Nov
19
CNN: Coming to a store near you: chainless bicycles
Filed Under Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike | 4 Comments
At a time when gas prices are dropping faster than the stock market these days, the number of non-endemic, mainstream media pieces on bikes as transportation has really started to dwindle, unfortunately. This is despite the fact that shops still seem to be benefitting from this movement toward the bike over other energy-wasting forms of locomotion.
So it was refreshing to see bike story on the front page of a mainstream media outlet this morning. CNN.com featured a story about how belt drives for bicycles may be set to revolutionize cycling and commuting cycling especially. As can be expected from the non-cycling press, it’s a little behind the times as belt drives have been around for a while now and they really came out as the latest “overnight success” story at Interbike in 2007 under the Spot brand.
The CNN piece focuses on the fact that Trek is releasing their District belt-driven model and it is the first production-level effort in the category. I can’t think of any evidence to the contrary, so I’ll take their word for it.
From what I’ve read about the bike, it seems like a really nice package. The style is very current fixie-hipster with the de rigeur colored deep-v rims (Velocity?), leather saddle and grips, and low-slung flat bars - though it seems like it won’t be easy to convert to actual fixed gear operation. The bike uses the Gates belt drive system.
An interesting little tidbit at the end of the article is a quote from David Oakley, a manager at Agee’s Bikes in Richmond, VA:
“From a maintenance standpoint, it’s huge,” he said. “If this really, completely takes off, the lubricant industry is probably not going to be excited.”
Look for Pedro’s, Finish Line, White Lightning and the rest of the bike lube cartel to buy up belt drive patents and hide them away in some safe deposit box.
While searching for belt drive info for this post, I found this video from Interbike 2007 on the “Unofficial Trek District Blog.”
Nov
17
Final Day of the SoCal Bike Dealer Tour
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike, Photos, Rides | 5 Comments
Last day of the Bicycle Retailer & Industry News SoCal Bike Dealer Tour was a big one. Just about 15 riders on today’s route including Tony Lo, CEO of Giant Bicycles who had flown in from Taiwan. A few more Giant staffers joined us for the ride from the BRAIN offices to dealers in Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano, California. It’s been a great week of riding, chatting with fellow industry members and hearing insightful comments from retailers. I took some notes, but so far have just had time to post photos and quick comments about the shosps we’ve visited and some of the people I rode with and met on the tour.
This has been a great concept and all of us basked in the neutral BRAIN glow as dealers opened up to us and expressed their hopes, expectations, results and experiences of the past and future of the bike business. And it was a good excuse to get out of the office and ride a really nice bike for a week…
At Interbike in 2007, I was walking around with a camera crew from Cycling.TV looking for footage of interesting sites and events to capture. I led them over to the MirraCo booth where bmx legend Dave Mirra was supposed to be wrapping up an autograph session. Since the booth looked quiet, I walked up to the guy standing near the entrance to the booth and ended up asking Dave Mirra himself if “Dave was coming back to sign more autographs” later that day. Mr. Foot, meet Mr. Mouth. Without saying a word, Dave pointed to his head with both hands and smiled. Now, I don’t think I can be faulted for not recognizing fellow-bmx kegend, Perry Kramer, he of PK Ripper fame, last Tuesday on our tour, but I was darn happy to see him in the BRAIN office again on Friday so that I could properly introduce myself and express my excitement in meeting the Man. Turns out we’re almost neighbors and he offered to show me some trails near my house. The fact that he is PK would explain why he was jumping every curb and bunny-hopping sewer greats the whole ride on his flat-bar road bike.
Another very familiar face (and new ex-coworker) getting ready for the day’s ride was Robert Roman, now in the employs of Bicycle Retailer. After 9 years serving Interbike exhibitors, Robert decided to make a change and move a few exits north on the 5 freeway to our industry’s trade mag. We’ll miss his wit and sense of humor here, but will hopefully still get to experience his powerful turn of the pedals on a regular basis as BRAIN’s lunch rides frequently go past Interbike’s HQ.
Nice to see Fred Clements, executive director of the NBDA, working from the saddle of a bike. This is why we all work in this industry, right?
Mr. Tony Lo, CEO of Giant Bicycles. Guest of honor on today’s ride and inspiration for the whole tour itself. Tony’s industry tour of Taiwan last year planted the seed for this Stateside version. Tony is an avid cyclist and rides with style and class.
Nov
12
Day Two on the SoCal Bike Dealer Tour
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike, Photos, Rides | 1 Comment
Setting out for day two of our tour of SoCal bike dealers, we made a friend. One of the best parts of road riding is running into other riders along the way and then spending the next few miles chatting. I forget this rider’s name, but when he heard we were all from the industry, he told us that he used to work for GT back in the day.
One constant at all but one shop we’ve visited so far is that fixed gear bikes are firmly entrenched in their shops. Most had a special section devoted to fixie gear, but even traditionally mountain bike focused shops like The Path in Tustin have seen fixie cultire become an important catgory and visible presence on the show floor as evidenced by the MKS and Nitto caps for sale.
Here’s part of The Path’s fixie parts and accessories section that was typical of most shops on out tour. And remember, this is Orange County - not New York, San Francisco or even LA. The fixed gear phenomenon has hit suburbia pretty hard.
Nov
11
Day One Visiting SoCal Bike Dealers
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Events, Industry News, Interbike, Photos, Rides | Leave a Comment
Great first day riding to shops in Orange County here in Southern California. Saw a real range of business models and shop types. Just a few brief notes and photos sonce time has been tight and at the end of the day I was just exhausted. Happily, we haven’t heard any gloom and doom stories related to the poor state of the economy and newly low(er) gas prices. Although, the OC is not exactly your typical demographic when it comes to the economy.
Here’s the gang at the Bicycle Retailer & Industry News world headquarters before we set off. We’re all on very nice Giants and are sporting Giant and Pedro’s jerseys courtesy of the ride sponsors. Thanks! Left to right: Chris Zigmont of Pedro’s, Jason Norman, Megan Tompkins and Marc Sani of BRAIN, An Le of Giant, Lynette Carpiet of BRAIN, myself, and Nicole Formosa of BRAIN.
First stop was Ladera Cyclery in Ladera Ranch. Nice higher end shop with a range of family to high end road and tri gear. Jeff is the owner and is passionate about cycling.
Very different and up next is the classic shop Bicic Sports owned by Marcel Calborn. BS is in the vein of classic road shops. They definitely speak Campy here. I remember first seeing him almost 10 years ago at the ol LA Bike Expo selling Mapei team bikes since he was friends with someoneo on the team. Very cool. Still has tons of classic bikes and gear in the shop. Endless trove of stories to go along with them.
Marcel has made his own brand of frames for over 20 years including this old school time trial bike with the Silva aluminum disc wheels. I love this stuff. The counter displays are full of old cranks and Delta Brakes.
How many shops have Colnago and Pogliaghi tandems in stock?
Any shop can have a shop-brnaded water bottle, but how many have shop pantographed cranksets?
If you’re ever in the shop, ask Marcel about his Jacques Villeneuve Vespa. If you don’t know who Villeneuve was, don’t bother.
Edge Cyclesports in Laguna Woods is a contrast to Bici Sports: high end boutique road and tri shop. Only the latest bikes and gear, all super high end. Most striking, though, is how nice and welcoming co-owner Mary Ann is. Maybe it’s because she’s from Ohio. One of the niceset and most fiercely knowledgeable people in the bike industry I’ve met. I’ve been to many high end shops in my life, and unfortunately, many of them come with a high dose of arrogance. Not so at Edge.
Mary Anne made sure to point out the (hard to miss) Ridely Dean - one of the only that have made their way into a shop in the US so far. This was one of THE hot bikes at Interbike this year.
They love Made in USA (and Canada) brands like IF, Calfee and Guru. This IF fixie is beautiful.
On our way to the next shop, we came upon this group of OC fixie hipsters. There’s even a Bianchi Pista in there to complete the look. It’s amazing to me how much fixies have infiltrated suburbia. Where are suburban kids seeing them to get the influence?
When we got to Jax Bicycles in Irvine, we were welcomed by this nice display of balloons, snacks and cool drinks (hope the rest of our tour stops are reading this…).
Dave Hansen, the owner, is passionate about his business and gave us a great presentation on his business philosophy. Jax is a Trek concept store and is very nicely laid out and designed. He’s really focused into the numbers of his business and should be an inspiration to all retailers in that regard. “What gets measured gets done.” He’s very open about his business with both employees and his suppliers. He’s also very willing to help out his fellow retailers as it will elevate the bike retail business for all if all are stronger and doing better. amen.
We’ve got four more shops on the schedule for today. Weather looks good again this morning. Ride on!
Nov
9
SoCal Bike Shop Tour This Week
Filed Under Interbike | Leave a Comment
I’ve mentioned this on Twitter a few times over the last couple of weeks, but haven’t had the opportunity to get on the blog with it yet. We’re going through budget and marketing plan time here at the office for all of our 2009 shows, so time has been tight. But I’m happy to have been invited by the team at Bicycle Retailer & Industry News to take part in their Southern California Bike Shop Tour this week and get out of the office. We’ll be riding by bike from shop to shop here in Orange County to visit dealers and spend some time getting to know them better and see what’s been going on in the market place recently.
I think that it’s safe to say that the economy has suffered a bit since we last all got together in Vegas in September at the show. I guess even then things weren’t exactly rosy for the global economy, but the feeling at the show was that the bike industry could buck the trends and resist and and (even thrive in) the downturn given some of the factors in the economy and the solutions to those that we offer society.
Well, some 50 days have past since we came back from the show and things have taken a turn for the worse in economy with no short term end in sight and the gas prices that were fueling a move to bikes as a form of transportation are continuing to fall along with prices for most commodities. How is the bike industry looking now given the new challenges that all businesses in the industry and their consumers must be facing? This will be a big focus of the tour: getting a read on what our industry’s retailers are seeing in the marketplace.
The tour will not only be all gloom and doom. Another focus that I have, in particular, as a representative of Interbike, is to celebrate the independent bike dealer. There are few things I enjoy as much as visiting and browsing a good bike shop. From the smell of tire rubber and citrus degreaser to the sight of the unique mechanics’s workshop setups to the rows of shiny new bikes to the chatter about the most recent race war stories, all the senses are served. I’ve been to many of the shops we’ll be stopping at, but there are some that I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting and I’m looking forward to them. I want to learn about their histories and what makes them unique. What role do they take in their community? Do they sponsor clubs or teams or weekly rides? Do they speak Campagnolo? I’ll be posting updates along the way and hoping to record some video, too.
Giant Bicycles is sponsoring the tour and is setting us up with bikes to ride this week. I don’t think I’ve really ridden a Giant much over the years (at least one with the Giant name on it) so I’m really looking forward to spending some time on one. I’ve been told that Tony Lo, CEO of Giant, will be joining us for part of the ride and to say that I am excited to finally meet him is an understatement. Pedro’s Bike Care will be supporting the ride and their CEO, Chris Zigmont, will also be on the ride. They are a big proponent of environmentally friendly behavior on a corporate and individual level and are enthusiastic supporters of the bicycle as an agent of positive change. And it’s always a pleasure to be able to chat with Chris.
A few years back, I figured that in all my years in the industry making sales calls at shops around the country and just visiting them as a fan and customer, I’ve probably been in about 400 US bike shops. I’m glad that I will be able to add to that total this week.