July 29, 2008Leave a Comment
Sky Yaeger is the designer behind the bikes at Swobo. Before going to Swobo, Sky worked for Bianchi USA for 17 years where we she the product manager responsible for bikes like San Jose.
Forbes of Cycloculture, “a journal for real world cyclists,” interviewed Sky and asked about her design influences. See the interview here. He kindly used one of my photos of Sky, which is a sure way of getting a link from me.
Related: Swobo Del Norte and Shout out to bike nerds.
July 29, 2008Leave a Comment
Bicycle Leadership Conference to be held in conjunction with Sea Otter Classic
In an effort to better leverage networking opportunities and industry leadership attendance, the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association (BPSA) today announced it signed a three-year agreement with the Sea Otter Classic to host its annual Bicycle Leadership Conference (BLC) in conjunction with the cycling festival through 2011.
The 2009 BLC will be held April 15-17, 2009 at the Sea Otter host hotel, the Embassy Suites in Seaside, Calif. The 2009 Sea Otter Classic will be held April 16-19 at the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey Calif.
“Aligning ourselves with the Sea Otter Classic, a well-attended and highly relevant cycling-focused event, is one way we can further support our attending membership and improve the effectiveness of our conference,” said John Nedeau, president of the BPSA and vice president of global sales for SRAM. “Because many of our members also attend the Sea Otter Classic, we are confident that by combining the two events we will boost attendance from manufacturers and suppliers alike.”
In addition to discussion on growing the bicycle industry, BLC 2009 will focus on improving communication about the growing number of industry organizations and advocacy groups, their individual missions and how manufacturers can better work with these groups to support the broader goals of the industry.
In addition to research results, panel discussions, breakout groups and networking opportunities, the conference will again offer improved bike rides and the industry’s most prestigious golf tournament. The BLC will again host the BRAINy awards dinner presentation.
“The Bicycle Leadership Conference is important to the future of our industry,” said Frank Yohannan, president and CEO of the Sea Otter Classic. “Only through strong leadership can we identify our challenges and plan a strategy of growth and expansion. All of us at the Sea Otter Classic welcome the opportunity to support this event and further grow the sport of cycling.”
While the BPSA will continue to determine the conference topic and content, the Sea Otter Classic has retained the services of Lifeboat Solutions’ Lance Camisasca as conference director for the event. Camisasca’s experience in the cycling industry as Interbike show director for ten years and his industry contacts will be invaluable in managing the registration, logistics and marketing for the conference.
“The idea for Sea Otter to host the 2009 BLC is brilliant,” Camisasca said. “I look forward to helping shape a memorable and purposeful BLC event by integrating the conference components with Sea Otter Classic’s activities and events.”
July 29, 2008Leave a Comment
The century-old dilemma facing economists seeking to strike the right balance between guns and butter receives a new twist on Monday with figures showing Britain enjoying booming production of guns – and bicycles.
The fastest growing segments of UK manufacturing are weapons, followed by the bicycles and motorbikes.
Large UK weapons companies include divisions of BAE Systems and the missile maker MBDA, as well as smaller groups such as BSA Guns, based in Birmingham. In fact, BSA successfully combined both weapon and bicycle production until 1957, and continued making motorcycles until the early 1970s.
Among the groups in the second best performing business area – motorbikes and cycles – are the Triumph motorcycle company and the bicycle producer Pashley, both based in the Midlands.
Read more in the Financial Times. Props to my co-worker Mike H.
July 28, 20084 Comments on Portland traffic count: 184 of vehicles are bikes
In this news story about the recent spate of bad attitudes and violence between cyclists and motorists in Portland, Oregon, is this fun little quote. “Eighteen percent of the vehicles that crossed the Hawthorne Bridge last year were bicycles.”
The city of Portland, OR counts traffic on the four bridges that cross the Williamette River. That 18% figure for the Hawthorne Bridge is last year’s (2007) number.
On San Francisco Market Street, the Municipal Transportation Agency counted twice as many bikes as private automobiles on Bike To Work Day last May!
July 28, 20084 Comments on Sports headlines
Some of the sports headlines I saw today and yesterday…
I have’t listened to it yet, but David promised to rant about this on today’s edition of The Spokesmen cycling podcast. In my view, the fact that three people were caught doping and ejected during the race is evidence that the system is working. When was the last time a ball player was shadowed by chaperons and marched into a locker room for a surprise drug test immediately prior to a game?
July 28, 200814 Comments on Full lockers at work
I’ve chronicled how the local trains and buses have maxed out on bicycle capacity. I’ve encountered another bicycling infrastructure capacity issue on my commute. The shower lockers are now all in use.
We don’t have assigned lockers at my work — the cyclists and joggers and others who use the showers just hang our sweaty clothes and towels in the small individual lockers for the day. We’re required to remove our belongings when we leave in the evening. It used to be that only two or three lockers were used during the day. Now I see that the dozen lockers in my building’s shower room are fully utilized almost every day.
I’m seeing more bikes around the building, too. People are leaving them in the stairways, the hallway, and in their offices. The outside bike cage is many bikes I haven’t seen in previous months, many of them obviously brand new.
Even people I *never* expected to see on a bike are riding their bikes to work on occasion, and all of them come to me like excited little children bragging about their accomplishment. I say good for you. I should probably get some gold stars to pass out to everybody who does this.
It used to be when I searched for bicycling news article in July, the news was dominated by the Tour de France and headlines like “Bicyclist killed in car crash.” These days I’m seeing more stories like this:
Do you see more cyclists on the road where you live and work?
