jeremyridesbikes

This is an interesting development. I hope they can come together and unite under one voice for us.

Bikes Belong, the League of American Bicyclists, and Alliance for Biking & Walking, hope to become one organization.

Leaders of the Alliance for Biking & Walking, Bikes Belong, and the League of American Bicyclists Leaders met in San Diego, on February 13-14th and have issued a joint statement announcing they are to merge.

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Click the link to read more from BikeBiz.com

There was some updating done on the previous article from BRAIN. It makes more sense now.  Also, check out bikehugger.com and the resulting Facebook/G+ conversations they had over there.

We live in exciting times.

Moving assembly back to the states makes sense from a bottom line perspective. Could we see more of this in the industry?

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MUKILTEO, WA (BRAIN) Feb 24, 09:18 MT—FSA technicians will start hand-building a small number of Vision wheels at the company’s Seattle-area North American headquarters this spring with the eventual goal of assembling all the brand’s aftermarket wheelsets in-house.

FSA, which owns Vision, will start the project this spring with Vision’s new top-of-the-line Metron 81 carbon fiber wheels. Depending on how that goes, FSA would expand assembly to include all Vision and FSA wheels for the North American aftermarket, said Fletch Newland, FSA’s marketing manager. About 40 percent of Vision’s wheels are sold in the aftermarket.

“We have not had an assembly set up for our wheels previously so we’ll start off still sourcing some,” Newland said. FSA currently imports wheels assembled from the TH Industries’ factory in Taichung. TH, parent company of FSA, runs a dedicated carbon fiber rim production facility and also builds all hubs in-house. Spokes are sourced from a third party. 

Shifting assembly to North America will reduce import duties, helping to keep prices competitive and potentially increase margins, Newland said. Duties on wheelsets are 10 percent from Taiwan. Hubs are duty free, rims are 1.8 percent and spokes are 10 percent, but more spokes can be packed into a container than complete wheels. 

An interesting concept, but in a way it is kind of late to the market in my opinion. QBP should have been helping the LBS ramp up to this years ago. That is the reason they are “losing the war”, Amazon has had years of lead time on this.  

I do like it that they are moving in that direction.  I hope it goes well.  More competition in the market creates a better environment for the customer right?

Quality Bicycle Products founder and president Steve Flagg minced no words in drawing the battle lines: “I believe that our industry is losing the war against the Chain Reactions, the Wiggles, the Amazons,” he told the crowd assembled for Friday’s VIP retailer dinner to kick off Frostbike 2012.

“We think that together with all of you we can address this problem.” 

Launching QBP’s “Buy Local Buy Now!” campaign, Flagg sketched out the potential strategy:

Via mobile device, a customer in a shop could log on to a QBP service with access to its stores’ inventory and search for a specific product. A map would pop up indicating the nearest shops that have the product in stock or that will have it in a predetermined number of days. 

If a retailer is selected for same-day pickup, the customer would pay for it online and then be asked if they want the product installed at the shop. Flagg noted this would play to local dealers’ key strength and offer what online competitors can’t: service, warranty information and deep product knowledge.

“I believe we have the capacity in 2012 to do this,” he noted.

This could be sweet! 

OGDEN, UT (BRAIN) Feb 16, 18:21 MT —Enve Composites is introducing what it says is the industry’s first all-carbon downhill rim.

The Santa Cruz Syndicate team has been racing ENVE’s DH-specific prototypes since September 2009. 

The company says the new design offers “vast increases in durability over the traditional alloy offerings on the market.”

Top pro Steve Peat raced the same pair of race wheels with the rim design for the entire 2011 season, the company said. 

The ENVE DH rim is 31 mm deep and features a 21mm inner bead-to-bead width. They are available in 26-inch, 32-hole configuration and weigh 475 grams per rim. Retail is set at US $999 per rim, and complete pre‐built wheel using DT Swiss or Chris King hubs start at $2,750.

The UCI is declaring its year-old frame approval program a success and says it will expand the program into wheels next.

The international cycling union says 57 manufacturers have sent 96 frames through the approval process and gained the right to use the “UCI-approved” label on the bikes.

I have to admit is darn sexy looking. 

FYI -

SRAM: Hydraulic disk road brakes this year CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN) Feb 1, 14:50 MT—Almost overlooked in SRAM’s press release announcing its new Red group Wednesday were a few sentences about the company’s plans to bring hydraulic disk brakes to the road and cyclocross market. “It’s been rumored that SRAM is developing RED level road hydraulic brakes. We want to confirm this and let you know that we are currently working on a hydraulic disc brake and a hydraulic rim brake. Information on pricing will come at a later date and no photos are currently available. Key features: • Hydraulic disc brake: RED level / Drop bar DoubleTap lever actuated / All new master cylinder and caliper / 140-160mm discs • Hydraulic rim brake: RED level / Drop bar DoubleTap lever actuated / tire clearance up to 28C / Firecrest rim compatible Commercial availability - Fall 2012

Kind of a interesting thing for Beaverton, I will have to check it out.

Bike Gallery converts space to tri shop BEAVERTON, OR (BRAIN) Jan 23, 06:55 MT — To serve the surging triathlon market, Portland, Oregon-area chain Bike Gallery has converted the upper floor of its Beaverton location into a separate store, Epic Tri Shop. A grand opening is set for this Wednesday evening. “Triathlon has been growing in Portland for sure. There’s been a real plethora of events the past three or four years,” including the launch of half-Ironman and Olympic-distance races, Epic manager Gordie Cumming said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth in the number of people participating.” The 1,000-square-foot store-within-a-store has its own register, a modern, boutique atmosphere and custom racks made by a local fabricator, said Cumming, who competes in Ironman and half-Ironman events, XTERRAs and other tris.

Just in case you didn’t know a couple hours drive north of Portland was blasted with a super winter storm.  We got lucky and had rain mostly.

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News is the leading source of news and information about the bicycle industry in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Those who visit our website or subscribe to our magazine get news on bicycle retailing, new products, industry statistics, U.S. import and export data, international trade data, bicycle trends, interviews with key executives, survey results and much more. For advertisers who want to reach the widest possible readership in the market, our website, bicycleretailer.com, is the place to be.

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News is the leading source of news and information about the bicycle industry in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Those who visit our website or subscribe to our magazine get news on bicycle retailing, new products, industry statistics, U.S. import and export data, international trade data, bicycle trends, interviews with key executives, survey results and much more. For advertisers who want to reach the widest possible readership in the market, our website, bicycleretailer.com, is the place to be.

Interesting case. 

Specialized’s suit against Volagi to start SAN JOSE, CA (BRAIN) — Jury selection starts Wednesday in Specialized’s lawsuit against Volagi over the start-up brand’s carbon bikes. Specialized is charging that Volagi’s co-founders, both former Specialized designers, stole aspects of their company’s bike design from their former employer. Robert Choi and Barley Forsman left Specialized in April 2010 and launched Volagi at the Interbike show in Las Vegas in September that year. The Volagi line features carbon road bikes with disc brakes and distinctive “long-bow” seatstays designed to absorb road shock. Specialized filed suit against the company in October that year.