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Nov
11
Day One Visiting SoCal Bike Dealers
Filed Under Attendee News, Cycling, Events, Industry News, Interbike, Photos, Rides | Comments Off
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 | Comments Off
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.
Jun
27
Spotted: BR&IN Publisher on a Bike
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Photos, Rides | 1 Comment
Look who I spotted today on my lunch time walk to get a burrito:
That’s Marc Sani, the publisher of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News out for a ride at lunch on a Friday. He said he was feverishly trying to catch back up to Jason of BR&IN who had dropped him a little earlier. (Note: you’re not supposed to drop the boss, guys).
Always nice to see an industry insider on a bike. Also like the uber-insider “A-Team” jersey he’s wearing.