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Jun
13
Are Bike Shops Selling the Bikes New Bikers Want?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Gear, Green Efforts, Interbike | 14 Comments
Great new article (actually, a “Special Report”) in the latest BRAIN that came in a couple of days ago. Matt Wiebe’s story is titled “Alternative Retail Channels Cater to New Cyclists.” It’s a very well written article that brings up some great points for retailers – and manufacturers – some things to chew on. Make sure you read it when it arrives in the mail – it doesn’t seem to exist on BRAIN’s website.
Matt begins with an observation that is probably a very widely held assumption across the industry and biking community currently:
A perfect storm is building of people who cannot afford gas, who realize they have to change their lifestyle to save the planet and believe bikes are the answer.
We’ve all witnessed it: the train in the morning is overflowing with bikes, buses are turning bikers away because the Sportworks on the front is full, and retailers are seeing more people dusting off old bikes and bringing them in for service to start riding to work. More and more politicians and celebrities are being photographed on their bikes and Barack Obama just granted a private meeting with bike industry leaders last night. These are new riders from the proverbial 161 million non-riders we’ve all been trying to reach, right?
As Matt goes on to write, though, the “storm wind should be blowing these new consumers into the nation’s bike shops … but it’s not happening.”
Tim Parr of Swobo supports that statement early in the article by saying, “these new customers cannot find the product they want because it’s not an enthusiast’s bike.” Bicycle dealers are great at serving the needs of enthusiasts but not so much the needs of these new bikers.
I think we can all agree with Matt’s line that “the enthusiast market is not where the growth and excitement is now.”
In addition, alternative retailers and retail channels have sprung up to serve this new, market. These include surf and skate shops, apparel boutiques and – brace yourself – internet direct sales. That last one is a taste of a topic for a whole other post: how retailers are still not fully embracing the internet to grow their businesses and how certain manufacturers are “holding back” retailers from taking advantage of the internet. Talk about a hot button issue…
So what are these bikes that these “neo-bikers” are looking for? How about the urban fixie trend? We’ve all read enough BikeSnobNYC posts and have seen fixies turn up under suburban teens farther and farther away from the city centers where the category was born to know that these are huge. While a few manufacturers have stepped up with models to serve this market (and their dealers with product), for the most part, consumers are forced to look to alternative channels to get what they want. The fixie trend is also bringing with it an opportunity that the bike industry has longed for for eons: a lifestyle market, the likes of which the surf and skate industries have enjoyed since the dawn of their sports. Non-enthusiasts are not going to – or even thinking about – bike shops for this.
Another type of bike that the neo-biker is not finding is a $300-$500 “just-a-bike” bike. Many bike shops have been profiting from $8,000 custom road bike sales over the last 10 years or so and can’t serve the needs of the neo-biker. I can remember my dad balking at paying the $800 for a mountain bike that the shop salesperson proposed years ago when I convinced him to try cycling. He told me that $300 was about what he wanted to pay for a bike to ride around town. We enthusiasts and industry members would consider $800 about right for an entry-level bike. How many people are turned away by the higher than expected prices for bikes.
I don’t want to give away the whole article before you have a chance to read it, but I tend to agree with Matt on so many of these aspects that contribute to the challenge that bike shops apparently are facing in addressing this surge of new riders. From manufacturers increasingly encouraging dealers to make larger commitments to their brands that in turn causes the dealers to lose the ability to change quickly with the market place to non-cycling brands like RVCA (and here from a non-bike blog) and Paul Frank making inroads into the bike market through their networks of non-traditional bike retailers, there are some great points to think about.
What I have seen in my limited exposure to this market is that on the train every day that I commute, I see alot of inappropriate bikes being used. Obviously, they’re all bikes and it’s great that they are being ridden, but I think we can do better for these neo-bikers.
I don’t know, am I wrong?
May
16
It’s Bike to Work Day in SoCal
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Rides | 4 Comments
As if you didn’t know, bike community members, today is Bike to Work Day in Southern California. I guess other regions have it on different days. Judging by the number of bikes on the train platform this morning, I going to guess that its will be a pretty successful BTWD. The ongoing challenge, of course, is to keep everyone going beginning Monday. MasiGuy’s blog had a comment this morning that describes this well here.
A side effect of BTWD is the crowded trains. I guess it’s a positive sign for cycling, but the 2 racks per car on Metrolink here don’t cut it. There were 5 bikers on my train home last night. Can’t wait for tonight’s crowds.
On a positive note, there happened to be a “market research” person from Metrolink on my car. I commented to her about the need for more racks. She smiled and handed me a survey to fill out and suggested that I use the comment area to mention the problem. Also was able to put down that the bike is my mode of transport pre- and post-train ride. Bonus.
Along with the four other bikes there were four other bikers on the train. Had a nice conversation with one who was on a really nice carbon road bike. He’s definitely one of the industry’s “VIP Customers.” So much so, that after he found out that I worked for Interbike (did the jersey and socks plastered with the logo give it away?), he mentioned that he loves Interbike and goes every year. When I asked him how he gets in, he said that he’s a very good customer of his shop and they get him into the show. Now this volatile topic is worthy of a whole other post, but suffice it to say that if any type consumer should be let into the show, this is it. He doesn’t ask for price lists or deals or sponsorship, knows that the show is for the dealers and manufacturers to conduct their business and he buys everything he sees there from his local shop.
I’m not advocating at all that it’s ok for retailers to do this. They still need to respect the exhibitors and those other retailers who are uncomfortable with this and have expressed a desire to keep the show for the trade only. I do have to admit that this guy’s passion and love of bikes and cycling is strong enough to get him to drive 5 hours each way to Vegas and pay for his own hotel and expenses just to ogle cool new bike gear.
Continuing the trend of interesting conversations that happen when you bike and train to work instead of driving, I met the publisher of Skateboarder magazine this morning (they’re also based in San Juan Capistrano and are the sister mag to Bike magazine). He bikes to work most days of the week. Great talk about the future of traditional media and the web and also nuances of the various core “tribes” within the skate world. Good stuff. Would never happen in a car by yourself.
Finally, here’s one more pic for Carlton Reid (congrats on your award, btw!) who enjoys seeing where people live, work and ride. I was bit early this morning to the train and rode a couple of blocks over from the station to the beach. Another beautiful day to ride.
May
14
The Post-Doping World of Pro Baseball
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Racing | Comments Off
Doping has been somewhat less of a hot topic lately in the cycling world, but I always find it incredibly interesting to look at the extent of the doping problem in other sports and how the media and public view it as compared to cycling. Mainly it’s because I believe that cycling gets an unfair share of the negative media attention and that there’s a perception by the general public that pro cyclists have been more doped up than other sports’ athletes. Pro baseball, here in the US, has been helping take some of the negative headline burden off of cycling’s shoulders, lately, as a result of some government inquiries, confessions and just plain old “I know steroid use when I see it” skepticism by observers as players bulked up and power hitting numbers skyrocketed since the early 90’s.
I was listening to a sports talk radio show this morning before work and heard some amazing analysis of how pro baseball has changed as a result of (finally) stronger drug testing and the government’s recent Mitchell Report that resulted from investigating the use of drugs in baseball and incriminated many high profile current and former players. While immunity has been granted for the many players named in the report, the statistics for this first season following the release of the report indicate that there has apparently been a strong reaction amongst the players that has led to a dramatic reduction in steroid and HGH usage. As the host of the program said, “when the lights were turned on in the kitchen, all the rats and cockroaches went scurrying for cover.”
The big statistic that struck home for me, was the expected total number of home runs for this season – the home run being the play most likely to be positively affected by an increase in strength. A former Major League Baseball executive, who is now an analyst, said on the program that, at the current pace and about 40 games into a 162-game season, the league will hit 1,000 fewer home runs this year than in 2006. Considering that in ‘06 there was a total of 5,386 home runs, the difference is staggering – nearly a 20% drop.
Additional evidence of a change in drug use is a drop in average pitch speeds and anecdotal evidence of smaller physical stature and more frequent injuries so far this season.
So pro cycling is the only sport that was rampant with dopers? I think not.
Apr
23
Guess the Gas Price…
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Interbike | 3 Comments
If you guessed “obscene”, you win! (I know, Carlton, it’s still a pittance compared to UK and Euro prices…) And we’re all riding our bikes to work and store so it should be irrelevant, right?
The station around the corner from our office in San Juan Capistrano, California, had these prices posted this week as I walked to lunch. We’re well on our way to $5/gallon and there still seems to be no major shift in driving habits. Minor adjustments and more hybrid car sales, yes. But no major impacts that I can see on true alternatives to car use at this point.
Speaking of shifts in driving habits, at Sea Otter I overheard someone commenting on how places with poor weather seem to have more utilitarian bike use than those places with more agreeable weather. Think Portland, Seattle, New York, Boston… Now think L.A., Miami, Phoenix. Which ones come to mind when you think “city with lots of bike commuters”?
Apr
21
Sea Otter Video – Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Interbike, Video | 1 Comment
In light of my recent introduction into local bicycle advocacy, I thought I’d go to the source for some expert advice. As I mention in my intro in the video, I have some experience with some pretty big advocacy efforts like the National Bike Summit, but when it came to actually effecting some advocacy close to home, I really had no idea where to start. I guess the nitty gritty of the work had been left to the professionals at the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong or IMBA, to name a few, in the advocacy that I had been a part of.
Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, kindly accepted my request for an interview during his busy schedule at the Sea Otter Classic when I called him a few days prior to the event. Tim is always a pleasure to speak with and I’ve been lucky to be able to spend time with him at the last two Sea Otter events now. He’s a great advocate and representative for the industry. And he tells a great story.
The theme of this interview is advice for cyclists wanting to effect bicycle advocacy on a local level. Good stuff.
Technical note: I need to figure out how to turn my left channel only sound (from my mono microphone plugged into the stereo input on the camera) into left and right mono. Not so bad through speakers, but very noticeable with headphones. Maybe I just need to invest in some better video editing software.
Apr
18
Sea Otter Video – Pedro’s Chris Zigmont
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Exhibitor News, Green Efforts, Industry News, Video | 4 Comments
Man, doing the video thing is alot more work than just posting. Finally after some quality time in the Sea Otter Media Center, I’ve got something to show. I interviewed Pedro’s current GM and soon to be CEO, Chris Zigmont, about their efforts to be green and a socially responsible company. Good stuff from a passionate member of our industry. Also includes news about the management buyout of Pedro’s back from Swix. (Please excuse my noobi-ness as an on-camera interviewer…) More videos to come.
Apr
4
This is a Good Thing, Right?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Green Efforts | 1 Comment
Leaving work at the end of the day earlier this week, I snapped this photo while stopped at a light just around the corner from our offices here in San Juan Capistrano in Southern California. This particular station has always had obscenely high prices, but now premium gas is well beyond the $4 per gallon threshold. And this morning I noticed that they’ve adjusted the price up to $4.13 with super at over $4 now.
While I never buy from this station, the overall trend is now REALLY starting to play with the economics of bike and mass transit commuting options versus driving. SoCal is not exactly designed for easy mass transportation use given the infamous suburban sprawl of the region and car-centric mentality of the original urban planners (effectively the developers and politicians), but I think it will finally start to noticeably affect pocketbooks and wallets.
I’ve got to start up the bike commute again now that there’s enough daylight at the end of the day for the 14 mile bike leg of my multi-modal commute (which includes a train ride up the coast to Orange County). With my kids’ school schedules in the morning and wife’s work, I can only do it two days per week, but gas prices should now make it a financial win as well as a Wilford Brimley-esque “right thing to do”?
So the high gas prices are painful, but it’s a good thing for the bike industry, right?
Mar
18
Thank You Dick Burke and Trek
Filed Under Cycling, Deep Thoughts, Photos | 5 Comments
Chip Smith, our main PR guy and great friend at SOAR Communications, wrote a nice story on their blog last week about hearing of Trek founder Dick Burke’s passing recently and his memories of his first bike – a Trek – and how it inspired him to start riding. My plan was to just re-print an excerpt here and link to the whole piece and as I started writing this, I remembered that it was a Trek that got me into riding, too. While Chip’s was a ‘79 touring model, mine was a circa ‘90 930 mountain bike. Here’s a picture of Chip and his bike (and a bit more hair, as he put it):
My Trek was definitely a child of the late ’80’s. And not just because it was a mountain bike. It was mostly black, but had fluorescent green lettering and highlights. I thought it was a hot looking bike at the time.
Not having ridden since I was a kid back in junior high, I borrowed by Brazilian college roommate’s bike for the Summer. I was staying in my college town to do an internship and said I’d hold onto his bike for the Summer while he was back home in Rio. I was on the rowing team in college and thought that the biking would help me stay in shape for my senior year season. Even though it was an mtb, I don’t think I took it off-road once that summer. The Trek and I just did long rides on the road everyday. The bike had those crazy Scott mtb handlbars (with lime green grips and bar wrap) that curved around to the front into an aero-bar position that I used alot. I thought I was all aero on my off-road bike with knobby tires. Groups of roadies going the other way gave me funny looks. The baggy soccer shorts probably added to the visual humor.
One of the things on that bike that got me hooked on riding and on bikes themselves was a piece of technology: push-button Rapid-Fire shifters. Not the more-recent trigger-style, mind you, but the original two thumb-actuated button shifters. I thought it was so cool that you could just push a button and the bike would shift. That was my first experience with indexed shifting. And while the shifter self-destructed later that Summer, it was enough to get me hooked on bike technology.
When I graduated from college a year later, my parents offered to buy me a graduation gift. I asked for a bike. And since I only ever rode on the road, I asked for a road bike. Even though I lusted after those carbon tubes-bonded-to-aluminum-lug Treks that my college town shop sold (Bicycle Alley in Worcester, MA), back home at my local shop (Greenwich Bicycles in Greenwich, CT) I ended up buying another brand (a ‘92 Bridgestone RB-1 that I still have, btw). My dad was so impressed with that Trek I borrowed, that he bought his own Trek mtb (“for more than I paid for my first motorcycle!” he commented) that same Summer and eventually an OCLV road bike (the’99 Lance Armstrong Tour win commemorative model) and got into riding seriously.
So while I never met the guy and didn’t have an opportunity to meet his son John at the BLC recently, his efforts in founding Trek back ‘76 played a role in Chip and I getting into cycling. Thanks, Mr. Burke!
Feb
25
Let Alberto Ride
Filed Under Attendee News, Deep Thoughts, Racing, humor | 3 Comments
Was up at the Tour of California on Saturday and noticed t-shirts with “Let Levi Ride” on them for the first time. Also saw them on display at my local bike shop on Sunday. Now, all issues of right or wrong, guilt or innocence aside, I love BikeSnobNYC’s observation (as always, tongue in cheek) that the Let Levi Ride campaign ought actually be for Levi’s teammate, Alberto Contador – the guy that actually won the Tour de France. I’ve got nothing against the guy, but why focus on the third place finisher, right?
If an online petition can actually have an effect on the ASO’s decision, isn’t the real injustice leaving the winner out?
(If you’ve never checked out the BikeSnob blog before, it’s definitely worth a visit. And with upwards of 100(!) comments to each of his almost daily posts, I’m not the only one who feels that way. Bring your sense of humor.)
Feb
1
Vacuums, Zipper Hospitals and Bike Shops
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Interbike | 1 Comment
I broke our fifteen-year-old vacuum cleaner’s carpet cleaning attachment over the holidays when I tried to repack the bearings on the roller brush with fresh bike grease (my favorite lime green Shimano Dura-Ace grease, by the way). As a bike geek, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the vacuum’s roller brush spun on tiny cartridge bearings. “Hey, I’ll just clean them out and inject some fresh grease in them!” They were pretty much were shot, though, and as I tried to clean them out, one of them just felt apart and there was no way it was going to go back together.
As is now the norm, my first reaction was to Google “Eureka vacuum spare parts” to see if I could just order up some new bearings or something online. No such luck since our vac is a bit old for the online sellers. I knew there was a vacuum store in the next town over so I brought the attachment over to my LVS (local vacuum shop) to see if there was any hope for it.
Where am I going with this story? Well, it dawned on me as I was being helped by the man at the vacuum store that I was taking part in an increasingly rare activity: having something repaired rather than throwing it out and buying a new one. It also occurred to me that bikes and bike shops continue to part of this great legacy of non-disposable machines and their service centers.
What got me thinking this way was the way the gentleman at the store looked. He must have been in his seventies with white hair and a cardigan sweater and he walked a bit slow. He also had on one of those Navy baseball hats with “U.S.S. Midway” embroidered on it in gold. He wore it as if it meant something to him – as if he had served on it much earlier in his life but remembered it as if it were yesterday. Standing there telling him my name and phone number and describing the problem I was having with my vacuum, I found myself wondering whether there would there be anyone to take over and continue the vacuum cleaner repair shop when this man decided to finally retire.
I can’t imagine that the shop would continue. When was the last time you saw an appliance or electronics repair shop? Or even a shoe repair shop? We used to be able to take our VCR down to the local electronics repairman to get it back up and running if it stopped working back when I was a kid. I remember I had a nice Patagonia jacket back in college that I kept breaking the zipper on. I used to hang it behind my dorm room’s door, and every now an then, someone would throw open the door, and the zipper would get crushed against the wall. Luckily, just down the street from school there was a “zipper hospital.” It was mainly a tailor shop, but they had a sign out front that looked like an emergency room sign with the red cross and text on a white background. I could bring in my jacket and 5 minutes and a few bucks later the zipper would be as good as new
Regardless of whether you have a repair shop close by, I understand the realities of modern technology and the fact that it’s usually much less expensive to buy a new iPod or blender than it is to have it repaired. There is something very satisfying, though, about avoiding sending something else to the landfill, or as is often the case, having it sit in a drawer unusable, by having it fixed.
Now, while you could argue that bikes today are slightly less repairable, to a degree, than in the past with all the cartridge-style bearings and parts like bottom brackets, I think it’s great that they are still easily serviced, maintained and repaired by any one of several thousand great local bike shops around the country or by its mechanically-inclined owner. I think that this is a great legacy to keep alive and one that we should be proud of as an industry.
The man at the store called me up two days later saying that the vacuum was ready to be picked up. He had replaced the roller brush and checked out the motor, too. He also noticed that the drive belt was old and replaced it. Since the belts come in two-packs, he gave me the second one to keep as a spare. $30 in parts and labor. What a bargain. I hope he’s still around the next time the Eureka needs some work, but I’m not holding my breath.
Just a thought that occurred to me this week…