Archive for the ‘Cycling Biz’ Category
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Gets hisself a beat down!
Capitol Times:
The bicyclist who felt “extremely insulted” when a fellow biker told him to get a light on his bike and ended up beating the commenter was arrested and tentatively charged with battery and disorderly conduct Wednesday, police said.
Dustin Dunlavy, 28, Madison, allegedly grabbed Colin O’Brien, 51, around the head in the confrontation on South Shore Drive the night of Nov. 26.
O’Brien is the owner of Cronometro, a Williamson Street shop making custom bicycles.
The pair followed O’Brien to his home, where the light talk continued.
The female said it appeared O’Brien had plenty of lights and asked for one, so he gave one to her, but Dunlavy still was upset and clamped his hands around O’Brien’s head, according to a police report.
The report added that he twisted O’Brien to the ground and kicked him in the ribs, but Dunlavy denied doing so when he was arrested.
“He also said he didn’t think it (grabbing his head) would cause pain because the victim was wearing a bike helmet,” DeSpain said.
When asked why he didn’t just ride away after the “get a light” comment, Dunlavy apparently told police he felt extremely insulted by the statement.
Some might find this whole situation quite hilarious.
Posted by Smithers at 2:57 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 6 Comments »
Friday, October 17th, 2008
Any lawyers out there interested in some easy work in trade for bike parts?
Posted by Smithers at 4:40 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Greg LeMond was great for the bicycle industry. He was always trying something new. Eyewear, handlebars, frame materials, pedals, etc. Every year he was on something different and it provoked lots of development and innovation in the bicycle industry.
Lance, not so much. I can’t blame him. Companies like Nike, Giro, Oakley and Trek stood by Armstrong when his future in professional cycling was more than in doubt. However, I feel his loyalties ended up stifling development by companies that were not riding the wave of his success.
There may be a small step towards change now that Armstrong has announced his intention to ride for Astana and use SRAM components for 2009.
I think SRAM has recently lost a bit of excitement in the industry with the new offerings from Shimano and Campagnolo. But Le Boss using the Red group next year will drive sales towards SRAM equipped bikes. This is going to continue to legitimize product other than what is offered by the "big two" and open the field up to companies like FSA, who is working hard on a full component group for 2010.
It’s a small step by Armstrong, but his return is good news for, and generating lots of excitement within, the bicycle industry.
Posted by Smithers at 9:54 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Another big player gobbles up a big team. Will Colnago be in the elite peloton in 2009?
Posted by Smithers at 5:01 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 6 Comments »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Check it out.
Posted by Smithers at 8:53 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
AP:
Best-selling bicycle maker Trek Bicycle Corp. is severing its ties with three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond.
Company president John Burke says there has been a "troubling pattern of inconsistent business dealings."
Right. I am sure it had nothing to do with LeMond calling Lance Armstrong, investor in Trek Bicycle Corp., a doper.
h/t Tuffy
Posted by Smithers at 11:49 am in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 10 Comments »
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
From Masiguy:
Over the past few months, the bike industry has seen the “perfect storm” of circumstances hit it (like much of the rest of the economy); a slumping US and global economy, a massive increase in manufacturing costs, a dramatic jump in labor costs in both Taiwan and China, a sharp drop in the value of the US dollar and an increase in value of nearly every other global currency. The Taiwanese dollar, the NT, has gone from a little over $34NT/ $1US to just barely over $30NT/ $1US in just over 3 years. That may not seem like much, but it adds up quickly and doesn’t even take into consideration any of the cost increases- that is just a loss in currency value. When you add in the cost increases for the actual products, it can become significant very quickly.
By some estimates, the cost of steel alone is going up as much as 65%!…Carbon is going up. Anything petroleum-based is going up- like the materials used to make handlebar tapes and saddles. These costs are increasing leadtimes significantly as well, since many vendors are now unwilling or unable to spend the money to stock vast quantities of materials. This means that they need to order more often to meet their demands, but at least they don’t have their capital resources tied up in raw materials.
In China, recent laws there are forcing a much needed increase in wages being paid to factory workers- as well as limiting the amount of overtime a worker can work. These are good changes, but they mean an increase in costs just the same. In Taiwan, there is a massive shortage of qualified skilled labor. The bike industry was once one of the best paying in Taiwan, but the rise in power of the tech industries there has drawn in a lot of the once strong work force in the bike industry. So now wages have gone up to compete for and retain good labor. It’s a good time to be a factory worker in both China and Taiwan… or at least a better time.
The overwhelming majority of my companies products are manufactured in western Europe. We are dealing with an already expensive labor force plus the added cost of working with high price materials like composites and titanium. Add to that the collapse of the dollar versus the euro:
and the end result is that we are looking at price increases of up to 15% within the next few weeks.
One advantage that my company has is that we have been focusing on the high end of the retail bicycle market for many years and, typically, that aspect of the market does not tend to compress as much as the rest of the market does during an economic downturn. Generally the rich keep spending their money while the rest may cut back.
It will be interesting, and more than a little nerve wracking, to see if the same scenario plays out once we make our price increases.
If I ask you for a job next year I guess you will know how things went for me.
Posted by Smithers at 1:33 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
BKW visits OoO.
Posted by Smithers at 8:11 pm in Cycling Biz | Permalink | No Comments »
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Richard Sachs on BKW:
I don’t understand the word “custom.” I just wanted to make bikes for people who wanted to use them on the road. When I started I just thought, “I want to do what I want to do.” I got to do that from the beginning. But because I came up in the era of Bicycling road tests, I had to deal with people who were reading the reviews. I was always conflicted that the people who were good racers would give me very few measurements. On the other hand, consumer types would come in and ask can you make this like a DeRosa if a DeRosa was recently reviewed. Transposing specs from one bicycle to another is fraught with peril, especially if some specs are misunderstood. In that ‘70s era, I found that many folks took the monthly road tests too literally. Of these, some would ask the framebuilders to copy this, or make it like that. If you’re new and have no backbone, you find yourself executing these orders. One such frame was for my pal Rudy, and when he went to the Tour de l’Avenir he had a terrible experience because the bike was poorly thought out, and not suited for European stage racing; Mike Neel really dressed him down for bringing that bike. That was in ’78. Since then, I make my bike not your bike. How can they be custom if I decide what goes where? I’m a guy who makes what I think is my bike. Though the order precedes the bike, it’s not “custom.” The term “made to measure” comes from tailoring and is used to differentiate between that style and “custom” and “bespoke.” If a tailor has a style, you don’t go to him and ask him to do more than to make it fit. You don’t say, “Make it look like Karl Lagerfeld or Calvin Klein.” Most people understand now you don’t tell a builder how to build a bike. You don’t show up with a blueprint. My view is there might be a million choices, but there’s only one right one.
I have had some custom frames in the past. I dictated to the frame builder what I wanted in terms of seat angle, head angle, seat tube length and top tube length. Do I have some special physiological issues that demanded a custom geometry? No. Did I even know what I was talking about when I made these geometry requests to the frame builder? No. Do I ride a custom frame now? No. Can I tell the difference? No.
The best frame I have ever ridden was stock geometry from the manufacturer. The worst frame I have ever ridden was stock geometry from the manufacturer.
Do you need a custom frame? Beats me. (But pressed for an answer I would say probably not.)
Do I have a problem with small frame builders taking some measurements from a rider in order to build a frame to suit their body? No. (Although I am very skeptical that most of these people actually need much, if anything, in the way of “customization” from the builders stock geometry. And they probably don’t get it.)
Do I think there are some production frame companies that are using the term “custom” in order to sell you something that you think you need? Yes. Do you really need it? Beats me. (see above) Do you think that you really need it? Maybe. Are you sure that your problem is not that your current bike is just a piece of crap?
Would a “custom” version of frame X really ride better than a stock version of frame X? Based upon my experience I sincerely doubt it.
But, by all means, if your bank account is flush enough spend those bucks!
Suckers make the world go round.
Posted by Smithers at 11:54 am in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 17 Comments »
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
As per Krusers request, I checked out the Quarq power measurement system at INTERBIKE this year.
These guys are onto something.
The first part of the system is the CinQo crankarm spider. This unit, which will replace the original spider on some FSA, Truvativ, Cannondale, Rotor and Specialized cranksets, has a built in strain gauge to measure power output.
The representatives at Quarq explained to me that they think there are only two ways to accurately measure power output on a bike, via the rear hub or via the crank. They chose the crank.
The second element of the Quarq system is the Qranium, the computer/display that mounts on the handlebar.
A fully functional computer, including 512mb of memory and a GPS chip, the Qranium is probably the most powerful bicycle computer ever made. It’s compatible with CyclingPeaks software and, since it uses the Linux open source code, it is completely customizable by someone who is familiar with the Linux operating system. Not just customizable in regards to display options, but users can write their own programs, load them onto the Qranium and run them as they would run any program on a PC. Quarq is hoping that a community of programmers will write and share their work using online message boards.
While the Qranium uses a built in rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, the CinQo uses a simple CR2450 user replaceable watch battery to communicate with the computer. Quarq can get away with using such a low power sensor at the crankarm due to the fact that they have chosen to use the ANT+SPORT communication technology.
ANT+SPORT is a 2.4GHz wireless networking protocol that uses very little power and is very small. This allows a system using ANT+SPORT to run for potentially years before a battery change is required and can be used in small sensor applications as appropriate for bicycle sensors. Quarq has chosen ANT+SPORT not just for these reasons, but also because of the fact that ANT+SPORT devices can communicated with any ANT+SPORT sensors. This means that the Qranium can read data from other manufacturers ANT+SPORT sensors (such as the Garmin speed and cadence sensor), and the CinQo can send data to other manufacturers ANT+SPORT computers.
Price? You can spend $2300 – 3600 on an SRM power meter, or you can spend $2190 on the Quarq system. I think it’s considerably lighter than the SRM and it appears to be much more customizable.
Current limitations of the system include the fact that the CinQo is only compatible with cranksets that have a replaceable chainring spider. Quarq is in the process of developing a crank system compatible with any crankset so this problem will be solved in the near term. The size/weight of the sensor will continue to be reduced.
I’ll never buy this thing because I am not that serious about on the road training. But if I was interested in measuring watts on the road I would not hesitate to get the Quarq system.
Posted by Smithers at 7:35 am in Cycling Biz | Permalink | 9 Comments »
