33 The Story of Bike Nashbar

Note : Some portions of this post are on the speculative side due to scarcity of information. A bigger discussion of this post can be viewed here, for which I thank the RBT readers.


If there's a more well known and unique-in-name local bicycle shop killer than your wife who says you can't buy any more cycling stuff this month with the savings, its got to be Nashbar.

Some also call it Trashbar.

In 1974, Arni Nashbar, a New Middletown Ohio advertising man, started a bicycle parts mail order company out of his home with $1,000. He did this possibly believing that a small company can make more money on items sold through a catalog than through retail. Since this was way back, we don't exactly know how it happened. Some people believe he bought out the business from an initial holding called Bike Warehouse, giving it his name - Nashbar LLP.

Whatever the story, ten years later, the company was grossing six million plus.

Arni's mail order business was thriving so much that in the late 80's, his bicycle mail order house had branched out, opening five stores - two in Ohio and one each near Detroit, Boston and Washington. The shops offered service, repair and discount services. Today, there appears to be one even in West Virginia.

Sometime in that age, they also began a used bikes advertising tabloid called Cycle Seller, repositioned brands,broke into the overseas markets and pretty soon called on programmers to open an e-commerce venture of the business, which is now famously your www.nashbar.com/.

Ran out of tires,tubes? Nashbar. Need cheap water bottles? Nashbar. How about a cheap bicycle, or tools, or lubes or whatever secrets you may need under your cycling tights to cope with 8 hours on the saddle?

Yes, Nashbar.

Any bicycling accessory your poor brain can think of will be available at Nashbar.

In the late 90's, the company invested in the U.S Postal Cycling Team as a sponsor, which inturn ended up giving Postal a 1.1 million dollars in business.

Nashbar expanded its offerings and distributed catalogues overseas. Private and even branded items easily sold here for 40% or more than what one could find through independant retailers. Nashbar buyers are often the serious bicyclists - racers, touring, and MTBers who could easily spend an average of 50-70 dollars per order.

Several times I myself have had a hard time believing the discounts in Nashbar prices. There is a blowout sale every day, every week, every month, one for Christmas, New Year and maybe even for Easter and Thanksgiving. The fashion in which they present this event to us make it seem as if its THE one grandiose event on your calender.

Its funny, but as if occasions aren't enough, their latest addition is a massive LEAP YEAR blowout, prices which are 30-90% off!! It seems to me as if the only number they haven't touched upon is "FREEE"!!!!

A "Leap Year Blowout" in my email. Oops, they CLEARLY forgot Lunar Eclipse Day, how bad!!

I'm sure you have asked yourself more than a dozen times : How in the world they could possibly do this - selling so cheap?!

It beats me. If you readers can help out, that'd be amazing.

Some things I can think of are :

They buy in bulk.

They nab manufacturers' closeouts, OEM's or slow-selling models of better brands and stamp their own brand names on imports.

To get around the exclusive dealer agreements of makers of more expensive bikes, the company deals directly with manufacturers in Taiwan and Japan - the same plants making many exclusive bikes - to produce its own line. ''We have a buying advantage from sheer volume,'' said John Rossi, Nashbar's director of retail development. ''As a result, we sell for what dealers buy for.'' He added: ''We have to overcome an initial objection to the name, but we point out to customers that the bikes have the features they are looking for.'' Since they opened, the outlets have increased sales volume by 20 percent. [Source]

They also have sweet return policy. You give back things you that didn't fit you, or you didn't want, and that later sells again for a much lower margin to someone else!

Nashbar is favorable to many because of their fast shipping and handling. I'm not sure how they do this, but I keep wondering whether they actually have stock that they ship or whether they have manufacturers ship directly to the customer.

Or they may have a lot of stock, and towering inventory that they are DESPERATE to move out.

Okay, anyway - back to the Nashbar story. After the Nashbar website was well established, Arni started lending programming and development expertise to other mail order houses, some of them being quite big. They became his customers.

Soon, Arni retired and let his son open Spike Nashbar, trying to get into the baseball and volleyball market. His son took his own decisions at a young age, and almost came to a brilliant decision to shut down the software end of the business, something that a lot of their customers were upset about.

His daughter, Molly Nashbar became a TV star, sort of like Cycling's gift to the world run by the likes of Paris Hilton. A reality show on Women's Entertainment (WE) showed how she moved out to L.A without telling her folks and poured money into parties and botox treatments at her will.

So finally we now have Nashbar, having multiple locations in the United States and a thriving website. People identify them easily with CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP. Another favorable fact that if the store isn't in your state or city, you don't have to pay a sales tax, something thats often on the bill in your local store, isn't it?

Interestingly, Quantcast statistics says Nashbar's website reaches 154,000 unique people/customers every month. The website appeals to a primarily male, somewhat wealthy, more educated audience. Most visitors are from the 60-100 K income bracket and most are also Caucasian or folks from overseas. The typical visitor reads VeloNews, visits campmor.com, and buys from pcmag.com.

That clearly isn't me, but I do read Velonews from time to time and I'm over educated.

Fast forward...a lot of things happened between then and now. Some believe Nashbar, Supergo and Performance are all operated by the same holding company. Others have it thinking that the holding company is Performance Inc itself. This stuff is difficult to do journalism on so I'll leave that in the air and have readers help me out here.

If one of you happen to be an independent bike shop owner or work in one, comment on how your shops are coping in such a competitive retail industry.

4 Is This a Season Kick-Off?

This is the question I have been asking myself.

The racing season seems to be opening in Buffalo this weekend, with the Giro della Primavera (Race of Spring) Training race series that will stretch out to the end of March. Each weekend has about 60 miles of racing and possibly close to 70 miles of riding. Saturday races are pretty flat and chances are they'll be fast. Sundays have a bit of rollers, but I prefer going to Church.

So its a question of racing on Saturdays in 30 some degree temperatures! I sure don't have those solid pro instincts in me, but the look of this race series sounds like it'll at least begin that development process. Besides, Stage 5 of the Tour of California should also be a motivating factor.

Last years Giro's are still colorful to me, when I was a fledgling new born in bicycle racing. I met some interesting characters, including a quite youthful 70 something old Italian veteran rider named Ron Palazzo who decided that I need some coaching, Italiano style. That, I thought, was hard to beat.

As I write this, I realize there are about 50 days to go to the Battenkill Roubaix, quoted by some as "America's Queen of the Classics" and "The Biggest and Best Small Town Race in the U.S.A". Big is a good word. Its a popular spot for elite/pro racers. The total number for registrants have also topped the 1000 mark!

As some may remember, this is an A race for me in my schedule. Here's an elevation graph of the race. It doesn't look super-intimidating but there are still a couple of rough unpaved sections and almost 5000 feet of climbing jam packed into a half century. That with the temperatures will be a classic early season race.

P.S : How do you guys keep finger tips warm riding 50 miles (in excess of 2 hours) on a frigid, cold day? I'm contemplating rubbing petroleum jelly (vaseline is sort of an insulator) on it under two layers of flexible glove coverings.

9 Female Cyclists : Not in Vogue?

I have found reading about Jeannie Longo so fascinating that I had to devote a post on her.

I first heard about her in the work, Tour de France - Three Weeks to Glory by Samuel Abt, now a poor, old and torn book lying on my bookshelf.

Its a little unreasonable that women are excluded out of our daily coffee table cycling talk. We easily remember Lance and his super human feats, how Merckx took part in almost every event in the racing calender and possibly managed to win them all, about Anquetil's relentless French conquest of the early Tours, Levi's time trial prowess, boy Boonen's classic but surely rabid sprint wins, Cipo's flamboyance this, Bartali and Coppi's that ... and so on and so forth.

And so when it comes to publicity campaigns,flashy magazine ads or even a subjective agreement on who the greatest cyclists are, its quite obvious to see that limitations are only to men.

How about the other gender, possibly half of the 6 billion people on earth? Even if a .01% of them bike for a living, isn't that a substantial number?

This abject attitude may be a sort of male chauvinism, an ignorance about others - possibly people from other cultures, or a feeling only men have the legs and the power, or a scarcity in media coverage (?) or a mix of little bit of everything.

It may be true that cycling started with men, but the fairer one's jumped soon enough on the saddle, (no pun intended) and there's a celebrated following in the women's world of cycling, particularly with events such as the Grand Boucle of France, formerly the Tour Cycliste Feminin, a stage race akin to its male contemporary, the Tour de France.

Its time to put all these mind boggling attitudes behind our seat tubes, in the slipstream of the rest of the junk in the air that may be ego or ignorance.

Jeannie Longo Ciprelli, married to Patrice Ciprelli, her husband and her only trusted coach, started out in cycling after a career in competitive skiing. She was to dominate French cycling for the next two decades, opening her winning streak with the French Road Race championship at only 21 years of age.

She finished on the podium at the Olympics 4 times, one of them being a stellar gold medal in the 1996 Women's Road Race. She has 12 UCI world championship titles, between the mid 1980's and 2001. She was a UCI mountain bike champion in '93 and in 2000, set the hour record at 45.094 kms in Mexico.

She was known as a fierce, sometimes feisty athlete. For many of her early career years, she feuded with French riders and cycling officials, dictating who her coaches and teammates should be. In her later world championships, Longo was not very close to any member of her team, which interestingly imposed a fine of 10 francs on anybody who would even mention her name at the communal dinner table! She trusted no one but her husband and coach, Patrice, and often eat and trained apart from the team.

Jeannie made a hat-trick win out of the '87,88 and '89 Tours or GB's, smothering the competition. At the 1989 World Championships, she summed up her philosophy. "I learned from the Americans at the Olympic Games in '84," she said. "They always said, 'Go for it, go for the win.'"

Go for the win is what Longo did for years with stunning and stultifying success.

Somewhere in all this confusion of winning bike races, she also managed to get a Bachelor's in Math, an MBA and a doctorate in Sports Management.

I respect cyclists. I respect educated cyclists even more!! It can be challenging to get a degree while you're doing something else like bike racing, let alone 3!!

As of 2008, Longo is still an active racing cyclist although she races selectively. At age 49, the years may be catching up with her. She is placed 66th in the UCI women's rankings (when was the last time you saw a 48 year old male cyclist in the pro tour rankings?). There is also no information as to whether she will participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But (correct me here) it does seem like no one has yet managed to take the title of reigning French national road and time trial champion from her.

If it weren't for the financial and organizational difficulties of the Grand Boucle (GB), the event would have been as big as the Tour de France, with more sponsors, more competitors and a better media following. Unfortunately, these days the UCI rates the GB much lower when compared to other races.

I think someone needs to step up and revive the women's Grand Tours, bringing it at par with men's events, before its well on its knees, and its stars long forgotten. That comes with a recognition that women have an equal potential to dream and achieve well.

Sure, men can perform to physical heights that may be difficult for women, but I find it quite absurd that the women's cycling scene is clearly not in vogue.

I think this could be a part of bicycle advocacy itself, what do you think? A silly prejudice I may have is the fact that there aren't that many female cycling bloggers around. Anyway, female readers are welcome to respond.

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5 Cervelo Needs Engineers

Laura, an engineering recruiter for Cervelo noticed my blog and contacted me a couple of weeks back regarding open job spots at the company. If you're an engineer, have a passion for cycling and have considered entering the Canadian bicycle industry, please contact her at machan@ianmartin.com. Cervelo isn't just your average company, and this might be the opportunity you have always hunted for.

Her credentials are :

Laura Machan
Ian Martin Limited
Account Manager
465 Morden Road, 2nd Floor
Oakville, ON L6K 3W6

Telephone : 800-567-9675 ext 2247

8 Mario Cipollini's Bikes : Cracking the Code

Adding more the mystery and oddities of the man they call Super Mario, we have a picture of his road bike at Kahli-fohniya, with the help of some wonderful people at CN.

Courtesy : Huang, Cycling News

Specifications :

1. A mysterious custom Aluminum frame. Who says carbon fiber is any cooler?

Cycling News reports, "According to our sources, his frame was built by Simone Carlesso of Bassano del Grappa, Italy, the same person who built his bikes when Cipollini rode for the big 'S'."

Who are these 'sources'? Who is this big 'S'? And does this mysterious Carlesso figure have a web site? A quality third party reference? Apprently not. Excellent...

2. Shimano Dura Ace components. Quick, ditch your campy stuff before someone sees...!

3. Adding insult to our curiosities, an odd stem that says CM67. CN says its a Bontrager XXX Lite stem - unpainted on one side. I'm choosing to doubt this.

Courtesy : BKW

CM sounds definitely like Mario Cipollini, but that mysterious 67 is looking to me more like some kind of Morse Code. Did you also know that 67 is an odd number, adding to further to the oddity, meaning the total oddity is more than the sum of its parts.

Anyway, what might this 67 stand for?

Some possible clues are :

• A Flirtatious Trophy. He dated 67 different women (err...plausible.)

• Death. He had a premonition one night that he will die at this age.

• Vo2 Related. His VO2 max is 6.7 litres/minute. I don't doubt it, he breathes like a horse.

• Grand Tour Wins. Using a highly sophisticated scientific calculator, I summed up all his wins in the grand tours - at France, Italy and Spain. The number is 57! Very close, but pretty off. Must he have added to this another 10 victories that may have been close to his heart?

• Birth. He was born in 1967? Checking Wikipedia, this seems to be true. Mario indeed was born in 1967.. This almost reminds me of something we all do to give lesser trouble to our brains : Forming email id's and passwords with our birth dates somewhere in it! Wow, Cipo definitely took this to a whole new level!

3. Selle Italia SLR Carbon Saddle

4. LightWeight Wheels

5. Tires - Specialized Tubulars

6. Specialized Water Bottle Cages

7. A headbadge that I'm straining to look into, but it probably says "World Champion" (anyone with me on this?)

The Italian Press also reported that Cipo apparently used his 8 year old TT bike for his prologue run.

He's clearly different, his equipment is different and he chooses what to wear or do during a race. I like the approach and it clearly rings a bell with me.

There must be many more interesting things surrounding the Lion King, but the revelation of his riding tastes after a return to the pro circuit is very interesting. We see none of the flamboyance, Euroness, or eye catching color schemes that is so home to the pro cycling scene. I don't even think this is a portent to a possible Cipo mid-life crisis.

You know what I think? This little story is probably telling us all to reach a point in maturation as cyclists and even as individuals : Old is gold. Custom is king. Expensive is not always better. Be loyal to the people you know. The human component is more significant that any other factor put together. Ride what you like and don't be carried away by the folly of superfluous advertisement.

More importantly, don't give a s*** about what others think about you!

9 Tour of Cipollini (TOC)

There's the Amgen Tour of California '08.

And then, there's Mario Cipollini.




Who cares about the Yellow Jersey, when Lion King just awoke from a retirement slumber.

With some 1 Million Euros to pay back to the Italian government in taxes, a face like this in court will surely scare the prosecutors

Courtesy Graham Watson

The much publicized return of Mario to pro cycling has not failed to deliver. His larger than life celebrity presence just overwhelms the start line.

Whats even more amazing is his ability to stay at the front after all these years of absence from the pro scene. If there's anything more defining about him, it is his veteran status in the dirty, cunning world of speed. He knows this game all too well, perhaps more than anyone else.

Ok, granted the climbs haven't come yet but still... What do you guys think? Tornado Tom Boonen and Lion King put together, who'll win a one to one sprint finish?

The prospects of such a situation, with Boonen's proven track records, Cipollini's legendary tales and a level playing field now that drugs are out of the equation, just spells some pure sporting entertainment for the rest of us. Moreover, today's stage in California was just a humbling reminder to the world that the man they call 'Cipo' is in top form.

Cipo's name all over his bikes (Image courtesy BKW)

Just curious...with Rudy Project as sponsor to Rock Racing, Cipo clearly prefers Specialized Optics. A detractor?

Oh well, we all know Cipo likes to do his own things, and if he wants to do something, I guess he will.

For instance, lets look at one of his many idiosyncrasies?

When was the last time you saw a rider throw a water bottle at the motorcycle referee, behind the Liggettisms of "Very Good Shot!"? Later, the same victim was involved in a crash.



Apparently, Cipo's bite is worse than his bark. And thats very important in bicycle racing.

7 Dubious Frame Cracks

Here's a crack on the down tube of a carbon fiber composite Cannondale System Six, noted by the user after 3 months of regular riding. The clear coat is surprisingly intact. Cannondale agrees with the user's dealer, concluding that it resulted from a crash. A crack without damage to the clear coat is dubious. It seems to me to be a fault during manufacturing or packaging.

One can see the crack in good lighting.



Here's another 'crack' in the top tube of a Scott Addict Limited 2007. Again, the clear coat is in near to perfect condition. It almost looks like a cosmetic flaw to me, but with carbon fiber, you can't take any chances.



Both sound like warranty issues and should be communicated with the dealer, or the bicycle company itself.

29 Power to Weight Ratio

Men
	5 s	1 min	5 min	20 min
World Champion/World Record Holder	23.5	11.5	7.6	6.62
	23.16	11.35	7.46	6.5
	22.82	11.2	7.33	6.38
	22.48	11.05	7.19	6.26
World Class	22.14	10.9	7.06	6.14
	21.8	10.75	6.92	6.02
	21.46	10.6	6.79	5.91
	21.12	10.45	6.65	5.79
UCI Div. I/II Pro	20.78	10.3	6.52	5.67
	20.44	10.15	6.38	5.55
	20.1	10	6.25	5.43
	19.76	9.85	6.11	5.31
UCI Div. III pro	19.42	9.7	5.97	5.19
	19.08	9.55	5.84	5.07
	18.74	9.4	5.7	4.95
	18.4	9.25	5.57	4.84
Cat. 1	18.06	9.1	5.43	4.72
	17.72	8.95	5.3	4.6
	17.38	8.8	5.16	4.48
	17.04	8.65	5.03	4.36
Cat. 2	16.7	8.5	4.89	4.24
	16.36	8.35	4.75	4.12
	16.02	8.2	4.62	4
	15.68	8.05	4.48	3.88
Cat. 3	15.34	7.9	4.35	3.76
	15	7.75	4.21	3.64
	14.66	7.6	4.08	3.53
	14.32	7.45	3.94	3.41
Cat. 4	13.98	7.3	3.81	3.29
	13.64	7.15	3.67	3.17
	13.3	7	3.53	3.05
	12.96	6.85	3.4	2.93
Cat. 5	12.62	6.7	3.26	2.81
	12.28	6.55	3.13	2.69
	11.94	6.4	2.99	2.57
	11.6	6.25	2.86	2.46
Untrained	11.26	6.1	2.72	2.34
	10.92	5.95	2.59	2.22
	10.58	5.8	2.45	2.1
	10.24	5.65	2.32	1.98
	9.9	5.5	2.18	1.86
Note: Values are displayed in watts/kg. The weight should be the weight of the body only. Bicycle, kit, water bottles, etc… are all excluded

This table is from a page in the book Training and Racing with a Power Meter, by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coogan, 2005. This is an absolute monumental work, if you will, in the field of competitive cycling and one of the best texts I have read on the subject of power meter data analyzing. I don't have a PT or an SRM but I adapt the solid principles in the book when training indoors on the Kurt Kinetic Trainer + Power PC system.

The reason I put this up here is for reference purposes and also after watching Fabian sweep the Tour of California prologue yesterday with some serious power.

Efficiency and VO2 max aside, Power to weight ratio (Power in watts divided by body weight in kilos) probably overwhelms all other factors in top level bicycle races. No matter what equipment you ride with, or who your coach is, if your human component cannot produce the numbers shown in the table above, you have no hope competing as you progress towards the top of the game. Better go do something else for a living. Seriously..

Long repeated bouts of training might do it get you there, but now I almost want to believe, even though I don't want to, that the genetic factors overwhelm any training efforts. This also reflects well on a post by AKI a.k.a 'Sprinter Della Casa' on the same topic, where he is somewhat on the same line with me.

Anyway, lets provide an example of top level performance :


CSC's Fabian Cancellara, world TT champ, won yesterday's Tour of California Prologue TT at an average speed of 35mph, with an even astonishing 3 minutes and 51 seconds, thats a 4 second lead over the second man in - Team High Road's Bradley Wiggins, who is also a 2 or 3 time Olympic medal holder back in 2004 in the short pursuit discipline.

Fabian is 80 kilograms and one can very well take his average Power to weight ratio to be 7.6 in the 5 min category (referenced from table above, and I still believe thats a little on the low end).

You do the math, Fabian was nearly producing 608 Watts and above for almost 4 minutes (again, that figure is possibly a little low for Fabian but you get the big picture?).

Thats the power an average novice rider can produce for 10-12 seconds at most, if he's in his best moods.

The book, Bicycling Science by Gordon Wilson, established a somewhat direct relationship between power to weight ratio (in watts per kg) with measured oxygen uptake (in ml/min/kg) in 5 trained cyclists flying the human powered aircraft Daedalus. A higher sustained power to weight ratio naturally elicits a higher breathing capacity.

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0 Popular Mechanics Profiles Litespeed Titanium

Page 93 of the March 2008 edition of Pop Mechanics read like this :

At just under 2 pounds, the most feathery titanium bike frames made by the American Bicycle Group nearly float off the workbenches in the company's factory in Ooltewah, Tenn. "Asian Manufactures dont have the expertise with the titanium like we do, and they don't have the same grade of titanium," says part owner and CEO Peter Hurley. "The level of fabrication we have here does not exist anywhere else in the world."

Surprising clients come knocking when you've got Titanium-shaping chops : NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab buys tubing from the company. But ABG is, primarily, a bike company, whose Litespeed and Merlin bike frames are favored by the many triathletes, mountain bikers and road racers. In part, they have 22-year old welder Josie Greek to thank. "With welding, I thought I'd get a job somewhere smoky, dirty,"Greek says. "But this is clean. I love the work." And elite cyclists love the results.

Litespeed Ghisallo, 1.7 pound frame, made at the company's 85,000 sq-ft factory, is one of the lightest in the world.

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5 The Kano Diagram Applied to Cycling Products and Services

Dr. Steve Shooter is a professional and practicing engineer at Bucknell University. He focuses on topics in product design and development and some of his videos on You tube are just fantastic material.

Here, he explains the Kano Diagram, a model used to measure how well a product or service meets customer requirements. This concept is a basic topic in engineering design courses, but you don't necessarily have to be one to understand it. Its simple to assimilate; there's no math or funky equations.

Let's try and apply this to the bicycling arena, referring at each step to the Kano Diagram.

THE KANO DIAGRAM

BASIC FEATURES (Shouldn't They All Have Them?!)

All mortals need brakes!

When one goes out to shop for a bicycle (depending on what is really wanted), certain basic features are expected. Certainly when one sits down to even think of buying a bicycle, something like the picture on the left pops up on mind.

It must have brakes, pedals, reliable wheels and tires for the job at hand, a rack, a bell, a basket or a tote and of course, comfort seating and posture wise. No big scrutiny takes place as far as all the other nuts and bolts of the system are concerned. Its expected to be there and to work properly during operation. Likewise, this idea can be extended to other cycling products, like helmets or jerseys and shoes. Generally, I would also think a certain amount of durability of product can also be an expected feature.

A cyclo-cross frame is expected to provide clearance for wider tires and mud, some also expect higher bottom brackets but this is disputed with the coming of low profile clipless pedals

Certain folks expect reflectors somewhere on the bicycle

Jerseys are expected to have 2 or 3 pockets (..but you're not expected to see this guy's face)

All tubes are to have some kind of valve, a device that regulates flow of air

Shoes are expected to fit snugly off the bike and during use. Be it state of the art or even a basic pair, compatibility is an expected feature, so if it won't take your favorite set of clip less pedals, someone is going to be upset

Color, shape and style all apart, bicycle helmets are made to protect vital regions from a crash

The absence or failure of any of these basics is going to leave someone at low satisfaction levels. On the other hand, since one expected these attributes, their presence isn't really something out of this world, if you will. The consumer will be happy but somewhat indifferent towards it, as the Kano diagram tells us.

It is to be noted here that basic features vary upon what is really desired. A track bike is different from a cross bike, just as a set of platform pedals for leisurely street riding once or twice a month is different from a clip less pair of pedals for commuting or racing. A racing caliber climber's road bike is expected to be within a .50lb tolerance of 15 pounds, while all good mountain bikes will have some suspension system for comfort and vibration dampening off-road.

Basic features vary with application.

PERFORMANCE FEATURES

The Kano diagram says that the performance curve with respect to implementation is essentially linear. No performance whatsoever is deeply upsetting while fully implemented performance is a very satisfying experience, both for the user and manufacturer of the good or service.

The compact oxford dictionary defines performance, among other definitions, as : the capabilities of a machine or product.

I like the definition because it is general for one thing, and the other is that it reflects what the product can or will achieve during the rigors of operation. The meaning behind the showy advertisement or for every dollar of the 5 grand you poured on the carbon Cervelo P3 or that superlight Ghisallo is to be found right here. Veteran users will immediately come to know whether the bicycle achieves what they desire. A simple 15 second sprint or a 1 hour test ride on a favorite climb will differentiate the fakers from the real stuff.

Performance, like I said, is also quite general and its meaning is different for different people.

Performance, as far as a bicycle is concerned, could any or a combination of the following :

1) A rigid framework with stable ride and cornering.

2) Some like it fast and aerodynamic.

3) Some love super light everything.

4) Some need the extra stiffness for hills and sprints.

5) There's a fair percentage of the crowd who loves a lively, pin-point accurate ride akin to a laser guided missile.

6) Comfort on long rides, cobble stones, road potholes you name it.

A Colnago Master rides like a dream, and numerous people will testify to its ride characteristics

With above average diameter tubing, the Cannondale Caad 8 is plenty stiff during power transfer

Few companies spend more time in wind tunnels as BlackWell Research. Their products are a testimony to time worthy design, testing and performance

Who doesn't want a cool head? With a whopping 26 vents, the '07 Woman's Giro Atmos delivers hot air out while keeping the cool in, something vital for racing extremes.

Shoes with ultra lightness, extra stiffness and a durable synthetic material of construction like Lorica are all performance oriented

With on the cutting edge racing performance, an athlete can't go wrong with Zipps on race day

Cane Creek Headsets are "Engineered to Last"

The funny thing is, no one product may be able to achieve each and everything and there is some compromise to be met in the end. There is no perfect design like Henry Petroski will tell you, and it may also be an issue of money.

But generally, the more performance features you can pack into one product, the better it is and happier is the customer.

EXCITEMENT FEATURES (THE WOW FACTOR)

Did you ever go "wow!" standing in a bike shop or watching a cycling commerical! Well, I did too many times (it gives me a characteristic pain in the mouth, which could be a reason behind stopping visits to shops and watching too much TV).

Often there are things that the customer never expected to be present in the system. Hence, there is an excitement to learn that it is indeed present. The features may be just there for aesthetic reasons, or it might have a solid performance reason behind it.

Curvy-licious and contraversial Pinarello's always get seconds stares and a fair share of "wow's"

With a paint job like this, bicycle comes art (Naked Bicycles)

At some point in history, the internal cable routing system was a wow. Slowly, its magic melted over time

The Argon 18 E-112 Time Trial Bike features horizontal rear dropouts. Regardless of tire size, the wheel can be optimally positioned.

The beautiful lacing systems on Specialized's shoes always gets a wow from my side, even if I don't use them!

The much talked about Cervellum digital bike computer, with rear view video capture and cross functionality modules, is undoubtedly WOW!

I don't have to go on since I'm sure you could throw in many many wow features into the list here without much looking.

A fair share of excitement features are patented to certain companies. But many of them are common place, offer performance benefits and over time, what happens is that due to market forces, these features begin to be expected by people. So as time passes, excitement features can shift to become performance and then basic features as shown by the Pink Arrow in the Kano representation below.



Another point to note is that wow features are not just limited to products, but also to services.

I'm sure you can think of that special bike shop that threw in extra goodies with your first bike purchase for free, the one-to-one service between you and your custom frame builder, all those unbelievable discounts and fast shipping from retailers like Nashbar or Performance Bikes, or even the sweet warranties and rare carbon fiber repair services like those of Calfee's or the X-Ray analysis of Colnago's.


The Kano model offers a very elegant model of what prompts customers to select one product or service over another. The model implicitly suggests that those things that ‘excite’ customers hold the key to what will be successful versus what will not. Its a combination of all these things that get people to dream and innovate, that moves products out the door, and what ultimately makes people buy things!

On a lighthearted note, you can apply the Kano diagram in your jobs (as talked about in Dr. Shooter's video), get that badly needed raise and start buying all the cycling stuff you lusted after!

10 The President's "First Mechanic"

President Bush clearly has this unique celebrity status in contemporary history. Its always fascinating to know whats going on at his end. Well, we always do, don't we, but those little silly things that don't make it to mainstream media often paint a different picture about him. [insert favorite description here..]

I pointed you out to an an article in the past about the President's love for mountain biking. A few of you readers were shocked after realizing TREK and Cannondale supplied the President with the "First Bicycles". One comment went like this : "The fact that Trek and Cannondale gave him a bike as a gift has turned me away from those companies permanently." A couple of others I think agreed.

Santiago Gonzalez is co-owner of Revolution Cycles, a two-state store that has been included in Bicycle Research's top 100 Bicycle Retailers list for 2008. He has been the President's bicycle mechanic. Dubbed "The First Mechanic" by bicycling magazine, Gonzalez has also supplied bikes to the secret service and a couple of other noted luminaries in the political and media scene.

Here, Santiago recounts his time with the President and reveals some of his cycling habits.

The President's 'First Mechanic'

Cycling Store Owner Remembers Times With Bush

By Evan Regan-Levine Feb 12 2008

Although President George W. Bush calls him “the Pinkster” in letters, Santiago Gonzalez goes by “Pinkey” to the Georgetown residents who visit his store on M Street. Gonzalez, who immigrated to the US from Spain, is a bicycle mechanic and co-owner of Revolution Cycles, a four-store chain of bicycle shops in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. About 10 years ago, Pinkey started Revolution Cycles, now reputed as the chain that supplies Bush with his bicycles and bicycle maintenance. They also provide similar services to the Secret Service, John Kerry and locals. This week, THE HOYA sits down with the man who Bicycling Magazine dubbed “The First Mechanic.”

How long have you been working on bicycles?

Me? Uh ... too long. About 20 years.

How did you get involved in this business?

Way back when … I was a young kid, a real good friend of mine open[ed] up a bike shop, [and] I used to go hang out after school [and] do my homework and stuff. So he says, ‘Well we’re gonna need a mechanic ’cause the business is picking up.’ He left town and sold me his business.

Do you race?

I’m from Spain. ... We didn’t have that kind of means of supporting a racer, so no. ... I wish I did.

What kind of bicycle does the president ride?

He rides a [Trek] Fuel EX 9.5. There are only three in existence. We have one that rotates between the stores. XTR components, top of the line. It’s painted the Air Force scheme [like Air Force Once]. It also has the presidential seal. It’s a mountain bike.

Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is

How did you start working on the president’s bicycle?

Literally when he took office, ’cause when he took office, Trek donated 20 bikes to the Secret Service, and then from that point on, he was riding and he was not fitted correctly by whoever had sold him his previous bike. The owner of Trek was in the presidential fitness council [and] knew [the president], and he told me he was having issues with the bike. He recommended [that] my partner come and set him up on the bike, and from that point on, we became his store.

Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job in front...

Would you consider President Bush a bicycle enthusiast?

Oh yeah. My partner has gone with him for a few rides. Some have the misconception [about] the president ‘yeah, he rides.’ He rides hard, he’s an avid cyclist; he likes the good stuff — very serious. He rides very, very hard on the bike.

This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating. Think I'll do some intervals today on the bike....

Do you also deal with the Secret Service?

We deal with the majority of the Secret Service people, the Vice Presidential Secret Service. We also deal with ... the Presidential Protection Detail, the guys that always ride with him. … We always deal with the police agencies in town, even the police guys from Georgetown.

I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?

How often does he ride it?

It’d be hard to tell you. He does ride quite a bit. I would say probably often.

I believe.. man and fiber can co-exist peacefully

Have you ever interacted with (even ridden with) him personally?

No I haven’t. There’s a little issue with me not being a citizen. I was born in Spain and I’ve been here 41 years. He’s even asked my partner, ‘When are you going to bring the Pinkster, his nickname for me, riding?’ [My partner] said to me, ‘I don’t mind if you come, but you better get your ass in shape because he’s serious.’

Do you sell and maintain bikes for Law Enforcement?

It’s like a half and half. We’ve sold half of the bikes for [Law Enforcement in the D.C. area]. They come up to us especially when they find out we have serviced the president’s bike or when they find out the other law enforcements have serviced the bikes [with us].

Tell me about your business.

We have four locations. We have one in D.C., one across the bridge, Stepford and one up in Rockville. It’s usually like a mix, local residents … people who come from all over Washington. I’ve also done Bill Clinton’s bike, one of the ones Lance Armstrong gave him. ... The second race Lance won, he gave him a replica of the one [he used].
I almost had three presidents when Kerry ran. He went bike riding; he borrowed [bike store workers’] stuff. When he came in he was by himself. There was an article in one of the magazines. ... They were poking fun [at Kerry’s and Bush’s bicycle riding].
We get a lot of clientele. ... The Kennedys, Robin Williams...

Did the president pick his bike?

That’s a good question. I don’t know whether he picked it. He knows what he wants. He chooses the certain things he wants on his bike. When he bought a newer bike from Trek, he wanted a mirror copy of the one he had. It was a new frame. ... Instead of painted [like] Air Force One … it had stars ... faded from blue to white. The Secret Service guys came in and said, ‘Spitting image of what he’s riding. Same measurements.’ Believe me there was an issue when we couldn’t get his seat post — everything had to be identical.

They misunderestimated me!!! I like clipless pedals... so I told em', bring some to the White House!!

When he got the first bike he had regular pedals. ... After a while my partner approached him and he said you might want to consider ‘clipless’ [pedals into which special shoes fasten]. ... [The president said,] ‘Bring some to the White House and fit me up.’ He gets up on the bike riding around the White House. He was up on the White House lawn riding around with him.

The President leads in the queen of all Presidential Classics, the Lawn Roubaix

— Interview by Evan Regan-Levine