Bicycle Retailer & Industry News

Specialized Has Secret Ambassador in Asia

05/14/2008

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN)�Specialized Bicycles has a secret ambassador stashed in Asia. They call him �Bob-boo� or �Big Ring Bob� and he�s treated more like family than a customer.

Bob Margevicius, a vice-president at Specialized who currently resides in New Zealand, was the only representative from an American company to join the A-Team on its 11-day Tour de Taiwan. And he didn�t disappoint the 32 A-Team members. As he told them, �It�s an honor to be on this ride with you.�

Whether helping some properly adjust their seat height, pointing out proper pedaling technique, helping push others uphill or challenging others to an off-the-route race, Margevicius earned a standing ovation when he told the group how much it meant to him to be on the tour. Tony Lo, Giant�s president and A-Team chairman, translated for him.

He made his comments Wednesday at a reception where the local press, company employees and family had gathered to welcome the riders back to this nation�s capitol city after completing a 1,000 kilometer circuit of Taiwan.

While Margevicius has had business dealings with many of the participants, there was surprisingly little business discussed given the long hours they spent together. The ride was more about friendship and loyalty than business, he explained.

Margevicius has been coming to Taiwan for 30 years and over that time has come to know most of the key manufacturing excutives in the country. He knows their families and their family histories. One day, while cycling between Hsinchu and Taichung, he recalled a trip he and Lo had taken many years ago to visit Giant�s factory.

�Tony was driving this old second-hand Cadillac and it broke down. Here we are, working in the bicycle industry, and we had to hitchhike until someone, I think it was a fisherman or something, gave us a ride and we had sit in the back of this old truck,� he recalled. For Margevicius, who loves the challenge of negotiating over almost anything, Taiwan is like a second home.

At dinner, riders would sit eight to a table, and Margevicius would visit each table and go through a rousing round of toasts. However, as he thanked the members for inviting him to join the ride, he praised their determination and will for completing the adventure.

Despite his years visiting here, he speaks almost no Taiwanese nor had he seen much of the island outside of Taipei, Taichung and Tainan. Stella Yu, who owns Velo, a saddlemaker, calls him a dear friend and thanked him dozens of times for helping her finish the ride. Yu was the only woman to complete the full length of the trip.

PHOTO by Marc Sani: Will the real Bob Margevicius please stand up? (The real Bob is on the left.)

�Marc Sani

Choi Goes From Camelbak to Specialized

05/13/2008

MORGAN HILL, CA (BRAIN)�Camelbak's vice president of research and development Robert Choi is no longer with the company.

After 10 years heading up Camelbak's research and development department, Choi left along with designer Barley Forsman, who was Choi's right hand man at Camelbak, according to Choi.

Both Choi and Forsman are now with Specialized. Choi is director of equipment/research and development, while Forsman is design manager.

For more on this story, be sure to read the June 1 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.

�Jason Norman

Leisure Trends to Track IBD Sales

05/13/2008

BOULDER, CO (BRAIN)�Leisure Trends Group, a full service market research company, hopes to fill a major gap in bicycle industry retail sales data.

The Boulder, Colorado-based company is working toward building a retail panel of independent bicycle dealers who will provide monthly sales data from their point-of-sale systems. It hopes to release its first reports at the end of the year.

�We�ve been looking at the bicycle industry for a long time,� said Jason Gee, director of retail sales tracking for Leisure Trends. �The reason we�re moving in this direction is requests from manufacturers as well as from retailers.�

Leisure Trends collects retail sales data for a variety of industries including snow sports, outdoor, paddle sports, running specialty stores, athletic apparel and scuba diving. More than 2,000 retailers send their data once a month for the various industries, Gee said.

�Our services are an ideal fit to help manufacturers understand what�s selling at retail as well as to help retailers better manage inventory,� Gee added.

Gee said Leisure Trends is in talks with manufacturers and trade organizations regarding funding for the research. It also has approached the National Bicycle Dealers Association to form a partnership. The NBDA would help Leisure Trends recruit retailers.

�Clearly we believe this program would be good for our industry or else we would not have done it ourselves years ago,� said Fred Clements, NBDA�s executive director. The NBDA tracked retail sales of bikes from 1995 to 2004, but its program eventually ended due to cost.

Leisure Trends is still in the preliminary stages and hasn�t started soliciting retail participation. About 100 retailers that already report their sales sell bicycles, even though they may not be a bicycle-only shop.

�Our goal is to at least capture one-third of all bicycle sales in our raw data so we can very accurately represent the industry,� Gee said.

Independent bicycle dealers who participate will gain access to Leisure Trends� reports at no cost. Gee said individual store sales data is kept confidential.

Leisure Trends would track the sale of every bike by brand, model and price and could eventually expand to include parts and accessories. It would also show how much inventory is still on the shelves.

Retailers interested in participating can contact Gee at jgee@leisuretrends.com. Suppliers should reach Julia Day at jday@leisure trends.com.

�Lynette Carpiet

BTI Celebrates 15 Years in Business

05/13/2008

SANTA FE, NM (BRAIN)�In May of 1993 two bike industry guys got together and decided to start a parts and service company in Ashland, Oregon. Unlike most distributors at the time, BTI chose to focus on one aspect of the market and to do it well�bicycle suspension components.

�We didn�t anticipate being the company we are today, in the beginning we just wanted to be the best distributor of suspension products,� said Andrew Wright, BTI�s president, who co-founded the company with Preston Martin, BTI�s vice president. �But focusing on suspension lead us into new brake systems and dealers got used to coming to us with technical questions and the business just grew,� he added.

BTI's first catalog was a 24 page newsprint flyer with illustrated schematic drawings of every major fork design. That same year, BTI introduced the first Shock Treatment program�a factory-trained service center that bike shops could send shocks to for tuning and repair.

In 1996 the company looked for a more central location from where they could serve dealers on both coasts, and they packed up its inventory and relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It didn't hurt that the new location boasted 300 days of sunshine and abundant riding opportunities. The company is in its second Santa Fe location which it thought had plenty of room to grow. Now that facility is starting to cause growing pains so the company is researching other opportunities.

Wright and Martin are still hard at work every day of the year, even organizing rides and company events in their spare time. And the founders would like to thank BTI's customers and vendors for their support in reaching this milestone.

The 5th Spot

05/13/2008

Congrats to Fuji's Pat Cunnane who won the Philly Commuter Challenge. Click on link for full story.

Eleven Day Tour Comes to an End Today

05/13/2008

KEELUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN)�After a long day dodging heavy trucks, cars and scooters, the A-Team rolled through a half-dozen tunnels into Keelung, Taiwan�s second largest seaport, after 10 days of pedaling around the island.

The day�s 120-kilometer ride followed the heavily trafficked coastal highway into this city of more than a half-million people. Overall, the group has tallied almost 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) riding around this island nation.

Tomorrow, the riders pedal a final 30 kilometers into Taipei, officially ending the ride with a press conference and a lunch. Over the last few days, each time the cyclists clambered aboard the bus for dinner, they practiced a popular song extolling the virtues of friendship re-phrased to use wording about the A-Team. They plan to sing it at the mid-day press conference, which is expected to get heavy local coverage.

This 11-day trip�something none of these riders have ever done�ends on a high note. The group hoisted toast after toast throughout the evening, touting the success of their ride. Giant�s Tony Lo and A-Team chairman was warmly praised for his leadership and his decision to encourage the 32 A-Team members to take the challenge.

And for many it was a challenge. Pedaling through several days of torrential rain followed by days of tropical heat, unrelenting headwinds and stifling humidity is no small challenge no matter how fit you may be or you�re past cycling experience.

The A-Team will choose a new chairman in July to replace Lo, who has been a decisive and charismatic leader. Lo, who helped develop the concept of an A-Team and asked its members to adopt Toyota�s system of production, will leave on a high note. Several Toyota executives have been on the ride as well.

The export of Taiwan-made bicycles, primarily for specialty retail in North America and Europe has posted new highs since so much production moved to China in the 1990s. Several executives think that A-Team members may be producing between 15 and 20 percent of all IBD-quality bikes, components and accessories sold in the North America and Western Europe.

The question for members now is: What�s next? Michael Tseng, Merida�s president, is expected to be elected the next A-Team chairman. Almost all agree he would bring a different style to the organization than Lo�s.

�Marc Sani

Titus Branching Out Into Cyclocross Frames

05/12/2008

TEMPE, AZ (BRAIN)�Titus Cycles has launched a brand new line of TRX cyclocross frames.

The new line features three different models and is intended to establish Titus solidly in the high-growth cyclocross segment. �We�ve been watching the whole cross scene gain momentum over the past few years and felt it was the right time for us to jump in with both feet," said Pat Hus, chief executive officer of Titus.

Titus, which is historically known for its extensive work with titanium and carbon, breaks new ground with its all new TRX Steel Exogrid frame. The frame pairs True Temper�s OX Platinum steel tubing with its patented Exogrid technology.

�Exogrid allows our engineers the ability to combine the durability of titanium and steel with significant weight savings, stiffness and design flexibility,� said Jeff Titone, marketing director for Titus. �The result is a frame that has great performance, is extremely tough and incredibly light."

All three new models will be hand-built in Titus' Tempe facility and will be available as either a frame or frame and fork. The frames will be offered in five standard sizes as well as custom with first availability scheduled for August. Frames prices begin at $1,895 for the steel Exogrid frame.

Flythe Cyclery Founder Dies

05/12/2008

RALEIGH, NC (BRAIN)�Edwin Flythe, founder of Flythe Cyclery in North Carolina, died last week. He was 94.

Flythe retired in the early 1970s, turning the business over to his son, Skip Flythe. Today, Flythe Cyclery is a fourth generation family business.

"The store didn't open until 10, but he would get there about 8:30 and walk around the store, do laps around the store," said daughter-in-law Tootie Flythe to Raleigh's The News & Observer newspaper.

At Christmas, the elder Flythe would dress as Santa Claus and deliver bicycles to families.

For more on the life of Edwin Flythe, be sure to read the June 1 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.

Fox Racing Shox Has Strong Q1 Sales

05/12/2008

WESTPORT, CT (BRAIN)�Sales at Fox Racing Shox jumped 47.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008, although the company posted an operation loss of $198,000.

Compass Diversified Holdings, a Connecticut investment company, purchased the Watsonville, California-based Fox on Jan. 4. Compass reported sales of $23.4 million from that date until the quarter ended on March 31, according to numbers released during a May 12 earnings conference call.

That�s compared to net sales of $15.8 million during the first quarter of 2007.

Compass attributed the majority of the jump to increased sales in Fox�s bicycle division, largely in Europe. Another factor was a temporary plant shutdown during the first quarter of 2007.

Fox designs and manufactures suspension products for motor sports equipment such as all-terrain vehicles and snowmobile, as well as mountain bikes.

Fox�s profit dipped slightly due to costs associated with the acquisition, including a $1.6 million amortization expense that Fox did not incur in 2007. Cost of sales was up $5.2 million.

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $900,000 over the first quarter of 2007, $400,000 of which was spent on marketing efforts to drive sales growth. Another $300,000 went toward engineering as part of Compass� investment in product development.

Jim Bottiglieri, chief financial officer for Compass, said the company had expected to see significant growth from Fox in the first quarter, and was pleased with the performance.

�We�re looking forward to a successful launch of the company�s new product line for 2008/2009 in May and expect business to continue to grow throughout the year,� Bottiglieri said.

As a company, Compass reported a loss of $795,000, though net sales were up from $40.8 million in the first quarter of 2007 to $136.7 million during the same period in 2008.

Compass was formed to acquire and manage a group of middle market businesses in North America. On May 8, the company entered into an agreement to sell one of its eight companies, Silvue Technologies Group, to Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. for a net gain of up to $40 million for its shareholders. Compass acquired Silvue on May 16, 2006.

�Nicole Formosa

The 5th Spot

05/12/2008

IMBA's Mark Eller welcomed into the world last week, Sam Eller. Sam weighed in at a stout 8 pounds, 3 ounces. "He's looking forward to his first epic singletrack rides, but for now he's concentrating on eating, pooping and sleeping," said the proud papa.

Congrats Eller family!!!