Jun
29
“American Chopper” – “American Bicycle”?
Filed Under Cycling, Interbike | 8 Comments
The TLC TV show “American Choppers” sucked me in last night for the better part of an hour and a half. I’m not a huge fan of the show and don’t really care for motorcycles – especially of the chopper kind – but there’s something to the show that grabbed me and kept me fixated for over an hour.
Paul Jr. was building a motorcycle inspired by, and in honor of, the Statue of Liberty for the company that restored it back in the 80’s. They ended up copper-plating the frame and incorporating some original pieces of the statue into the bike. The craftsmanship and finishing was pretty awesome. But I’m not a motorcycle guy and when I finally peeled myself off the couch to go to bed, I found myself wondering why I had just spent so much time watching a show about choppers.
Biking to the train station this morning on my way to work, my brain picked up where it left off (hour rides in the early am are great for that) and I was wondering what the attraction was. What I think drew me in was the fact that they were creating something with their hands that existed as only raw materials and parts at the beginning of the show. The social aspect (i.e. the interaction between the shop guys) was also appealing and entertaining. Another show that has had the same effect is the “New Yankee Workshop” with Norm Abram – I can never surf away from that show if I land on it.
So I’m thinking: “a work shop, guys interacting, creating and building an intricate machine with their hands…sounds like a bike shop.” I then pondered whether I could spend an hour watching an expert bike mechanic build up a beautiful bike. I think I could. Seeing the care and attention to details like fitting the customer, choosing the components, lining up the Campagnolo logos on the cable housing, chasing threads… Even listening in to the stories and conversations of the whole team at the shop while working on it. Wouldn’t you watch that?
Taking that concept one step back along the line of American Chopper, you could even start with the frame builder – say Richard Sachs. Watch him filing the lugs, choosing the tubing, welding, finishing, see the painting, talking about his geometry and material choices. See the tubes becoming a beautiful bicycle. Maybe you could have each episode with another builder and another shop around the country. There are some real characters out there that I’ve seen and met over the years that could give the Orange County Chopper guys a run for their personality money – easy. We might even learn something along the way that we can use on our own bikes – it is “The Learning Channel”, isn’t it? (And for what it’s worth, TLC is owned by Discovery Channel)
I think that I would definitely watch that show if it ever came into being. How about you?
Jun
22
The Bikes Belong and Interbike Story
Filed Under Advocacy, Industry News, Interbike | 5 Comments
So here it goes. I started to get the feeling we were becoming conspicuous by our absence on the subject. Last week when the Bicycle Retailer story that Bikes Belong was to consider a trade of their own at their next board meeting, the whole Interbike crew was in Vegas for a couple of days. Well, almost the whole crew. Andria, Interbike’s sales manager, had just had her baby (a little girl) a few days before, so she wisely stayed home. We were in town for a few reasons.
First and foremost was to inspect the Bootleg Canyon home of OutDoor Demo. Boulder City has been doing some “reorganizing” and landscaping of the site and we needed to see things in person. After many hours spent out in the desert sun, we can rest assured that new layout for the Demo will be a big improvement. I took some photos and will try to post some soon.
That was last Tuesday. On Wednesday morning we headed over to the Sands Convention Center (the home of Interbike) to attend the inaugural SGMA Spring Market Trade Show. It’s strange seeing “our” house occupied by someone else. Some of you may know that the team that puts on Interbike also organizes the Health+Fitness Business Expo in Denver each year (no, we don’t have an exclusive deal with Vegas), and the SGMA show was related to that side of our business.
Before flying out that evening, Lance (IB’s show director), Chip and David, from our pr agency, and I paid a visit to the Regional Transit Commission of Southern Nevada. The RTCSNV is the local gov’t agency responsible for all transportation issues in the Vegas metro area including buses, roads, highways and bike paths, lanes and trails. The planning manager responsible for bike issues is a passionate cyclist himself and the group that we met with are very enthusiastic about – and proud of – the work they are doing to improve alternative modes of transportation in their region – not the least important of which is cycling. We want to try to leverage our industry’s presence their each September to help them with their efforts. Stay tuned for more on this important work.
So that Wednesday morning at breakfast, David showed us the BRAIN piece that had hit the web on his Blackberry. We knew that the story was coming, but not when it would hit the web. I hope all of you have had the opportunity to read the more complete print version of the article and not just the “teaser†online by now.
I hate to say it, but there isn’t much to say about this story. The 18 month discussion that the article references all started because Lance here felt that Interbike should contribute more to the BBC. We are strong supporters and believers in their mission (I’m wearing my blue BBC t-shirt as I write this). Being part of a large, public (at the time) corporation, we couldn’t just simply write a big check (we tried). Contracts have to be drawn up, and non-compete and other clauses have to be put in. With the change in ownership here at VNU/Nielsen during the process, a contract would also “lock in” any new management into supporting the BBC through any of the conspiracy theorists’ worst scenarios.
While we are not privy to any of the discussions that may be going on among the BBC board members leading up to the next meeting, we do know that our intention with the BBC discussion has been to give more money to the BBC – not to get a non-compete clause out of them. We also know that our relationship with Tim Blumenthal and the entire BBC staff remains strong and positive. And no, I don’t have any plans to remove the Bikes Belong banner ad that has been running at the top of the Interbike website.
Friday morning when I’m riding to work in my Interbike jersey, I will be proud to be wearing the BBC name and logo that’s sublimated on the back pocket [and upper right chest, I just noticed Fri morning getting dressed for my commute].
Jun
7
World Crit Championships and Industry Cup races in Vegas
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Exhibitor News, Interbike, Racing | 8 Comments
So it’s official. After several furtive attempts over the years to hold a race during Interbike, we will finally get to see some first-class racing on one evening of the show (Thursday, to be exact). It should be a great party and chance to hang with our industry brothers and sisters for an evening and watch some serious racing.
The race, called the World Criterium Championship, will be the final race in the USA Crits series promoted by Swagger, LLC. Other races in the Series include the Athens Twilight and Tour of Somerville – two classics on the US race calendar for many, many years. We’re really excited to be presenting sponsors of another great race put on by the guys at Swagger.
Speaking of being excited, I think one of the coolest parts of that evening’s events will be the “Industry Cup” race. This will take place be between the pro women’s and pro men’s races and will pit teams from Interbike exhibiting companies against each other. Should be some fun and friendly competition – nobody would take this race too seriously, now, would they? Imagine Team Shimano vs Team SRAM. Or Team Pedro’s vs Team Park Tool. Look vs Time… The opportunities for friendly competition, rivalry and bragging rights are endless… All in the name of good fun and bike industry camaraderie, of course.
And think of some of the ex-pro’s that now work in the industry. There could be some very fast teams out there. A couple of names that come to mind are Wayne Stetina of Shimano and Karen Bliss of Fuji. Who else is out there? And there is definitely no shortage of fast amateurs working throughout the industry.
Here’s the link to the official press release.
More info to come as it become available…
Jun
1
An Antidote to the Dopers
Filed Under Advocacy, Racing, Rides | 4 Comments
I think the picture below really gets you feeling positive about the future of the sport following all the recent admissions that just about anyone who even thought about racing in the 90’s doped. It’s the start line of the Dana Point Grand Prix’s kids 4-7 race that happened last Saturday. Now these racers surely are clean (unless sugar is on the controlled substance list). There’s hope for the future…
That’s my daughter Sarah in the pink Giro d’Italia t-shirt in the middle. Notice the little (16″?) Mariposa road bike under the girl in the yellow jersey on the right. Pretty cool. Sarah was nervous at the start, but ended up having a blast in her first (of many, I hope) bike race. And she LOVED the cool medal and t-shirt she got as the race was a part of the Shimano Youth Series. She was so proud to wal around wearing it post-race and had to bring in to preschool for show-and-tell (remember that?). The medal has a sort XTR-look to it with the brushed metal face and the all black strap. Very nice, Shimano. Thanks for continuing to support kids’ racing.
he town of Dana Point (California) put on the race and they did a great job, too. Despite my critical last post about the course, it ended up being a very clean and smooth figure-8 loop. Since I had already psyched myself out of my return to racing after driving the course, I didn’t bring my bike to race. I was there just as support for Sarah.
Oh, and also referring back to my last post, Floyd Landis did not show up to announce the races. The organizers did, however, manage to secure the services of Dana Point native and 1984 Olympic gold-medalist (and still super strong racer) Steve Hegg as color commentator for the race.