September 2012

2012 Interbike Was Huge

by editors on September 24, 2012

Interbike Logo-2We were kind of surprised by the sheer size of Interbike this year, and apparently we weren’t just out of our heads. Turns out this show was much bigger than last year. The total attendance was 25,536 (up 10% over last year) retailers in attendance was up 5 percent, and distributor attendance was up 6 percent. With a 10 percent increase in participants the OutDoor Demo was the biggest ever.

“To say we’re pleased with the 2012 show is an understatement,” said Pat Hus, Managing Director of Interbike. “Our goal was to create an ideal environment where decision makers can get educated on 2013 product, learn new business practices through our seminars & panel discussions, network and ultimately conduct the business of cycling among the best and the brightest in our industry – and I believe we accomplished that goal.”

Indeed. For the official word from Interbike, follow the jump.

[click to continue…]

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The Interbike ANT+ Monitor Hunt

by editors on September 24, 2012

Unknown-3We spent most of our time on the floor of the Sands Expo center at Interbike half-heartedly searching the aisles for an ANT+ monitor. Not a bicycle computer, not a GPS unit, not a dedicated nav system; just a dumb monitor that can read all our ANT+ data and display it back to us from a small unit on our bars.

We rock the iPhone for our cycling data capture. We’ve got to carry the phone anyway, and if we’re going to carry it, we might as well use it as our computer. But we’re not interested in mounting the iPhone on our bars for several reasons. One, it requires putting the phone in a new case every time we go on a ride, two, we’re not sure the iPhone will stay on the bars while we’re mountain biking, and three, the iPhone is just to big to be mounted up on the bars anyway. We’re already neck deep into Abvio’s Cyclemeter and really aren’t interested in jumping ship to a Garmin 500 for all kinds of reasons. We simply want a way to see the numbers without having to get the phone out of our back pocket. It seems like this would be a pretty popular item if it were made correctly and priced right.

Follow the jump for more. . . [click to continue…]

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The Economics Of Bike Theft

by editors on September 24, 2012

Tumblr M9Frrjnmif1R1P25EPriceonomics, the site that bills itself as “the price guide for everything” has an interesting economics based post on the business of bicycle theft and why every single bicycle owner in the world will have a bike stolen eventually.

Using this risk-return framework for crime, it begins to be clear why there is so much bike theft. For all practical purposes, stealing a bike is risk-free crime. It turns out there is a near zero chance you will be caught stealing a bike (see here) and if you are, the consequences are minimal. . . Bike thievery is essentially a risk-free crime. If you were a criminal, that might just strike your fancy. If Goldman Sachs didn’t have more profitable market inefficiencies to exploit, they might be out there arbitraging stolen bikes.

Click the link for the rest of the story and remember, bike thieves are assholes so lock your bike

[Link: Priceonomics]

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Bike Shop Employee Goes To Jail

by editors on September 24, 2012

Bicycle Bobs Logo2Nicolas Paul Rouhas, an employee of Bicycle Bob’s In Santa Barbara, California is going to jail for 210 days after pleading guilty to stealing 13 bicycles from his employer, according to a story on KEYT.com.

District Attorney Joyce Dudley announced on Friday that Nicholas Paul Rouhas stole 13 bicycles worth $42,370 from the bike shop and sold many of them on eBay. . . A police investigation revealed that Rouhas embezzled merchandise and small amounts of cash over a three-year period.

Guess Rouhas, like most bike shop employees just thought he should be getting paid more, unfortunately, he took the wrong path to a pay raise. You can’t ride a bike in jail.

[Link: KEYT.com]

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The Bicycle Bombers Of Londonderry

by editors on September 24, 2012

Aleqm5Iuucempkdep-KleuhmrjxcdceowaDissident republicans in Ireland apparently attached a bomb to a bicycle as part of a plan to kill police officers in Londonderry, Ireland, according to a story in the UKPress. Apparently, that whole thing isn’t over yet.

The device was set up to explode in a follow-up operation after a pipe bomb was found just yards away in a holdall close to the city’s main council offices beside the River Foyle, but the timing mechanism malfunctioned and the device failed to go off. . . Volunteers belonging to the Foyle search and rescue team found the first device inside the holdall left on railings beside a riverside walkway. They believed the bag belonged to someone who might have jumped into the water after leaving personal possessions behind. A woman looked inside, suspected it was a pipe bomb and alerted police.

Poor bicycle. . .

[Link: UKPress]

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Bike Gangs Robbing Pedestrians

by editors on September 24, 2012

New Haven, Connecticut has a new enemy: bike gangs. Yes, according to a story on MyFoxNY.com criminals have been using bikes to commit crimes.

Police tell the New Haven Register the bike packs have been roaming the Fair Haven neighborhood, often targeting the large population of undocumented workers that live in the area. . . They say the gangs will roll up to a victim, beat them up and rob them, before riding away.

We’re just guessing on this one, but we bet the gangs aren’t riding carbon, hardtail mountain bikes. BMX maybe?

[Link: MyFoxNY]

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More Police Officers Get Set To Roll

by editors on September 24, 2012

505Db704F23F9.ImageThe Des Plaines, Iowa Police Department tolled out four new iForce Bicycles at their downtown police station last week saying that these bikes were the “department’s lated addition to its vehicle fleet,” according to a storying the Journal Online.

Police called attention to the value of using bicycles to enhance “saturation patrols in problem areas of the city” as an enforcement strategy. These require officers to patrol an area on foot, bicycles or in police vehicles. Since the department’s two bicycles were 12 years old, the need to upgrade the department’s bicycles became apparent. . . “Bicycles enhance our officers’ ability to more aggressively patrol targeted areas where it is difficult for a police squad to patrol. The targeted patrol areas will benefit from an enhanced police presence. We’re stepping up our efforts to reduce criminal activity by, as I like to say, ‘getting more boots on the ground,’” said Mayor Moylan.

As we’ve said before, having cops on bikes also lets the officers see how it is out on the roads and makes them much more sympathetic to the needs of cyclists all over the city.

[Link: Online Journal]

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Interbike 2012: The Photo Gallery

by editors on September 22, 2012

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After a week in Las Vegas (September 17-21, 2012) at Interbike 2012 we feel like we were just getting a handle on where everything was. It was a huge show filled with wondrous things of all sizes and shapes. Here is a little of what we saw, people we talked to, and booths we stumbled through during our tour. Enjoy the ride. Click here for the complete photo gallery.

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Cashing Out At The Pro-tec Booth

by editors on September 21, 2012

No better way to end a day at Interbike 2012 than with Cash*d Out (the next best thing to Johnny Cash) playing us out with Folsom Prison Blues. Unbeknownst to most in the crowd gathered at the Pro-tec Helmets booth, a riot had just broken out at the real Folsom Prison resulting in one inmate getting shot, 12 stabbed, and 60 others injured. Synchronicity?

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Outdoor Demo Day Two. . .

by editors on September 19, 2012

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If you look carefully behind that bush you can see what’s left of Lake Mead.

. . . in which we stand in line for hours, spend seven hours to ride five epic bikes 21 miles on the crowded trails of Bootleg Canyon and live to tell of it. Special thanks to our Dakine Amp hydration pack, Park Tool ice water, and the Burning Man water truck.

Click the link for the completely updated Outdoor Demo photo gallery.

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