Titan Motorcycle Company is an American
motorcycle manufacturer that was founded in 1995 in
Phoenix, Arizona and was the first custom motorcycle company
to produce in volume. At the time there was a shortage of brand
new Harley-Davidsons, and those who were lucky enough to get a
new one would quite often disassemble them and add lots of
chrome custom parts.
There was a market for fast available mild customized bikes.
These motorcycles had a registered name and a valid VIN and were easy to finance
but at first not easy to insure due to bank uncertainty with the manufacturing
processes. This carried over to the Bl-Book listing where it caused incorrect
prices on these motorcycles and made it difficult for sellers to get the correct
price. The few specialty motorcycles Like the Titan Phoenix TRM Custom where
only 25 were built, one at a time each bike built or put together by one person.
Titan owners went public on the NASDAQ in 1997.
By 2001, the management had failed, then dealer and customer
support failed and Ti
tan filed for bankruptcy. Andrew Donald Proudfoot owned the
largest Titan dealership in Florida and was stuck with a large inventory of
Titan motorcycles. He also went to Titan’s headquarters and bought the company
in July 2001. Titan number 2 was born but went under due to the Company owing
more to vendors then had the capital to pay for their services. The new
competition from companies like Big Dog, American IronHorse and many other
Harley clones companies, and also because of a declining American motorcycle
market since the beginning of 2007.
In January 2007, Titan Motorcycles Cie (TMC) had filed a
voluntary petition for relief under
Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. In August 2007 an asset purchase
agreement was signed between TMC (Titan Motorcycle Cie) debtor in-possession and
Arizona Motorcycle Works as buyer where all assets of Titan were sold to Arizona
Motorcycle Works. An Arizona bank called FNBA filed an objection to the proposed
sale of now-bankrupt Titan’s assets to Arizona Motorcycle Works claiming it has
a first rights lien on Titan’s assets and that the sale price undervalues the
fair market value of the property.
The bank also claims that Titan’s owner Don Proudfoot and Hope
Smith, a principal in Arizona Motorcycle Works, have a personal relationship and
that the latter company is subtenant of Titan’s and that this relationship has
not been disclosed. These two allegations called into question that the proposed
sale represents a good-faith, arms-length negotiation" between the two entities,
the complaint claimed. FNBA stated that Proudfoots’ company, TMC Acquisitions,
owes the bank about $813,000 on a $1.5 million business loan that the company
took out in February 2006.