BikeRumor.com

Here’s what pro mountain bikers Harlan Price (Independent Fabrications), Robert Marion (BMC) and Beth Frye (Look) are racing…

Ever think of something you’d like to ask the people behind the bike brands you ride and lust after?

Here’s your chance!

Nic Sims, Specialized’s Global Marketing Manager is off to le Tour for the next couple of weeks.  While he’s away, he’s invited you all to submit your questions to us…we’ll compile them and put them together for an interview.  No holds barred, ask whatever’s on your mind.   Just add your questions as a comment on this post and we’ll do the rest

All questions should be submitted by next Friday, July 3, for inclusion. Bring it on!

Check out what the Niner / Ergon pros ride and race.  We caught these three (Rebecca, DJ and Fuzzy) at the Cowbell Challenge and had them run down their bikes for you.  One interesting thing to note:  Every pro we interviewed was running the Rotor Q-rings…interesting, no?

We interviewed Rebecca Rusch, pro mountain biker and former National and World Solo 24 Hour Champion, at the 2009 Cowbell Challenge about her adventure racing background, where and what she’s up to next and a quick run down of her 2010 Specialized Era full suspension mountain bike.  Check it out…and more pro bike videos from the Cowbell coming as soon as we get them edited and uploaded.

Ever wonder what it’s like to oversee an entire portfolio of bicycles, from design and testing to picking and choosing colors, spec and pricing?  What about doing it for one of the largest bicycle companies in the world?

We interviewed three of Trek’s product managers to see what it’s all about, how they ended up with such a sweet job and what project they’re most proud of.  Tyler Pilger (road), Heather Henderson (women’s bikes) and Chad Price (hybrid, commuter, urban) tell us what it’s like…

BIKERUMOR: Each of you is a project manager for a different division within Trek Bicycles, can you explain what that role entails?

Tyler Pilger: I am the product manager for Trek Road, Triathlon and Cyclocross. I work with a team of Industrial Designers and Engineers to determine future projects and current specifications. We do a lot of research both inside and outside the bike industry to come up with new ideas.

Heather Henderson: Basically, a product manager determines what product will go to market for any given segment. That product then has to be conveyed to manufacturing and maintained during its life cycle. For Trek, those decisions are based on thorough use, research, and knowledge of product as well as thorough understanding of consumer segments and dealer demand. We work with internal development teams like the engineers, industrial designers, and creative as well as vendors like parts companies and other various manufacturers. We also speak extensively with consumers, dealers, other riders, or anyone we can glean valuable information from. Then don’t forget the marketing and sales facets…
I am the Women’s Specific Product Manager at Trek so in my case I am responsible for the Women’s bicycle line. Some days that means I get paid to sit at my computer and talk on the phone about production issues and model details, some days it’s sitting through extensive meetings, some days it’s meeting with dealers, other days it’s research travel to check out market segments or specific events. Fortunately for me, it’s always about riding my bike. Every time my boss sees me in the hallway suited up and headed for the trails in the middle of the day, he just smiles in approval.

Chad Price: Product Manager for Pavement bikes for GF and Trek. Pavement is kind of a catch all. Hybrid, comfort bikes, fast hybrids such as FX, Urban/commute bikes.

BIKERUMOR: How did you land that job? In otherwords, what was the path and education that led you where you are today?

Tyler: I grew up riding just about anything with wheels I could get my hands on. I attended Fort Lewis College in Durango CO. I was there in the late ’80’s with people like John Tomac, Greg Herbold, Ned Overend…the list goes on….it was really inspiring. I decided I was going into the bike business, and ended up working in southern California as a sales rep calling on bike shops. I escaped the bike biz for a few years selling custom engineered components to computer and medical companies and learned the product development side of business which I enjoyed. Then through some fortunate happenstance, I ended up putting the two together at Trek.

Heather: Although I do have a liberal arts degree, the school of hard knocks and experience are what really provided the necessary skill set. I began my cycling industry career almost fifteen years ago by begging a shop to hire me as an assembler when I couldn’t even change a flat. Since then I have followed a steady progression of cycling-industry positions in retail, distribution, and manufacturing; sales, marketing, R&D, wrenching, operations, supply chain- you name it. I have had the great fortune of working with some incredibly knowledgeable people along the way who were willing to share their passion and expertise. In the end, I’ve always just been kind of a bike geek, one of those women with a dozen bikes in her garage. When Trek called, of course I wanted to work for the best bicycle company in the world!

Chad: Bike shop…business degree Univ Wisconsin…could not deal with a real job (never really got one, just got a good racing sponsorship deal instead)..Wintered in the SF bay area, bike raced semi pro US and France for 5 years, made it back to the midwest and got involved with Trek after getting Planet Bike going (with the founder). I’ve been with Trek for 10 years.

(more…)

Part of the reason I started Bikerumor was to provide a medium that allowed me to learn more about things…bikes, technology, business, marketing…and do it in an industry I loved.  If nothing else, I figured out long ago that I’m not nearly as good at many things as I’d like to believe I am, so what better way to learn then to ask the people that are doing it.  

Thus, our new series is of interviews is born: “What It’s Like…”

It joins our “How I Roll…” series, and I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride.  If there’s something or someone you’re just dyin’ to know about, feel free to drop us a note and we’ll pursue the topics and people that seem to have the most interest.

The first “What It’s Like…” interview is up next…

Episode #3 now online!

Featuring an interview with Dirt Rag Magazine owner Maurice Tierney about their 20th anniversary of publishing, how they’ve come from a black-and-white, hand folded copies to one of the best independent cycling pubs around. We also talk about their new magazine, Bicycle Times.

Then, we chat with Eddie O’Dea, founder of 55nine Performance, a professional bicycle fitter in Atlanta that’s helped set up bikes for the Kenda Pro Cycling team and others.  He covers some of the misconceptions about self-fitting, why even non-racers benefit from a pro job and why he didn’t much care for our review of The Bike Fit Kit.

Download via iTunes, RSS or just listen while you work.

This “How I Roll” interview was conducted by Heidi Volpe, the mountain bike blogger for Outside Magazine’s Blog, with Lynda Wallenfels…mom, rider, coach and 24 hour solo rider / Ironman competitor. Ever wonder what it’s like to do all that? Well, here’s how Lynda rolls…

HEIDI: What team are you riding for right now?

LYNDA: I just signed up with the Siren/World Bicycle Relief I am going to be raising awareness for WBR in addition to racing my butt off on a sweet custom Siren bike!

HEIDI: Wow. A coach, a rider, a racer AND a Mom? Are you superwoman? Some of think so. After OP now we know so. How do you do it?

LYNDA: I love coaching and riding and racing and mommying. It all seems to flow together. I don’t feel like superwoman. I feel spoiled sometimes to be doing so much of what I love. 

HEIDI: You raced gears forever now you are a SS, how did it feel to chic DJ birch?

LYNDA: It was a surprise. I didn’t know until after the race he was 1st and he stopped a lap before I did. I didn’t have a pit crew at OP so had no feedback on placing throughout the event. I think it is quite funny cause I know Deejay is super strong. All the guys raced themselves into the ground in the first 12 hours at OP this year and I toodled on by the entire men’s field by dawn doing my own thing. I wasn’t paying any attention to the guys. Rebecca Tomawicki had all of my attention for the first 18 hours.

(more…)

Carlton Reid of BikeBiz recently interviewed Gary Fisher about urban riding, development wastes just to accommodate cars and the joy he finds in the growing trend of people riding bikes to run errands.

“I made myself a promise, I’m going to pick up everything on a bike. I’m going to run all my errands from the saddle,” Fisher said in the interview.

Fisher often buys bikes he likes as inspiration when working with the designers at Trek, and he says, after years of mountain bike growth that moved bikes off the street, that urban bikes and the brands that supply them are seeing growth.  Read the full interview here.

RELATED: Bikerumor.com Podcast Interview with Gary Fisher about his 2010 road bikes

Ted Wojcik, (pronounced “woah-jik”) a fixture in the custom bicycle industry for almost three decades got his start building gas turbine engines and helicopter transmissions, then worked on and raced motorcycles for several years.  As fate would have it, his future wife, Sue, was an avid cyclists and at 5′2″ was having a hard time finding a frame that fit her.  She loved it, and so did their friends, and nearly 3,000 frames later, Ted’s what you might call a master bicycle builder. 

Based in New Hampshire, TW bicycles have won medals at USCF championships, NORBA events, Tour Du Pont, the Pan-Am Games, and World Champnship Track events. Here’s how he rolls…

BIKERUMOR: You’re a popular guy…I was just reading an interview you did with TwentyNineInches.com in March, so I’ll run down the basics they covered rather than ask the same questions. You’ve been building road and mountain frames since 1981, produced about 3,000 frames during that time, and before that you were an Aviation Machinist Mate in the Navy, then moved on to building competition motorcycles for 10 years. Anything you’d like to add?
TED: I still work on hot rods, aircraft, and motorcycles from time to time. I have a BMW motorcycle that I bought new 33 years ago. I still run the wheels off it.

BIKERUMOR: How did you go from an Aviation Machinist to motorcycles to bicycles? Have you always been into bikes?
TED: I have ridden motorcycles since I was 16. My mother rode a motorcycle a bit. Her brothers had them. I worked in a motorcycle shop part time while stationed at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island in the late 60’s. I have always liked to go fast and there is no more affordable way to do that than on a motorcycle. I love two wheels.

(more…)

The Breck Epic is a 6-day stage race running July 5-10 in the sprawling backcountry of Colorado.  Starting with a 10-mile time trial on day one, riders then spend 4 to 8 hours in the saddle each day on trails that are mostly above 10,000 feet.  They’ll cover about 200 miles and climb almost 40,000 total feet, which founder Mike McCormack warns may sound short, but don’t kid yourself, this race will…well, we’ll let him explain in his ever-so-eloquent tone.

In our first guest-written interview, courtesy of avid cyclist and all around outdoorsy person Heidi Volpe from Outside Magazine, here’s what Mike has in store for you…

BIKERUMOR: In one sentence describe what do you want the Breck Epic to be, a premiere US stage race?

MIKE: I don’t want to start out all John Tesh-y, but I hope the potent cocktail of good organization, great courses and amazing riding creates a cool shared experience vibe. And I hope that I ordered enough crappers. Whoops, that’s 2 sentences. Now 3. And there’s 4? Dammit!

Breck in July is generally 75 degrees, sunny and boasts about 10% humidity – fantastic conditions for riding. I think that within a few years we’ll be one of a number of good races in the US, and hopefully regarded as a favorite. There’s something cool and vibey about mountain towns, and Breck’s got that in spades. Locals on townies. Amazing restaurants. Surly lifties (but that’s just winter!). Our community, despite its resort town status is very real, very genuine, very down-to-earth. I think it’s a great experience for a visiting rider.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a first year event.  All of the sweet pictures after the break are from trails in the Breckenridge area and represent the trails and riding you’ll be racing at the event.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

(more…)

Dear Readers,

I would like to apologize in advance for stooping to this level.  No, you probably don’t recognize this week’s interview subject (and if you do, I’m sorry).  No, you won’t learn much about the industry’s inner workings or any new tech that’s in the pipeline.

You will, however, gain an appreciation (or lack of) for a humble bike messenger that carries packages around by day and races on a rigid single speed mountain bike on some of the world’s toughest endurance events by weekend.  And you’ll probably laugh a little.  Maybe you’ll cry.  Eitherway, you’ll be (mildly) entertained.

Sponsored by Moots, Swiftwick, Bolt Brothers Cycles, Industry Nine, Cane Creek, Raxter Racks and Twin Six, ladies and germs, the man who puts the “fun” into “funky chamois”, here’s how Dicky rolls…

BIKERUMOR: Rich, everytime I see you at a race, you say it’s your last race…swear up and down you’re never doing it again… yet season after season I see you at the same races, complaining and downplaying your chances. What motivates you to keep showing up?

RICH: I don’t have a clue.

While I’m racing I’m usually thinking about how I can quit gracefully, how many races I’ve already paid for in advance that might give me a refund, and/or how much I suck in general. Once the race is over I go home more often than not feeling like pack fodder, but occasionally I’m a “winner’. When I miss out on a podium I beat myself up for weeks on end dwelling on everything I did wrong, and what I would do “the next time around”. When I win it usually takes me a few days before I totally discount the effort and chalk it up to good luck, happenstance, and pulling it outta my ass.

So what motivates me to keep showing up?

Short term memory, I guess. What was the question again?

BIKERUMOR: I’m sure “Free Beer” ranks up there with one reason to show up at some events, like the Fools Gold, the night before which I remember laying in my tent in the expo area listening to you whoop ‘n’ holler with the vendors as you guys finished the keg…and you still beat me the next day. For us aspiring endurance racers, how do you manage to drink all night and still race 100 miles?

RICH: I would say the five years I spent in pursuit of my four year degree at Youngstown State University really prepared me to do just about anything with a sizable hangover. After each and every race which I manage to finish in such a sad state I always tell myself to never do that again, but for some odd reason I am still affected by the “peers and beers phenomenon”.

(more…)

Handcrafted in the U.S.A., Ellsworth bicycles is the result of passionate pursuit of perfection by founder Tony Ellsworth…and his passion shows through in how he goes about designing, building and testing (*ahem* riding) his bikes.

Accompanying that passion are a few strong opinions about design, manufacturing processes and environmental efforts…like why the fabrication of most of today’s carbon bikes is bad, bad, bad; and what he’s doing to improve it for future Ellsworth carbon bicycles.

For someone who owns a bicycle company, he doesn’t personally have a lot of bikes, but fortunately, he’s got a lot of great thoughts. This is a long one, so grab some coffee, blow off work and see how Tony Ellsworth rolls…

BIKERUMOR: In our recent interview with Pua Sawicki, who rides your frames, she hinted that you have something new coming out…can you give us some hints?
TONY ELLSWORTH: Nah, it’s bad karma to talk about it until I’ve done it. I hope to be able to exceed her and your expectations.

BIKERUMOR: How many bikes do you personally own and describe your current favorite bike?
TONY: I’m a monogamous bike guy. When dating, I found that despite the encouragement of peers to date many, many at a time, as many as I could, one in each color shape and size, etc. I was always only able to date one gal at a time. I found the satisfaction of being in a relationship and learning to be excellent at communicating and relating to that one person to be far more satisfying than variety for variety’s sake. Therefore, my current bike habits reflect this. While I have ridden many miles on each Ellsworth model, I try to spend a season on each frame to personally tweak and perfect the character of the bike to my personal standards of bike efficiency and handling.

(more…)

This week’s How I Roll… which is technically last week’s since we missed getting it up on schedule, is a little different. We interviewed three top pro cross-country mountain bike racers to see what it’s like racing among the elite with full team support. Our interviewees are:

Georgia Gould, 2006 and 2007 XC MTB National Champion, 2007 Pan-American XC MTB Champion and U.S. Olympic mountain bike team member, currently racing for the Luna Chix cycling team.

Sue Haywood, 2006 Solo 24 Hour Worlds Champion; 2001, 2003 and 2006 U.S. National Short Track Champion, and shoulda-been 2004 U.S. Olympic MTB team member who raced her last full season as pro in 2008 for Trek/VW.

Jeremiah Bishop, 2008 Short Track and Marathon U.S. National Champion and general terror at endurance races like the Fool’s Gold, American Mountain Classic Stage Race and others, most recently racing for the now defunct Trek/VW team.

BIKERUMOR: I think there is a perception that the top pros lead a cushy life of parties, flying around the world and just getting paid to ride all the time…is that anywhere near the truth? Is anyone getting rich off racing bikes?

GEORGIA GOULD: I wish!  I can’t even tell you the last time I went to a party!  And flying around the world can be overrated- especially when you are there to race.  Trips are usually only a few days, and there isn’t much time for sightseeing.  I think there are a small handful of people who make good money racing bikes, but I think most racers do it because they love it, not because they are making a ton of money.

SUE HAYWOOD: Well the last time I was sipping champagne off my balcony in St. Tropez , I thought to myself, “This is the life…jetsetting, partying, winning races and swiss bank accounts and all I have to do is pedal a silly little bicycle around!” Those perceptions are wildly true

JEREMIAH BISHOP: Truth of the matter is, that more professional athletes have spent more time eating ramen than sushi. that’s not to say that we don’t enjoy it, and some, more than myself, relish an after-race party, but not more than the rest of us knobby tire loving denizens.

(more…)

Aaaahhhh, coffee.  How would we ever start a ride without it.  As I was glancing at a bag of beans from Kinetic Koffee at the local shop, I thought what better subject for an interview than the man behind the brand.  Actually, his wife Charlie started and is president of the company, and Mark’s history in the cycling industry helped put the two together into the brand it is today.

So…as you’re brewing up your own pot, enjoy the story of how Mark rolls…

BIKERUMOR: What separates Kinetic Koffee from other roasters? What makes it better than the next guy’s beans?

MARK: We roast all our own coffee; we do not outsource our roasting. This means that we control every step of the process from choosing the beans, blending them, the roasting process, to packaging and shipping. We roast in small batches (less than 30 pounds per roast) and usually ship the same day. Since we are the roaster, we can also offer private label coffees to shops and other companies as well as non-profits to use for fundraising purposes. We also donate 10% of our net profits to non-profit organizations.

BIKERUMOR: It seems like a lot of small (and even some big) roasters claim to use Organic, Fair Trade and/or Shade Grown beans…is sourcing the beans really much of a competitive advantage anymore?

We didn’t choose to exclusively roast certified organic coffee for a competitive advantage; we did it because it was the right thing to do. Organic coffees are grown in a sustainable environment and this, in conjunction with the higher prices that farmers can get for organic beans, means long term viability and stability for the farmers. Organic coffee currently comprises less than 5% of the total coffee crop in the world.

(more…)