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TIP Plus Distribution and Primo are both owned by the same parent corporation, Gallop Cycle Corp.
Shortly after MacNeils departure, Greg Walsh, Primo team manager and ‘face’ of TIP Plus, left the company. Walsh, a high profile and outspoken member of the BMX community, was seen by many as the driving force of TIP Plus.
His departure prompted Taj to end his relationship with TIP-owned parts brand Primo and remove the distribution of his rider owned brand T1 from the portfolio of TIP Plus.
"It was a sad day for me after six years of riding for and supporting [Primo]," said Taj.
"They screwed things up real bad with the surprise termination of the Primo team manager, and [my] good friend Greg Walsh.
"I just can’t support this brand after the way they treated Greg. Although lots of people work very hard and are very talented over at Primo, Greg Walsh was the key person who made a lot of the good things happen. In his time there he has helped build the Primo brand in to one of the best component companies in the world.
"He was also responsible for bringing T-1 over to TIP Plus Distribution and building TIP into the powerhouse of BMX products that it is."
TIP, Primo, MacNeil and T1 are some of the best known names in the hardcore BMX community in the US and in Europe.
"The sport of BMX as a whole could suffer from the break in this alliance," said one BMX insider.
However, another welcomed Walsh’s departure:
"[TIP] had a monopoly on many of the rider owned brands and the changes [at TIP] are positive for the sport of BMX."
