell you who was under contract with them until Bowtech fired them. It was just as smart of a move as defending their patents.

@dougking5703 4 ай бұрын

Bowtech 100% correct dumping Tim and Kyle

@silvain1089 3 ай бұрын

"promo sm"

@kellyskinner7282 4 ай бұрын

Don't blame Bowtech. Athens should have done better research. You can't do that

@dustinsilva8016 4 ай бұрын

Blowtech is garbage. This is a huge loss for mom and pop archery. I will never say another good thing about bow tech again

@user-ec4lv6or8s 4 ай бұрын

Let’s not forget that at one time bowtech was a tiny company also and because of a lot of great choices over many years, one of them being, (they didn’t repackage other major brands technology as their own) Bowtech survived and thrives to become the large company they are today. Unfortunately for Athens, making bad decisions in many areas has a tendency to reduce likelihood of surviving to a large size company. Athens did this to themselves. Try rebranding any signature proprietary technology of a company and see how far it goes without you being served with a lawsuit. People who are hating on Bowtech for this are childish.

@huntsimple9527 4 ай бұрын

Anyone who comments negative toward Bowtech on this issue is............a loser. Bowtech did this much wrong........ ZERO. The minute I saw the Athens tuning system when they released it, I said to my friends, "Ought oh, they have a bad lawyer that led them down the wrong path." If doing this type of tuning system was even remotely possible without conflict with patent law, Hoyt, Mathews, etc. would have already done it. If you think Bowtech is in the wrong on this issue, you are the type of person who blames the school system when your kid punches a kid on the playground and is suspended. In other words, you take zero accountability for your choices.

@Angel.Custodio 4 ай бұрын

This sucks

@BassWhoopinFishingTeam 4 ай бұрын

After this I decided to give up the sport. Im tired of all of it. Selling my two Athens builds and moving to another hobby. Athens was dumb to even try and replicate bowtech… im pissed at both parties but regardless this hobby is just getting ridiculous. Every year its the battle between hoyt and mathews… just sick of it. You try and support the little guys and your investment goes down the toilet.

@jasonbarnes3188 4 ай бұрын

Your investment was In the toilet as soon as you purchased from the little guy. These small archery companies come and go all the time. Athens, renegade, champion, forge, Parker, css, signature archery, exactly why these small companies bows never hold there value. Buy from the big guys or waste your money.

@BassWhoopinFishingTeam 3 ай бұрын

@@jasonbarnes3188 you sound like a Mathews snob to me