4 Saturday Stupidity IV

FOR OTHER INSTALLMENTS OF STUPIDITY, SEE :

Saturday Stupidity I
Saturday Stupidity II
Saturday Stupidity III
Saturday Stupidity IV
Saturday Stupidity V
Saturday Stupidity VI
Saturday Stupidity VII
Saturday Stupidity IX

0 Bikes and The Economy Part III : How To Survive The Credit Crisis

While we talked about the effects of the economy on the bike business in two other posts (click here and here), mainly in the form of bad news, here's one that's much more positive. The article appeared in the Ames Tribune (Ames is in Iowa), making top headlines with a very suggestive title. Its pretty nice to hear that a bicycle company's experience with tough finanical times made the headlines and possibly sets an example for others. Honestly, I've never heard about this company before I read the article and I must say their way of doing business is a very interesting one.

Let this be a case study for those of you in the industry. Enjoy the reading!

How An Ames Bicycle Company Survived The Credit Crisis And Came Out On Top

By Teresa Kay Albertson, Special to The Tribune
Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 11:45 AM CST


Few businesses can claim the balance sheet Cycle Force Group can boast. The international bicycling marketing company based in Ames, has enjoyed an average of $20 million of sales over the past 10 years and has no debt.

Twelve months ago, when Cycle Force President and CEO Nyle Nims looked ahead, he couldn’t see any bumps in the road. Then the company’s local banking partner abruptly put the brakes on its credit line.

“And we’ve never been late for a single payment,” Nims said repeatedly. “Not one.”

Nims said Cycle Force was one of the first businesses to suffer from the unsecure mortgage industry, which made the banking industry nervous about all credit. With long-term sales looking good, but no credit from which to manage his cash flow, he and Vice President Sue Cunningham were preparing to close the doors. Until the 11th hour.

“Literally, the final hour,” Cunningham said.

The company, which was called Cycle Source, partnered with one of its largest clients, Cycle Force, a British company. They merged as one under the Cycle Force name with Nims sitting in the driver’s seat, or lead bicycle saddle, as it were.

Cycle Force Group, Ames Iowa

Last year, the company had $3 million in revenues due to the banking credit fiasco, Nims said. But the company is well ahead of budget goals for this year and may likely outpace its 2007 revenues.

“2010 will be very, very good,” Nims said with a smile.

Nims is a hometown boy who made it big. In 1969, he returned home to Ames from the Vietnam War to work in his dad’s business, Nims Sporting Goods, and attend Iowa State University. In 1980, Nyle started traveling for the store as a Midwest representative for the mopeds his father sold in the store. Shortly thereafter, he added Ross bicycles to his territory. By 1992, he was president of Ross Bicycles.

“Through attrition, I just worked my way up,” Nims said.

With the Ross family, Nims directed the bicycle company into a new area with promotional marketing of specialty bicycles. However, with bicycles from China coming in and flooding the United States markets with cut-rate prices, Ross bicycles cut back on the specialty market.

So Nims struck out on his own, taking with him Cunningham, who was the Ross director of fitness, marketing and international sales.

“He’s very unique,” Cunningham said about Nims and his passion for bicycles and success. “He’s a leader in the industry because he’s been doing this so long.”

Since breaking out on his own in 1998, Nims has expanded the company into nearly every area of bicycling marketing available. He contracts with bicycle manufacturers in China to make a product to his specification. He then ships it to his corporate headquarters in Ames. The warehouse located next door to the offices is floor to ceiling with bicycles. As his clients send in orders, he trucks out bicycles.

Steve Smelewski, the shipping and receiving manager at Cycle Force Group, lifts stock from shelves Feb. 19 in the warehouse at the business in Ames

Nims’s customers are other businesses, not the person sitting on the bike. But no matter how someone ends up with one of his bicycles, he stands by his product. Each one has a permanent sticker attached to the frame so the user can call with questions, concerns or problems.

“We’d rather have you calling us than Target or Toys R Us and just getting frustrated,” he said. “Efficiency and service are our top priorities.”

Cycle Force provides promotional bicycles to companies for a variety of uses. In his show room, Nims has bicycles featuring his company’s designs for Sunkist, TrueValue, Bank of America and Jack Daniels.

“If you can think of a brand, we’ve probably made a bicycle for them,” Nims said. “Companies call us because they want to offer a promotion. They tell us how much money they want to spend on the bike and we incorporate their logo into the design.”

Nims also markets bicycles for movies. His team is working on a new bicycle for the Transformers 2 movie. And they market bicycles for companies such as Kawasaki, Polaris, Smith & Wesson and Ford.

“We do all of the design work in house,” Nims said. “We own the exclusive rights to the designs.”

He has made bicycles for several universities, including Arizona State and the University of Tulsa. He’s hoping to add ISU to that list.

“If we can ever find the right contact there,” he said.

Another area of the business is e-marketing. Nims said he was the first to start selling bicycles on the Internet. He has product on 30 to 40 different Web sites.

“You can even get our bicycles on Amazon.com,” he said.

The company has 14 employees after relocating to Ames less than three years ago from Long Island, N.Y. The cost of business there was prohibitive, Nims said. So with his roots still in Ames, he enticed his employees to Iowa with a trip during Veishea weekend in 2006. By June of that year, six of his employees agreed to relocate to the Midwest.

“I let them all keep their New York salaries,” Nims said. “And one of our guys bought a house here for less than half of what he sold his old one for.”

Because of the lower cost of business in Iowa, Nims said he was able to save $500,000 a year by moving the company from Long Island.

Since nearly shutting down the company last year, Nims is pleased to report on the company’s growth, including a new contract with Toys R Us.

“We’ve gone through the wringer, and we’ve been at the bottom,” Nims said. “We survived. Those who have stuck by us, like UPS, now we give every bit of our business to UPS.”



Additional Resources :

Are Bicycle Businesses Heading To Potential Turmoil, Your Say (Part I)
Economic Effects On The Bicycle Business Part II

8 Aspect Ratios & The Spirit of Cycling As A Sport

One of the key aerodynamic design variables for fairings and streamlined bodies is the Length to Width ratio (also called Aspect Ratio in some literature). There is an optimum length for a fairing intended to minimize the total drag on a body moving through the air. At low speeds (Reynolds number below about 100,000), the optimum ratio of the length of the fairing to its maximum width is about 5:1. If the fairing is made shorter, pressure drag will increase faster than the surface friction is reduced. Conversely, if the fairing is made longer, friction drag increases faster than pressure drag is reduced. The situation changes at high speed (Reynolds numbers above about 1 million). Turbulence at these speeds significantly increases friction drag relative to pressure drag, and optimum fairings are shorter.


An a example, the WW2 De Havilland Mosquito has an elongated tear drop shape profile and a length to width fuselage ratio of 6:1. This is to maximize the efficiency of flight and fluid flow in the Reynold's number regime encountered by the aircraft.

Last week, the UCI said that since 2010, they'll be enforcing their 3:1 length to width ratios for any extension or streamlining of a section of a competing bicycle, be it aerobars, seatposts, crankarms, frames, or forks.

Courtesy : UCI Code 1.3.025

I totally welcome the enforcement of this rule by the UCI. You might think in a different way. But I say we shouldn't want bicycles looking like aircrafts, at least in the competition arena. As beautiful as they might be, that'll be a silly thing in sport, won't it? If someone has to introduce such extreme aids to empower themselves in pedaling, how do you differentiate between technological prowess and their true potential as a rider? I think this thought process is best stated through UCI's own 'Preamble' for bicycles :

"The bicycle shall comply with the spirit and principle of cycling as a sport. The spirit presupposes that cyclists will compete in competitions on an equal footing. The principle asserts the primacy of man over machine."

Hence, it is nice to have a governing body overlook these matters, or soon we would have bicycles looking so aerodynamically morphed that when they're ridden, the lift force will be so great that they'll take off no lesser than airplanes. For safety, bicycle designers would incorporate into them cockpits, oxygen systems and ejection seats. And that, I fear, will be the new doping in cycling.

It is interesting that today, there are a variety of aero forks that go over this 3:1 rule. For a few examples, check out this table compiled by BikeTechReview.

So does this mean that these forks in question are now UCI illegal since 2010? I certainly can't answer that 100%, but looking at the way UCI wants to enforce this rule, it seems very likely that these forks won't be accepted in competition unless some kind of exception is made (one could tell the UCI, oh please excuse me, my ratios are still very close to your limit, see?)

Lets keep this sport unadultered, pure and true to its spirit. No more BS. Primacy of man over machine, not the other way round.

Kestrel's UCI Illegal TT Bike

9 GoCycle : World's First Thixomoulded Bicycle

The following article requires a coffee intensity of 9.0/10



Word has it that that GoCycle electric bike, first seen at the Teipei Cycle Show last year, was just officially launched early this week by UK based Karbon Kinetics of London. The wow factor is that it is the first bicycle in history with a frame set and wheels that are injection moulded in magnesium. It won top awards at Teipei, including one for Best Innovation.

The bike is the brainchild of an ex-McLaren engineer named Richard Thorpe, founder of Karbon Kinetics. Thorpe remarks that he was pulled into this idea after his total dissatisfaction with traditional bike design. He doesn't say specifically what he was dissatisfied about (any comments on that, Rich?)


Since GoCycle designed the bike but its core specialization does not include the manufacturing processes required, UK teams have been working on the mechanical parts of the bike while the magnesium frame is being manufactured by a Canadian firm using a unique process called Thixomoulding (see below). Finally, it is assembled by Ideal Bicycle Co of Taiwan. However, there is word that production facilities are now being UK-based to better serve customer demand.

MAGNESIUM WITH 60% GLASS FILLED NYLON

Magnesium is the lightest of common structural metals (Specific Gravity 1.74). It is 34 % lighter than Aluminum and 74% lighter than Steel. In addition, magnesium is one of the earth's most abundant elements, with virtually inexhaustible supply (2,7% of the Earth crust). One of its nicer advantages, compared to plastics, is that it is easily recyclable and readily reused without any loss in mechanical properties (at least that's what is claimed).

Here are a few of the mechanical properties of two magnesium alloys.

Courtesy : Thixotech Europe

A specially formulated nylon filled with long glass fibres is used for crucial mechanical parts like the rear suspension unit. The expertise to injection mould this lightweight yet strong material, which is 60 per cent glass, was provided by UK-based Protomold. I have written about Protomold in a past post, exploring how they helped in the development of the iBike cycling computer body unit. Click here to read that post.

Protomold engineers reported that they encountered a unique situation working with the Gocycle. Said John Tumulty, managing director of Protomold :

“With the GoCycle parts we were really pushing the boundaries of what is possible with plastic, and therefore the materials specified were, in the main, exotic thermoplastics. A very dominant material in the range is 60 per cent long-fibre glass-filled nylon, which is pretty extreme in terms of the glass content, coupled with the fact that it’s long fibre. During the moulding process, those fibres have a tendency to align with flow direction. The way the fibres are aligned affects the mechanical properties of the end part. Our mould technicians here have hundreds and hundreds of years experience between them yet hadn’t worked on anything like this, so it was interesting work. We knew we had incredibly short lead times, which also added to the challenge. On a simple, run-of-the-mill plastic part we can turn that around in 24 hours, but with the GoCycle components we had identified that we were going to have engineering challenges ahead. With that in mind, we pulled out all the stops so that we had more time in the mould shop to experiment and play with the moulding parameters."

"As with most things, the more mechanical property-orientated a material becomes, often the less aesthetically pleasing it becomes,” says Tumelty. “Glass fibres can have a tendency to show up on the surface of a moulded part, which on a black plastic will give a silvering effect. In layman’s terms, you’re looking at the black plastic through a fibrous glass layer. Obviously that’s not very attractive. There’s also quite a lot of effort and experimentation that went into the parameters of moulding the part in order to not only attain the required mechanical properties, but also to get the cosmetics to an acceptable level.”

DESIGN AND SPECIFICATIONS

The development of the bike took some six years from design conception. PRO/ENGINEER Wildfire, a parametric, feature based CAD software was used in the design (similarly, it is now widely known that TREK uses Solidworks).

Interestingly, Richard gives hints that one of the reasons he left Mclaren was due to lack of Pro/E at the company (some companies have their own internal, proprietary CAD systems that could be cumbersome to work with).


Now here are the tech specs of the bike :


The GoCycle can be pedalled like a conventional bicycle until the rider hits a button that revs up a high-powered electric motor in the front hub. It can travel at full legal urban driving speed for about 12 miles before needing a re-charge. The transmission is a Shimano Nexus 3 speed hub. These 3 gears are operated by a twist grip on the handlebar.

But there was an interesting noise issue with the motor. Said a review from Velovision :

"The assist motor is engaged by pressing the red hutton to the left of the handlebars: the motor then kicks in after four turns of the pedals. I must admit I found this strange - it's those first four turns where you need assistance the most when accelerating off traffic lights, for example. I also noticed that the motor doesn't have a lot of torque at low speed - so if on a hill start you're still moving slowly, it will struggle to accelerate you. On the same hill, get up a bit of speed first and it will boost you up powerfully. It's also good to speed you up for longer stretches in traffic. The motor is quite noisy, but not so much as to be an embarrassment. It does have a loudish whine: other cyclists or pedestrians you overtake will definitely know you've engaged the motor and many looked round to see what it was."

The noisy motor issue is in fact called by Gocycle to be a deliberate design feature!

Richard said of the noise :

"We were looking for the fun, spunky, get-me-there vroom-vrooom-vrooom attitude for the city commute."

The need for some vroom-vrooom is hardly surprising considering Richard's roots in McLaren.

The company representatives also said about the battery :

"Considering the total vehicle - weight, range, performance, cost, safety - Gocycle is one of the lightest electric two wheelers available as well as being competitively priced. Considering this is based on NiMh battery chemistry, the inherent safety margin that NiMh offers over Lithium based batteries is a bonus. Lithium batteries will be available as an upgrade option in the future, same battery case same Gocycle frame, but at a higher price than NiMh. The increase in performance will be about 1-2 kgs of total weight savings of the entire vehicle with slightly more range."

PRODUCTION PROCESS

Thixomoulding is a net shape forming process that exploits a commonplace, but interesting property of non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluids. Its called thixotropy. Pseudoplastic fluids exhibit a time-dependent, reversible change in viscosity; the longer the fluid undergoes shear, the lower its viscosity (by the way, a fluid is anything that flows upon shear). When not subjected to shear, it forms a gelled structure. When agitated mechanically, its internal structure temporarily breaks down causing a reduction in viscosity.

Toothpaste is thixotropic. It is much like a solid when left alone. But when you squeeze it, applying a sideways force through the tube, it flows much like a liquid. Thixotropy is why you never construct a building on sand. What happens when its visibly wet and there's a sudden earthquake? Whoops.




Thixomoulding uses this property in injection molding semi-solid magnesium slurry under high velocity into a mold. Magnesium feedstock (in chips or pellets) is added from a hopper into a multi-zone, temperature controlled barrel with a reciprocating screw. The screw is surrounded by heating bands and its rotational action mechanically shears the heated metal creating a semi-solid mixture of Mg alloy. This alloy is then injected into the mould. After metal injection is complete, the end of the screw freezes shut. The plug that forms keeps the semi-solid mixture from leaking out of the screw [Source : High Intensity Die Casting Processes, Vinarcik, E).

Courtesy : ASM International

Here's what a thixomoulding machine would look like :

Picture Courtesy : A B Technology

However, Thixomoulding application involves a set of structured design processes. As with any manufacturing procedure, you have to orient your design in a manner favorable for the manufacturing process (form, structure, material tolerances etc). Some of these design processes to be thought about for thixomoulding are outlined here.

150 production Gocycles have been produced and are currently being evaluated by what the company calls "Pioneer Customers". The availability of the next batch is in March 2009, and anyone interested in ordering can visit www.gocycle.biz to take advantage of special pricing. The retail has so far been placed at around 1000 dollars for a non-motorized version and an extra 500 dollars for the motor system.

WILL IT BE SUCCESSFUL?

Certainly Gocycle is a fresh departure from the norm in what many would consider a stagnant industry. It looks aesthetically sound and other design features quickly bring second looks. Velovision explored most of those features in their review of the bike here. The folding action is not too shabby and the hard case for the bike is impressive.

1) I must admit that it is vital that these first production units from Gocycle do not get a bad image due to technical/product failure. How strong is the frame as far as material thickineses are concerned? Will the long cantilevered seat post support the weight of a rider reliably? In writing "The 8 Second Bicycle", I talked about how Kirk die cast magnesium bikes quickly fell from grace due a poor show in terms of safety in the very initial stages of its launch.

2) There is going to be some stiff competition other folders from Strida, Brompton, Dahon, Friday etc. How is GoCycle going to differentiate itself?

3) Customers are bound to get intimidated or concerned because of potential fire and safety problems involved with magnesium. Few customers would know that today, magnesium alloys are used in such diverse industries as automotive, computers and sporting goods. I think it would do GoCycle some good to educate people on the materials used, the technology used, and how it is safe for human use.

4) How cost effective is the Thixomoulding process? I realize that Thixomat holds the exclusive worldwide patent rights to this process so will final cost passed on the customer absorb the licensing fees for this technology?

5) My last question is that while centralizing production facilities in the UK is good to customers there, would it lead to slow distribution in other geographical locations?

It would be great to have Richard Thorpe talk about some of these issues. So feel free to comment on my blog here.

UPDATE (Feb 26, 2009) : Richard Thorpe has replied to my questions one by one. Please see the comments section for his thoughts.

Anyone else? What comes to your mind when you first think of words like 'magnesium', 'glass fiber' etc?



ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :

The 8 Second Bicycle
Design Of The Strida By Mark Sanders
Design Case Study : Innovation Of The Brompton Folding Bicycle
Rational Bicycle Frame Design : Giving Consideration To Functionality
Pioneering Plastics In The GoCycle
PTC Helps Karbon Kinetics To Produce The GoCycle
Thixomolded Component Advantages
Magnesium Alloy Applications

* * *

8 BREAKING NEWS : Inspector Clouseau Finds Lance's Bike

Fiery news fresh off the stove is pouring into our media center that the world's most famous detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and his team have found what appears to be the cancer Savior's stolen time trial bike. Following Clouseau's Clitter updates on the left sidebar of this blog for the past two days, he reports that it was found in a raid into the shoddy quarters of a certain Paul 'Skimmage'. Scanning dental records at his doctor's office have led us to believe that Skimmage may either be a journalist or a reporter with an above average mouth.

But tragedy has it that Clouseau has an almost illness-like obsession with one of the Italian detectives on the team, Mrs. Stella Bonasera. He's undergoing intensive therapy to determine whether he still has his sanity about him. Meanwhile, check out the latest picture from the raid :

Detectives shine light into the basement. There was a bike in there...

Earlier, Clouseau also reported on discovering manuscripts of a memoir floating around the inner most circles of Skimmage. Whether the book was authored by this journalist himself or not is not known at the moment. However it is clear that someone didn't like the harsh ride of carbon fiber and was about to publish his thoughts.


But whatever happened to the wheels of the bike?? The last clue to this mind boggling case may lie with a second suspect caught by Clouseau on CCTV. A certain Sterile Crew.

Clouseau's thoughts were superimposed on the image using top French technology.

Thank you Clouseau for saving the day! I hope Lance Armstrong will stick to his promise, and reward him with a pair of used bike shorts. Its what our poor Clouseau needs at the moment.

* * *

How The Investigation Took Place

Who is Inspector Jacques Clouseau? There is only one like him. Click Here To Find Out.

Clouseau's Clitter Updates :

Check the official missing time trial bike notice. Clouseau updated you with his findings through his Clitter updates. Clitter updates were 200 character limit conversations between the Inspector and Lance Armstrong. In Italics was Lance responding back to Clouseau. This is how those conversations went.


Prologue

" Armstrang,yeuw have me, ze best ditecteeve in ze werld to find yeur stolen time thrail beeke. "

Err...Clouseau, correction.. My name is Armstrong.
"Armstrang."
ArmstrOng.
"Armstank."
No...Armstrong! Armstrrrong.
"Armswine!"
Sigh. Never mind!


Feb 17

8:00 am

"To zee Armstrang : I sink zat zee repeurter Paul Skimmage is the criminel! Yeuw insulted him in pebleec days before zee race. Since yeuw said he is not weurth zee chair he sits on, he thought your beeke is not weurth for you to sit in ulso. Now is zere an Ireeush craigslist for him to sell theu time thrail beeke? I will chick Googil dot cum. Zank yeuw.

Yes!! Zere is Ireeush craizy list. See here."

But Inspector Clouseau, don't you think Sheryl Crow may be a greedier suspect? I heard from my 5 year old son that due to the credit crunch, Citibank isn't giving her the loan to buy a new guitar. How awful. Livestrong!

"Yeus, zat is posseubil. I will chick. Maybe it weus both Skimmage and Sterile Crew. Tag-teeem yeuw know. Leevstreung!"

9:00 pm

"To zee Armstrang. I chicked. I have zee suspiceun at zee Sterile Crew. My CCTV spotted her walkeeng in Sacramento with a funny pose and hiddeun luggage. Is theus hiddeun luggage underneath her bra zee time thrail beeke? I have uplewded CCTV image here. Chick. Zank yeuw."

Interesting Clouseau. I was always suspicious of Sheryl Crow. I just returned after stage 3 of AMGEN so I'm getting ready to shower. But quickly...I don't think my time trial bike is a folding bike. It surely cannot get so compact that it can hide within the confines of her under-shoulder-boulder-holders. Good work anyway. What about Kimmage? Livestrong!


Feb 18

8:00 am

"To zee Armstrang! Hush! This ees my lateust news. Paul Skimmage, mei first sespect, ees secretly writing new beuk. He is apparuently at discomfert afteur fleeing away on yeur time thrail beeke. Zee low riding positeun and steuff carben feebeur has destroyed his back. My sourceus have photogrewfed cover page of beuk in his rrewm! See. This is our sespect! We must arrest heum et vence!"

Voila. Paul certainly is addicted to the written word. He will certainly scribble down any nonsense he feels. Any wonder he wrote in papers that I'm the cancer of the cycling world, when clearly I cannot be a tumor myself? My bike surely is not custom made for his old bottom. Ha! Clouseau, excellent find. We must find him and have him in custody. His Irish accomplices must have been pissed scared of the investigations and last night, we found one of the stolen bikes quitely returned in our hotel. But he's still at large with my bike! Livestrong!

7:00 pm

"To zee Armstrang. My team of Detecteeves have broke into Skimmage's apartment while he was shaving heus Ireeush beard. We feund time thrail beeke frame hiddeun in zee basement, and quickly escaped without Skimmage threwing his razor at us. Phew! I have zee crush on bosomy Detecteeve Stella Boneseura. She's my hero. I mean, heroine (but she teulks like a men). What is yeur reward for zis magnificent sexess?"

Clouseau, magnificent? Hardly! Where are the damn wheels? I spent a fortune on those Bontragers. If they're not found, I'll have to ride a set of shitty Taiwanese hoops this Friday with Livestrong imprinted on them. That's like smelly Pont L'Eveque cheese with reese's pieces sprinkled on it. Both gag and make me want to puke. If you discover the wheels too, my reward will be a set of used bike shorts. It lasts long. Livestrong! (Hey, that rhymes!)



Feb 19

11:00 am

Clouseau. This is Lance. Again, thank you for finding my TT bike frame. I'm just heading out for stage 5. Okay, no sweat about the wheels. You win. I'll have my Livestrong Foundation ship a pair of used bike shorts to you as reward. UPS shipment. Livestrong!

9:00 pm

"Lance, this is a representative for Clouseau. While he's undergoing therapy for going out of his mind, this is to say that we have received your UPS shipment. The virtues of same day shipping! However, the box only contained a yellow chamois. Surprised, we inquired with UPS by phone where the rest was. They replied that your soggy shorts was too heavy for their underfunded airplane so they had to use industrial cutters to separate it and ship in different boxes. We are to expect the shorts and the elastic separately before the end of this week. How we'll stitch it back together is a big question but like you remarked back in 2004, 'its not about the shorts either'. Livestrong!"

* * *

11 How To Twitter.... Like Ivan Basso

Ivan Basso always strikes me as this happy, go lucky, cute little cyclist in the peleton. The guy is always smiling when he talks. Atleast most of the time. Makes everyone around him happy. Sometimes you have to wonder what he's on.

He's such a simpleton that he's even modest about his doping. Some years ago, he said this to a disciplinary panel, appearing completely righteous in the face of adversity :

"I know I made mistakes and I deserve to be punished"

It'd be surprising if the UCI didn't go "Awww....cut his ban short will ya? He's making me teary. Get him out of here."

And off Ivan went playing in the ice, like a kid who just learnt to ride a bike.

But don't get me wrong. When this guy wants to do something serious, he'll go at it 100%. Is it little wonder the tenacity and persistence with which the Italian bombs out 140 character status updates on his Twitter page every 4 hours? Boom boom boom boom boom. I tell you, this guy is a friggin' machine.

As you all know, Twitter is the latest bird flu among procyclists. Its everywhere! And Basso smiled and willingly caught the ailment.

The bottom line of it all is pretty simple : From the time you take a shit in the morning, to the moment you crank out the final belch from your dinner before bedtime, you're required to shamelessly self promote yourself on Web 2.0 in real time. Your life is under a magnifying lens and hundreds of people try to peer through it to get a slice of what you do everyday (whether they have nothing better to do with their life is for another discussion another day). I guess we all cried at one point for cycling to be more 'transparent'. But THIS transparent? Spare me! This is just too generous a gift! Whatever happened to 'personal affairs', 'privacy', and 'minding your own business' !

Take a look at Basso's seriously important Twitter updates. I reckon the 4500 followers who, gaping wide at their screens every minute of the day to religiously read his lines in real time, think they actually deserve every minute of it. Here's a snippet of Basso's tireless conversations.

Basso tells Cunego there is transparency. Cunego and his big mouth! Here is the transparency.

Entertaining. Within the span of 24 hours, only sleeping, eating and getting massaged! By current levels of progression, I can see whats coming in terms of transparency in the next few hours :

Ciao. I sleep now.
about 1 hour ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

Hi! I back from race. Massage.
about 5 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

Good morning to evrybody I go to brekfast. Good. Tasty.
about 9 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

I sleep. Long sleep. I tink I dream.
about 18 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

I tok to wife on telephone. She good. I happy.
about 19 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

I race now. Beutiful day. Birds in the sky.
about 24 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

Ciao! Race finished. I freeze.
about 33 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

Massage.
about 40 hours ago from Twitterberry
------------------------------------------

Ciao! I sleep now.
about 52 hours ago from Twitterberry.
------------------------------------------


Who's next in line? Dear Lord. I just heard someone has got the Twitter illiterate Phil Liggett into the Twitter scene. (I mean, cut the man some slack Carlton. He's pushing 60 and busy as it is! Do you really want him to have a nervous breakdown as he copes with the extra stress of redundant status updates?)



But I have some wise words for you, Phil...should you choose to Twitter afterall. To earn your first 4000 followers like Basso hath done, all you need to do is recount every single tidbit of absolutely worthless information you've done in the day. If your wife and kids simply cannot stand you, fear not. The faithful Twitterati will. And it'll be phenomenal!

On a more elementary level, you can earn your first 400 followers of the day just by typing absolutely nothing at all. 0 tweets = 420 followers! How about that, champ?

These faithful 400 will stare like drones into blank screens all day, sipping coffee and scratching their butts, waiting for the first wise words from you like strange, hyptonized zombies.

Remarkable, isn't it? Oh, the internet boggles the mind. Tweet tweet.

* * *

7 Paradoxes In Bike Racing : Cancer, Safety & Global Warming

A reader drew attention through a comment in yesterday's post about inadequate safety in this year's Amgen Tour of California. Of course, he may be right. Evidently, I'm a little disappointed too at the harsh realities of the ATOC. Freezing torrential rain, crosswinds and reduced visibility easily add to the suffering and confusing elements in the racing. Which makes it very interesting to watch, don't get me wrong (I already know fan psychology when it comes to crashes mind you). But add to this some poorly functioning biking equipment, miscommunication through radios, and erratic driving behavior from motorists on the road and what you've got is utter chaos. It highlights the need for top notch planning in a big event such as the ATOC.

Isn't it ironic that Lance Armstrong, the world's cancer messiah, was apparently hit by a race photographer's motorcycle today in Stage 2 with 36 miles of the race to go ?
(he also crashed in stage 1 with 50 miles to go) Yes, he got up and finished fine, but with a banged up hip. There's no telling how grave the situation could have turned out. If this is the man who can help resurrect cancer afflicted people back to life, influence political decisions on Capitol Hill, or order helicopters to be flown away from the peleton on a whim, it sure will help if he lives.

Yesterday, there was widespread radio issues. And expensive bikes were being stolen from under people's noses. In today's stage itself, about 15+ riders went down, one of them taken to the hospital ending his hopes for a good season start. On the final climb on Bonny Doon road, some dope in a yellow jacket was seen happily running just inches ahead of breakaway rider, Carlos Barredo. What if he had a little too much to drink and didn't know what he was doing? Would the organisers of the race have stood still watching, to provide cheap entertainment to viewers as the man sidestepped in the wrong direction and crashed right into Barredo?

Interestingly, I read an article today reporting that transportation minded folks in Santa Cruz are urging race spectators to use alternative transportation like biking among others. That sounds all good. Except. Its cold. Its raining. And why should spectators drive around in hybrid/solar/bio fuel powered cars when teams and news media are polluting the air with their own umpteen gas guzzlers? The article quoted Piet Canin, of Ecology Action as stating about the opening day of the TOC : "There will be 60 tons of carbon foot print spilling into the air that one day." Question : How much of that 60 tons is contributed by team vehicles, news media, promoters, and organizers? It can't be too less, can it? Surely if you want 'green' to trickle down to spectators, the people involved more intimately with the event should start somewhere themselves.

Even if they didn't choose to go green, they need to at least learn to drive. Over the course of a 100 mile race, its obvious that racers would lose their line or choose to occupy significant portions of the road due to various personal and strategy related reasons. In times like these, how safe is it for news media to ride erratically, across and over the middle of the road, coming into near collisions with cyclists? Whats more important? Relaying images across the world or being concerned about the safety of riders?

Writing this conjures up images of all those nasty crashes we have seen in the peleton over the years. You'll probably find a good bunch of these on Youtube. As entertaining as it all is, its getting tougher for those who're actually doing the racing. Remember : We don't have to do the skin shedding at the end of the day. Neither is racing our prime source of putting food on the table. You can't stay obligated to contracts when you're down with bruises and broken bones half the year!



Additional Reading :

Question : Is It Easier or Difficult To Ride In The Rain?
Marcus Burghardt's Dog Accident
We Might As Well Crash
Tour of Cipollini (TOC)

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22 Lance's Bike Missing Notice

Lance. Don't despair for your precious bike. You have survived more worse things. You have also famously once said 'Its NOT about the bike'. C'mon, you'll come out of this loss pretty quick.

Meanwhile, I have asked my local milk producer to publish a "Missing" notice on the face of their carton. Tomorrow, every man, woman or both... will drink from it. They will see it and at once be outraged. Lets hope that outrage won't lead to indigestion.


I have suggested the characteristic "15/2" theme for this occasion since this is the day your bike actually got stolen and this logo was made. It is also 5 days after you got disease (10/2) which works well since everything happened in the same month. Let me know if you want ideas for other merchandise centered around this theme (shoes, wrist bands, caps, long underwear, etc).

Later man...

3 To The Thieves Of Armstrong's Time Trial Bike : Time Trial Or Court Trial

Dear Thieves Of Armstrong's Time Trial Bike,


Wow. I just wrote a post earlier this morning addressing fools like you, without knowing of your evil intentions. Talk about Murphy's Law.

You didn't read the post, did you. You may have. I don't know. Its not too late. Listen, today is a Sunday. Tomorrow is President's Day. The 1800-INNOCENT hotline might not actually service you because of these holidays.

So you're in for it.

Because of you, the Homeland Security's national threat level is now on the color YELLOW. Yellow for Livestrong. The missiles are pointing at you folks. Time is ticking away.

As ironic as it sounds, I suggest you hop on that fruit of all the R&D effort at TREK and pedal the hell away. Fleestrong!! And Bite your tongue and get ready to ride, hard. It is the time trial of your life. Its either time trial or court trial.

The bike should be fast. Oh, and crouch! You'll be aerodynamic. Quick. Play the Mission Impossible III Soundtrack on your ipods while you're at it. To get ample airtime, go out and ride on the Interstate or something, where everyone can see you. You should get something superb like this bike chase video.

NOTE : Please, for Dear Lord's sake, do not be tempted to dope to get away fast. I will hit my head in shame if I open the newspaper tomorrow to find another EPO scandal in cycling -This time, involving thieves of bikes!

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4 Attention : All City Bike Thieves

I spotted this on the A train in the NYC subway today.


If you remorselessly stole a respectable citizen's bike and have been caught, pinned to the ground, and arrested... you have rights too my friends.

Now you can pretend you didn't do anything wrong, and call this number now to put forth your fake stories in. Call 1800-INNOCENT.

Ofcourse, if I spot you stealing mine or any of my friend's bikes, I will run after you, catch you pretty quickly, and beat the living crap out of you. At which point this number will effectively become useless and you would need a totally different number. For the ambulance.

Just razzing you, thieves. You know I'm just playing with you, right? :)

[Changes facial expression] Keep an eye out for me.

On the streets.

2 Find That Mate On Valentine's

Hey, Happy Valentine's Day. Time to actually dust off the cobwebs off your heart or your wallet (or both if your heart is in your wallet) and use that credit card. Cha-Ching!

Diamonds, chocolates and roses are pretty ineffective because you always end up giving them to the wrong person. Here are 3 things you could do as a cyclist to find that perfect mate on this Valentine's.

1. 'Sealing' A Relationship : Wear tight bicycle shorts like celebrity star Seal, loiter around athletically in public places to attract appropriate member of opposite sex. Expect approving looks or Bush shoe throws depending upon country you're in. Go to step 2 if successful at pulling the Seal.

2. Injury Through Tandem Romance : Buy this nervous bicycle.

Ride it while smelling each other's perspiration. If its pungent enough to distract you from riding, partner stinks like hydrogen sulfide. If the tire underneath them flats out, partner is an overweight hippo. Both of you will also fall many times on the hips and sides. Test how loud the other one screams in agony. If screams are below threshold decibel value, a calm future together is predicted. If above, you'll never get peace of mind living together. Quick, ditch partner. Go back to step 1 and reiterate until better outcome.

3. Artificial Arousal : If none of these techniques work for you and you remain hopelessly single, visit a nearby store and buy one of these calenders. Hook it up on your ceiling above where you sleep to take care of loneliness at night. Tell your boss ahead of time why you'll be late to work every morning.

Good luck with your romance. Don't quote me on your special day.

9 Buckling In A Bicycle Frame

Image Courtesy 25Seven

Here's an example of buckling in a thin walled steel frame (think beer can). Shown above is a 20 year old Breezer MTB designed and built by the renowned Joe Breeze. I'm not sure if this was a stock frame at the time, but it appears that the tubing wasn't engineered to provide safety against buckling forces. This website reports that if the tube's outer diameter-to-wall thickness ratio gets above 60 or 70 to one, the tube is more likely to suffer failure from buckling. Hence, tubes this thin are not to be used on frames that could be subjected to substantial abuse off road. They will dent and buckle.

It is likely that the rider in the picture above had a head-on collision (or even braked really hard as in this picture), and the compressive forces as a result were more than the tubes could handle. The way the tubes handled this load without breaking was to shorten in length and deform. The tube buckled just behind the head tube on both the top tube and down tube. In such a scenario, the front wheel is likely to move backwards, thereby striking the frame.

In thin walled shell structures (bicycle frame, airplane fuselage etc), the buckling phenomenon is a very important mode of failure. It is often among the controlling design criteria and hence, a buckling analysis is always done.

An important thing to realize is that buckling failures do not depend on the strength of the material, but rather is a function of :

1) Part dimensions and geometry : Length, and shape of cross section dictated by their area moment of inertia.

2) Modulus of elasticity E of the material, also called Young's modulus - a measure of stiffness of an elastic material.

Books on statics, structures or solid mechanics would have the formulas you need to calculate the buckling loads in a member. For instance, the critical negative tension force in a two force member that will make it buckle can be given by the following Euler's relation (assuming the action of the load coincides with the axis of the column) :

where Lo = Effective Length
and I = Area Moment Of Inertia or Second Moment of Area.

For a symmetric tubular shell structure, I is calculated by :



The buckling load is negative because it is compressive. The designer needs to ensure that this critical force is lesser than the maximum the structure can take to ensure stability.

The interesting fact however, is that nowadays, frame builders and many bicycle companies don't have to grapple with this issue since they buy stock tubes from tube manufacturers such as Easton, Reynolds, True Temper etc.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the tubing makers to ensure that the tubes are designed to be stable. I have no clue how they size these tubes and what resources they use to do so. It will be interesting to learn. If anyone has any thoughts or comments to enlighten that process for us, comment away!


Additional Resources :

Redesign Of Scott Bicycle Frame

6 How A Bicycle Frame Is Powder Coated

How does powder coating work, and how is it better than spray and liquid painting? For starters, there's something involved called the principle of electrostatics (the force on a charged point exerted by a second charge is proportional to the product of charges, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the charges...blah blah blah). Its clean, its dry, and most of all, you get a tougher surface finish. Anyway, watch this video - courtesy of Eastwood Co.



Brooker Enterprises specializes in Powder Coating. In this video, they show you how they powder coat a customer's frame to her color of choice. Video courtesy of crankmychain.

25 Safety Moment : The Curious Case Of a Coat Hanger

I received an email last month from a person about a bizarre incident he had on the road. And I believe this could constitute a legit safety moment for February, although I felt like something like this has a low probability of occurring.

Fellow blogger Ole Eichorn, from Westlake Village, California (also a software specialist and CTO for Aperio) wrote to me the following :


"I have a Kestrel 200 EMS which I have been riding for the past nine years, logging some 40,000 miles on it. Anyway, so I'm cruising around 20mph the other day and I run over a coat hanger! I hear it banging around in my back wheel and suddenly the back wheel stops spinning. I fishtail to a stop, look down, and see that my rear derailleur has torn off the back of the bike, and is now dangling from the chain just behind my bottom bracket. Closer inspection reveals the coat hanger wrapped around my back axle, inside the chain, and also intertwined with the chain and the derailleur. What a weird thing, I could run over that same coat hanger 1,000 times and not have anything happen.


Once I got home, it took me 45 minutes to cut the coat hanger free and assess the damage. The really bad thing is that the dropout to which the derailleur attaches is mangled. The dropout is bonded into the frame, and I'm afraid the frame itself will have to be repaired to replace it. That means carbon fiber work. The rest of the rig seems to have survived; the wheel is undamaged, the cassette looks okay, and the chain looks okay (although it was tweaked rather severely and I'll probably replace it when I replace the derailleur).

My question is whether you think this can be repaired, and whether the bike will ever be the same again? I’d hate to have to buy a new bike just because of an errant coat hanger."


I felt pretty dogon sorry that a coat hanger took his bike out. Personally, I feel integrated derailleur hangers are such a bad feature in bicycle design. Once you accidentally destroy them in an incident, the whole frame is now a waste, assuming it cannot be repaired. And there goes couple of thousand dollars in water.

My swift response to him was about Calfee's carbon fiber repair program. I asked Ole to send an inquiry to them and see if they could help him. The following was his response :


"I did contact Calfee but they suggested I buy a new frame; apparently without having access to a replacement Kestrel dropout they wouldn’t be able to do anything. (They could do the carbon work on the frame.) The problem is that while there are still Kestrel bikes in the market, they really don’t have anything to do with the old Kestrel company which was bought a few years ago and folded into Fuji. So old parts and frames are no longer available.

I found a company called RR Velo which has a machine shop and builds custom carbon frames, and they said they’re able to do the repair. So I took the bike to my local shop, had them strip all the parts off the frame, and it is on its way to RR Velo. We’ll see how it all works out. I would sure love to be able to keep riding this bike, I’ve put about 40,000 miles on it these last nine years. A new bike would be great, but I don’t have a spare $6,000 lying around."


As bizarre as it sounds, this could happen to you. I think the key would be to watch out for items strewn on the road ahead of time and try and avoid them totally. You can bunny hop or maneuver around them. Its hard to be 100% confident that an impact with a small item such as a coat hanger would not have an adverse effect on your bike. If you can't avoid them, it doesn't take much to warn other riders behind you (if there are) and slow the bike down. In Ole's case, he wasn't able to do that and he lost his beloved bike in the process. What a bummer!

To put an interesting end to this post, I recall an incident similar to this that happened towards the finish of the spectacular and now classic 1988 Paris Roubaix. To every great performance in a bicycle race can be attributed strength, fitness, power and skill...but you simply cannot discount another deciding factor - SHEER RANDOM LUCK!

After 164 miles of dusty and bone jarring cobblestones, one of the two riders in the lead breakaway of two - Swiss cyclist Thomas Wegmuller - caught a piece of plastic bag on the road which eventually sucked up and entangled with his rear derailleur! What happens later brings one of the most crashing twists ever to the race in the history of the Paris Roubaix.

To see that section of the action, scroll the time bar to 6:16 min in the following video. Video courtesy goes out to the brilliant Socalrider909.





So, has anything like this ever happened to you? Would you mind sharing with us that experience?

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6 Overemphasizing Power To Weight Ratios

I often get sick of those who're so anal about their dieting regimes and training bruhaha. Seriously, its time these guys had some fun without destroying themselves.

I think my perspectives are best echoed by the following quote :


"The problem with all this emphasis on power to weight ratios is that many riders become obsessive about this and go to extremes. The worst case scenario is that they will go as far as being anorexic or bulimic because of the pressure they, or others put on them to be skinny. Sometimes I have heard riders sounding like female Hollywood stars when talking about their weight! I do feel that there is a serious body/self-image problem in the peloton now that I am no longer a part of it. I say that because if a rider who weighs 69kg with 6.2% body fat thinks of himself as "fat", what does he think of normal people on the street?"

- Bobby Julich, Retired US Pro Cyclist

Additional Resources :

Power To Weight Ratio
Alberto Contador On The Angliru : Climbing Speed And Power To Weight Ratio

8 Economic Effects On The Bicycle Business : Part II

In one post in October last year, I described how the cycling trade works and posed some vital questions of what would happen at the lowest levels of the business chain in the economic turmoil. Click here to read it if you missed it.

So is the bike biz really recession proof or is it a myth? Well, you decide. Meanwhile, I've been wanting to pass on these industry related pollination to you for a while now. Consider this a followup to the post I linked above. Lets see who didn't make it and read some other capturing news of these trying times.


1. A large French mutual bank named Groupe Caisse d’Épargne (popular team sponsor) suffered hundreds of millions worth of dollar losses due to bad bets on derivatives linked to the direction of the CAC-40, the French equivalent of the Dow Jones industrial average. Competitive Cyclist described the implosion of the global economy on race sponsorship.

2. Take a look at the NBDA U.S Bicycle Industry statistics. Do you spot a trend is declining sales? Keep this thought in mind. Explore point 5 below.

3. China is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. But the whole economic situation also hit home in China hard. According to sources, the Chinese central government no longer considers the bicycle industry as priority. Great! Is this how you bolster economic growth? For all those of you who visited China (eg James, Bicycle Design) and wondered where all the bicycles went, well - looks like you have a couple of idiots sitting in big positions up there.

4. In stark contrast to the shameful Chinese, Taiwanese manufacturers only seem to be heavily investing in cycling's future. Taiwan’s 22-member A-Team, a consortium of suppliers, is continuing to make improvements in R&D, quality control, employee training, marketing and just-in-time delivery. Oh and if this is any interesting to you : FSA recently bought and installed an $80,000 X-ray machine so two employees could check every single hollow-arm carbon-crank it sells. “It’s 100 percent quality control,” said Douglas Chiang, the company’s managing director. Impressive! So are we going to see some high quality products from FSA in stores?

5. BRAIN wrote in August last year that "between January 2001 and January 2008, the number of specialty bike retailers fell from 6,259 to 4,394, which equals an average attrition of 266 storefronts per year. Beginning in 2006, these numbers include specialty ski shops, camping and outdoor shops that sell bikes." Researcher Jay Towley, of Gluskin Towley group, tries to explain these statistics. Good read.

6. Burke, President of TREK, had a perspective on the economy last year. Was his cautioning statements about second and third-tier suppliers a form of fear mongering?

7. Rivendell bike hates the strong Yen/weak dollar combo. At the time they wrote it, it was 105 Yen to a buck. They remarked that such a scenario is "nervous time, edgy time, bad mood, grumpy silence time."

8. Slowtwitch wrote about the nearing demise of Blackwell Research, a bicycle wheel and component company. Blackwell products always had a cult following, it seems, and their small brand status made it difficult for them to push for more space in retail stores. So is this why its Product Designer, John Cobb, decided to go solo and start his own saddle business (Cobb Cycling)?

9. CGI (Competitor Group Inc) sold Velogear in just an 8 month timeframe because it did not find it a "good fit". And late last month, Mid West Velo acquired it. Whats the real story behind this one?

10. In Bike Hugger's Huggacast 51, Jeremy Sycip, a custom builder, and Rod Jewett, president of Bianchi USA, talked about the effects of rising petrol prices and the shakey economy on the bike industry. Again, this video was made in about the middle of 2008. So do these two individuals still hold the same perspectives now, a half year later?

11. The owner of Worksman Cycles talks in this video about the hard realities of keeping business alive in bad economic times.

12. Jonny Cycles LLC closed their business, blaming most of it on the economy. Check out this revelation from Jon, the owner :

"Like most other bicycle related businesses I usually see a big slow down from fall to early in the year (usually Feb). Typically I get 5 or 6 orders in the winter months and it picks up again in the spring. This winter I took in one order. Add to that several people dropping off the list (most due to loss of employment) and my waiting list has shrunk considerably. I'm a bit of a pessimist and I really don't trust the economy to rebound by this summer. My lease is up in April. The last place I want to be is dead in the water mid summer with no orders and no frames to build while incurring huge debt trying to pay all the bills. With the waiting list at its lowest point ever it seemed like the perfect time to opt out to me."

13. Switchback Cyclery, another bike shop, had to close down due to declining sales. Sad.

14. Yale Bike shop, yet another shop near the Yale campus in New Haven CT, sold off all inventory and closed their shops. So how bad is it when you don't know how to manage in times of a crisis? Hear it from the shop owner himself :

“I’m not a business man,” Feiner admitted. “I’m just a bike rider who opened a bicycle shop in a town that really needed bike culture. I’m learning lessons as I go. This was definitely the biggest one.”

15. In perhaps the strangest news in this pollination, Wells Fargo started screwing around with Team Evomo for not using their corporate credit card more often! Some donkeys really want others to be in debt! What a joke! Wells Fargo, you officially suck in my books.

16. This just in. On March 2 2009, the Iron Horse Bicycle Company filed for bankruptcy. According to this report, East Coast Cycle Supply was formed on Feb. 1, the day after the group of employees in IH was fired as the company went belly up. Iron Horse Bicycle Company went into bankruptcy on March 2 when three of its primary Asian suppliers filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief in an attempt to recoup more than $5 million allegedly owed to them by Iron Horse.

17. High Gear Cyclery in Longmont, Colorado calls it quits after almost 23 years of service. According to owner Buzz Feldman, the economy had "battered" them and he had no choice but to liquidate.

18. For Taiwan's bicycle industry in 2009, flat is the new way up.

19. Looks like due to the economy and people's financial situations, high end cycling is losing ground in Manhattan.

20. Bike Europe reports that during the first quarter of 2009, the bike industry was hit pretty hard. Check it out.

21. Finally, can anything be learned out of Clif Bar's successful startup in the 90's in a recession? Read this.

Do you have news to submit for bike shop closures, or good news or any other perspectives to share on staying alive in the bad economy? As a consumer, what will you do? Continue your high spending cycling life or will you be happier keeping your wallet in your pants? Join the discussion!

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