Apr
30
Gary Fisher on Social Media from Sea Otter
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
At the Bicycle Leadership Conference that took place in Monterey, California, just before Sea Otter this year, I gave a presentation to the attendees on the topic of social media marketing. It was an interesting opportunity given the make up of the audience at the BLC: primarily the executive leadership of all the major brands in the bike industry. That’s an interesting group to speak to on the topic because at most other seminars, talks and panel sessions on the subject, the audience is typically made up of people in marketing that already “get it” about SM for the most part. What many of these marketing professionals and SM evangelists are looking for are tools to use when trying to explain the value of SM to upper management at their companies – exactly who I would be speaking directly to.
In framing the “why” of SM to executives, I believe that it’s imperative to address the value proposition that SM can bring to their companies. What is it that CEO’s and presidents need to hear to be convinced? It’s not just the fact that conversations are happening online (yawn…) – it’s how engaging these people through SM can add value to their companies and empower and excite employees and customers. I hope that we – I asked Chris Matthews of Specialized’s marketing department to co-present with me – were able to do that. (I’m still planning a full post on this as soon as I can finish writing it up.)
With that said, one of the examples we gave in our presentation (along with the photo above from fisherbikes.com) when describing the importance of *authenticity* and *personality* when engaging in social media, was Mr. Gary Fisher. If you’re at all familiar with the bike industry, you know what we mean about Gary. I was really hoping to run into Gary in the expo area of Sea Otter to ask him a few questions about his use of SM since he’s become a very active – and interesting – user of Twitter over the last few months. As you can see below, I did and was able to get some great insight into his use of the tool and what it means to his mom, of all people. Again, with the great video skills of Markus from Cyclefilm.
TALES FROM SEA OTTER 2009 – Gary Fisher from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
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Apr
29
Mia & Laura of Momentum Magazine Interview
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | Comments Off
You meet all kinds of people walking the aisles at the Sea Otter Classic. One of the good ones I ran into – literally, into the arms of a big hug from her – was Mia Kohout, publisher of Momentum Magazine. Mia was visiting Sea Otter for the first time with her coworker Laura Brennan and the two of them were enlightening the racing masses about the self-propelled lifestyle. On the way (through San Jose) to Monterey, they managed to entice Gary Fisher to share a campsite with them at Laguna Seca, and the three were seemingly inseparable the whole event. Read Laura’s take on the event here.
If you’ve been living under a rock, Momentum is the “Magazine for self-propelled people.” They celebrate urban, transportation and utility cycling and generally promote a fun and practical cycling lifestyle. Partnering with Momentum, we were able to put on the awesome Urban Legend Fashion and Art Show at last year’s Interbike.
Since we happened to be standing next to a pair of purple comfortable and stylishly fuzzy chairs in the Cannondale team tent, I thought this was a perfect spot to capture Mia and Laura’s thoughts on the magazine, Sea Otter and whatever cycling thoughts were passing through their minds at the time. Good stuff. Enjoy and read the magazine.
TALES FROM SEA OTTER 2009 – Momentum from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
Apr
27
2009 Bicycle Leadership Conference Video
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
For the first time ever, the annual Bicycle Leadership Conference was held in Monterey, California, from April 15-17 to coincide with another big industry gathering, the Sea Otter Classic. Typically, the BLC has been held in February in warm weather locales such as San Diego or Phoenix with the goal of getting people out of their businesses so that they can work on them, sharing notes with their peers in the industry on topics of mutual importance and finding better ways of working together. Monterey cooperated by playing the part of warm weather locale very nicely this year. Attendees also played nicely with a great spirit of openness.
The BLC is run by the BPSA (Bicycle Products Suppliers Association) and as such is primarily focused on supplier-related issues. In the past, it has varied in format and has been more equally weighted between supplier and retailer topics. Regardless, retailers are still welcome at the event and are encouraged to attend. It’s a great conference with a true “who’s who” of the bicycle industry present.
As you’ll see in our highlight video below, that was produced by Markus Neuert of Cyclefilm for us, this year’s event was notable for the refreshing openness among the attendees in sharing information about their businesses – especially given the economic climate we’re all operating under. Attendance is primarily executives from all of the major bike, component and accessory manufacturers and, understandably, some have been hesitant to share sales figures in the past while the president of their major competitor was sitting in the third row listening. What did we learn as a result of this openness? Well, I learned that despite the serious drop-off in sales in the last quarter following the economic drop-off that occurred a few weeks after the last Interbike, things aren’t all gloom and doom. Most retailers seem to be holding there own and still benefiting from the continued popularity of hybrid and pavement bike categories and labor in maintaining older bikes – a great indicator of the sustainability of the transportation and utility bike segments that were strengthened by the high gas prices of last year. With that said, there may be a looming factory inventory level issue ready to rear its head later this year depending on how sales go this Spring and Summer. Chris Speyer, of Raleigh, used a great analogy in describing the challenges that inventory can be during his industry statistics presentation (paraphrased): “Inventory is like fish: great when it’s fresh, but starts to stink if you don’t use it quickly.”
BICYCLE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2009 from CYCLEFILM & Interbike on Vimeo.
Notes: John Nedeau is VP of Global Sales for SRAM in addition to being head of the BPSA as he is listed in the video, and Al Budris was the conference director for the 2009 BLC.
Apr
20
Levi Leipheimer discusses Twitter at Sea Otter
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Racing, Video | 1 Comment
Just back from the Sea Otter Classic. If you’ve ever been but missed it this year, you really missed some unbelievable Monterey weather – absolutely gorgeous. Felt a little like we were at Bootleg Canyon in September.
I was up there for two reasons, one was to attend and present at the annual Bicycle Leadership Conference on the topic of social media marketing. I’ll be posting about that soon. The other reason was to meet with members of the industry to see how things are going and to try to capture some interesting video interviews with my new good friend, videographer/producer Markus Neuert of Cyclefilm.
So in the first of many videos we’ll be posting up, here’s one that ties both reasons together as we checked in with Levi Leipheimer about his use of Twitter.
Follow us on Twitter:
Levi: @levi_leipheimer
Me: @interbike
Cyclefilm: @cyclefilm
Apr
13
Hope for the mass channel?
Filed Under Cycling, Gear, Photos | 3 Comments
Was at one of the big national big box mass merchant chain stores over the weekend. Of all the large chains, it’s the one I tolerate the best because of their tasteful sense of design and style and general (perceived?) quality of the merchandise. Unfortunately, that well known sense of style has not generally extended to the bikes they sell. So I was surprised last night to see a bike that transcended the typical mass merchant offerings of triple crown-equipped full-suspension downhill racing-inspired tanks and Barbie themed kid’s bikes last night.
The usual path to the Star Wars (sorry, Clone Wars, according to our 3 year old obsessed fanboy) section leads past the bike aisle. We don’t usually stop in there, but with our daughter’s birthday coming up, and a new bike high on her list, I was curious about her opinion of BMX vs. beach cruiser bike style (about all that’s available in 20″ wheel bikes for 7-year-olds), so we took a detour.
I casually followed an online discussion recently about the role that mass merchants like these could play in getting more people on bikes. For a while now, I’ve felt that the mass is the perfect channel to introduce the non-cycling population to cycling by offering the right bike in a non-threatening environment that they are comfortable in. A fairly practical, easy to ride, sharp-looking bike in a store they already feel comfortable in. It would follow the same lessons that Shimano learned in researching their Coasting project on why 161 million Americans avoid specialty bike shops: They’re apparently intimidated by the perceived complexity of the bikes, the crowded technology-laden merchandising and oft elitist staff.
Here’s what caught my eye:
It’s a “just a bike” bike. With some added style thrown in. The Schwinn Tourist is a decent sporty-looking bike with light 700c aero-profile, paired-spoke wheels; flat bars; linear-pull brakes; tapered straight blade fork; quick release skewers; tasteful satin metallic gray paint. Didn’t really look into other component details, but at a quick glance it’s not exactly your typical department store bike. I know some of you are thinking “yeah, but it’s not a 3-speed internal hub.” Or it’s not a single speed, or have wide enough tires, or have fenders, or dyno powered light or a rack.
Curiosity piqued, I poked around their website when I got home to try to see full specs and how they describe the bike. I was surprised to find a number of other “urban” styled bikes and even two that approached full-on commuter status.
Check out the Schwinn Gridlock with fenders, rack, transparent chain guard, aluminum frame and Amsterdam-esque all black paint scheme:
Or how about the Huffy Commuter (bet you never expected to see those two words together)? Also with fenders and rack and simplified 1×5 drivetrain.
According to the website, these models are only available online and not in stores, which is a shame. It would be great to have models like this in front of the non-cycling public. Still, I think it’s another sign of the organic growth of the bicycle as a means of transportation that we’ve been experiencing over the last few years. (Though with most of these big box stores located in suburbia, you would expect the demand for this category to be weaker than if they were in urban areas.)
But alas, back at the store, I was jerked back to the reality of my surroundings and reminded of one of the top reasons why independent, specialty bike stores are by far the best choice for your next (or first) bike purchase. Just down the aisle from the Tourist was this beauty of a build:
It sort of looks like the curved down tube was designed to actually accommodate the occasional improper fork assembly by store staff, huh? With our litigious society, shouldn’t this scare the heck out of mass market suppliers like Magna? (If you’re new to cycling or didn’t notice, the fork is mounted backwards).
Any other examples of general merchandise or mass merchants starting to catch on to the growth in transportation/utility cycling?
Apr
7
San Diego Custom Bike Show
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike, Photos | 3 Comments
This last Saturday was a busy day for me and cycling. First up at 7:30 am was a date with David Bernstein and several other bike industry types for a recording of the Spokes Cycling Roundtable podcast. I’ve done it once before in addition to recording a holiday gift picks piece back in December. I love listening to the podcast myself, and the chance to participate and chat with David, Tim Jackson of Masi Bikes, Carlton Reid of Bike Biz UK and Richard Masoner (better know by the name Fritz) of the Cyclelicio.us was something I wasn’t about to pass up. Had a good time talking about a range of topics going on the industry lately. You should give it a listen. Check it out at www.the-spokesmen.com.
Following the recording (via Skype) and while Julie and the kids were still out at a friend’s, I managed to squeeze in a couple hour ride out to PCH. It was a gorgeous day and I missed riding all last week with the work load.
To top off the day, after a show and lunch, I headed down to the Mission Valley area of San Diego for the inaugural San Diego Custom Bike Show. Having followed the success of the 3 year old North American Handmade Bike Show from a distance, I was really looking forward to seeing some of the craftsmanship first hand. As an added bonus, Tim – a fellow San Diegan – was going to be there.
While I expected to be floored by aisles full of of amazing bikes, I am really amazed by the sheer number of custom builders that are out there now. Truly unbelievable the quantity of creative craftsmen (and women) that have sprung up over the last 5-10 years. The SD show attracted builder from a number of staes including Oregon and Arizona. Wish I could have taken literature from each, but I didn’t have that much time to spend at the show.
I snapped a bunch of photos of all the beautiful bikes, but am having some trouble with my Flickr account and Wordpress’ image uploading is too slow and cumbersome to handle so many photos, so I’ll post the rest in a bit. Here’s a selection of some of the scenery at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center:
I love kids’ road bikes an I saw a few here. Abby’s a lucky girl.
Argonaut Cycles had some just beautiful work and attention to detail like this treatment of a new Dura Ace crankset. Improvement over the matte finish, I say.
I had never heard of Argonaut before checking the show’s website for the exhibitor list. I have to say, from top to bottom, they’ve got every detail covered: clean building, awesome paint and professionally designed logo. Argonaut is based in Portland, OR.
Apr
2
SoCal high school gets velodrome & track racing program?
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Racing, humor | 1 Comment
How cool is this? Even in the midst of the economic crisis, a high school is investing in cycling. And not just a cycling program, but a whole velodrome!
Update: Too cool apparently. Even though I received the news in my inbox today when my hoax threat level was back down to green from yesterday’s red, I just noticed the release is dated April 1. Sorry. Shame since it would have made for a great record setting venue up in the mountains.
Read the press release below:
SOCAL HIGH SCHOOL GETS VELODROME AND TRACK RACING PROGRAM
Contact: Matt Fritzinger, fritz@socaldirt.org, (510) 653-2453, www.socaldirt.org
Cedar Glen, CA – Last night, with a 7-2 vote, the school board of Mountain Top High School approved the construction of the first ever high school velodrome and scholastic track program in America. The decision serves as a historic milestone in the main-streaming of competitive cycling in secondary schools across the state of California. While high school mountain biking has been picking up steam since 2001 with the formation of the NorCal High School Mountain Bike Racing League, track racing looks to be the next alternative for high schoolers eager for sports that suit their short attention spans.
“Mountain biking is an endurance sport and except for the occasional sprint finish, it favors athletes with slow-twitch muscles leaving young cyclists with the genetic gift of more fast-twitch muscles feeling devalued. I’m very pleased to see this new discipline brought into the schools,” commented Matt Fritzinger, director of the Northern California mountain biking program.
In what may draw some criticism, the velodrome will replace the astro-turf field and football program. MTHS’s Head football Coach, Don Boggs commented “I’m keeping an open mind here. After two losing seasons, I don’t get much say around here anyway. I’m also very impressed with the way cycling is addressing the problem of performance enhancing drugs.” Unlike professional football, which penalizes wealthy players with meager fines and has led to a vast abuse of steroids at the high school level, professional and amateur bike racers face 2-4 year bans from the sport.
School Superintendant, Jim Swift, said “I advocated for this as soon as I saw the cost-benefit analysis. A velodrome is going to cost $1.8 trillion whereas a stadium retrofit and new astroturf was going to cost us $1.9 trillion. That may seem like a small difference, but that’s actually $100 billion dollars. We can buy quite a few books and computers for that much money.”
Additionally, it appears that track racing will become a natural complement to the recently inaugurated Socal Interscholastic Cycling League that only includes mountain biking currently. Board president Quintin Easton commented, “I’m stoked -– we put the generic term ‘cycling’ in the League name because we planned to incorporate various disciplines into the League. This velodrome is a dream come true!”
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