Monday, April 27, 2009
Cycling into the Sunset...
I'm probably a little off the back with the timing of this post...but I'm probably the only cyclist who also reads Sunset Magazine from time to time, too. Last night, I was thumbing through the March issue (yes, a little late hence the apology at the start for poor timing) and picture of a bunch of people riding bikes with baskets down the street stopped me from turning the page. Not only was it a picture of people on bikes, it was an entire article devoted to commuting by bicycle entitled "Reinvent Your Wheels" with a byline that read "Reach for the handlebars instead of your car keys. Here's how you can smoothly roll into the new two-wheeled lifestyle".
This article does a fantastic job at showing just how easy and fun getting out on a bike can be and gives readers the resources to get started. The article has a brief bike buyer's guide as well as some suggestions about what bags and baskets are suited best for hauling your stuff in. There are also some short stories from real-world people about why they have chosen to ride their bikes instead of drive their cars.
My favorite quote was from an architect in San Francisco who sold his car 9 years ago in favor of riding one of his 12 bikes back and forth to work. Sunset asks, "How do you manage to look so put together when you've commuted to work by bike?" The architect answered, "I have two Dutch bikes--they are what I ride around the city because they are very dignified. The 'Old Dutch' Batavus has a fender, a chain case, and a guard so you don't get your pants or scarf caught in things. The Dutch want to wear regular clothes when they cycle, and so do I".
The very last sentence is the best part because I think it sums up why more people don't commute by bicycle. Many people envision "taking a bike ride" as this complex activity that requires special clothing, equipment, and might even involve loading up bikes in a car to drive them to a destination. Think about it...isn't that what most of us do when we go for a ride? Isn't that the perception many people might get when they go to their local bike shop and see all the related gear dripping from the walls of the shop?
What was so refreshing about this article was is was simple. It painted a picture about how simple taking a bike ride can be. It didn't tell you what kind of shoes you needed to buy to look cool on the bike path or what tire pressure you should run for optimal performance. It was more of an editorial suggestion about how cycling can improve your health, help the environment, and put a smile on your face.
Kudos to Sunset Magazine for devoting space to an article such as this one. We need more articles just like this one to appear in other non-endemic publications to encourage people to get out and ride a bike.
Unfortunately, Sunset does not have this article available online to read, but they do have the bike and bag buyer's guide that appeared in the print article on their website. I'll see if I can get the article scanned and posted here for everyone to see.
(In case anyone was wondering, Sunset Magazine has a readership of about one million people. That's a huge!)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Today's ride: cactus, cows, and climbs
OK, truth be told, I puttered around the house for a little longer and tried to talk myself out of riding since it was a little on the chilly side. I'm really glad I ended up talking myself into going for a ride because it ended up being one of the best rides I've taken for a long time.
There's a lot of reasons why this ride was better than most. I ended up riding one of my favorite loops..a forty-ish mile loop from my house that winds up through Fallbrook, Rainbow, Valley Center, and then back into Bonsall. I've ridden this loop a million times on my motorcycle, but since I don't have a street bike at the moment, I haven't ridden these roads in a while. And since there's a good amount of climbing in it, I don't ride it on my bike all that often either.
Another reason why this ride was so good was my iPod was cueing up some really great music today. Lots of Johnny Cash, Shelby Lynne, and Paul Oakenfold for some reason. Three very differnt artists, but three I really enjoy (duh, I guess they wouldn't be in my iPod if I didn't like them). Good music sure makes a good ride even better. It was like a little soundtrack for my ride.
And the icing on the cake from this ride was the weather and lighting was just so pretty. Since it's been raining all week, the air looked and felt so pure. As a result, the sunlight looked extra pretty on the surrounding scenery. It really made me wish I had my digital SLR or at least my smaller digital camera. Despite not having a decent camera, I did snap some pics with my iPhone. So rather than just ramble on about the ride, here are some of the photos I took today.
On Rice Canyon Road, there's a cactus farm that has cacti growing for as far as the eye can see. There must be a million cacti of all shapes and sizes. I've always wanted to stop and take some pictures of this place, so today I did.
After exited Rice Canyon Road, I crossed Hwy 76 and headed east so I could ride up Couser Canyon. Couser Canyon is a grunt of a climb, but it's beautiful. Whenever I'm on this road, it doesn't seem like I'm in San Diego. There's a cattle ranch at the base of the valley. Today, there were a bunch of calves in the pasture that were so cute. I stopped to take some pictures. These little guys were really curious...one came over and stuck his head through the fence. Pretty soon, a few others sauntered over and I had about 8 little calves at the fenceline staring at me.
Here's a shot about 1/2 way up the climb looking back at the cattle ranch.At one point when I was grinding up the steepest section of this 4-mile climb, Johnny Cash's "Hurt" came on. How appropriate!
At the Couser Creek Ranch, a Morgan horse farm, there's a big black horse sculpture that the owners always decorate with whatever the prevailing holiday theme might be. With today being Valentine's Day, the horse was decorated with red lights, ribbon, and a big heart.
I assume this is Couser Creek. Due to all of the runs, it had a bit more water running in it, so a pretty little waterfall formed right beside the road.
This is the view from West Lilac Road looking east towards Palomar Mountain. Yes, that's snow in them thar hills!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sneak Peek of the Haro Sonix 650B
Since our Beasley 650B hardtails have been so well received, it was pretty much a no-brainer to start developing a full-suspension bike that would specifically accommodate 650B wheels. It was also a no-brainer to base this new bike on our proprietary Virtual Link System that we use on our popular Sonix and Xeon full-suspension bikes. With 120mm of rear wheel travel, it made the most sense to add a 650B wheel-equipped bike into the Sonix series given the fact that there seems to be more demand for cross country trail bikes in the 4” to 5” travel range.
If you hit the fast forward button, a few months later we finally have our first batch of rideable prototypes of the Sonix 650B we’ll be introducing into our 2010 line. When we get prototypes in, it feels a lot like Christmas…we tear open the boxes and look at the treasures held within with wide-eyed wonderment. After we’ve had our fill of just looking at the frames, we build them up and hit the trails to begin testing…that’s the fun part!
This wasn’t my first rodeo aboard a 650B full-suspension bike. About a year and a half ago, we put a set of Velocity Blunt 650B wheels on a stock Xeon equipped with a Fox Talas fork and found that they fit…it was a close fit, but a fit nonetheless. I actually did a side-by-side test that compared the 650B-equipped Xeon to a standard 26” wheel Xeon and wrote about it here on my blog. What I found in that test was 650B wheels did everything that was promised they would do…and that was they would give you many of the same benefits a 29” wheel will give you without that “big bike” feeling.
The Sonix 650B is proving to offer that same level of performance I experienced in the Xeon test. It combines everything I really like about my 29er with the nimble handling characteristics of a 26” wheel. You might be asking, “Well, why not build a 29” wheel full-suspension bike?”. 29” wheel full suspension bikes handle sort of like a freight train…they rock on the descents but on tight switchbacks and on climbs, they feel as sluggish as a wet sponge. If you’ve ridden one, you know what I’m talking about.
The beauty of the Sonix 650B is the fact that it’s nimble and quick. It negotiates the tight stuff with ease and precision. In fact, I don’t even notice I’m on a bike with bigger wheels. Where the bigger wheels become evident and are a huge asset is on the climbs. It feels like the bike has endless traction. In fact, our MTB product manager, Patrick Crosby, commented that “having a 650B wheel and Virtual Link pedaling efficiency is like adding four wheel drive to your bike!”.
The larger 650B wheel size also rolls over trail obstacles like a monster truck rolls over a row of cars at the county fairgrounds. It’s pretty amazing to just sail through technical rocky sections that would usually bounce me around on my 26” wheel bikes. Pat said could really feel how the larger diameter wheel would just coast over roots and rocks that would normally swallow a standard wheel.
Another nice feature of the Sonix 650B is how easily the wheels spin up to speed. On a 29er, as much as I love them, it does take a little more effort to get the wheels rolling and up to speed. The Sonix 650B wheels spun up with little more effort than a 26” wheel.
I’m really looking forward to getting these bikes into production and into dealer’s stores, but that’s several months away. Realistically, we won’t see these in our warehouses until late summer or early fall. Good things come to those who wait…
Sunday, January 18, 2009
My sister-in-law kicks butt!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
2010...but it's not even 2009 yet!
Most all of our 2009 bikes are in stock and we're wrapping up the 2010 line as I write this. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is seeing bikes go from the idea phase come full circle to production bikes sitting in a dealer's shop. It's also been really rewarding over the course of the eight years I have been employed by Haro to see the bikes get better and better. The 2009 bikes look amazing...and the 2010 bikes are positioned to knock the socks off of the 2009 line! My product manager, Pat Crosby, and graphics guys Pete Demos and Rick Ortiz have just done a killer job on these bikes.
I don't have any spy photos to show you quite yet, but I can give you a little rundown on some of the stuff you can expect to see next year.
- We're going to be introducing a 650B full-suspension bike based on the Sonix suspension platform. This will be a 120mm travel bike using a White Brother Magic 650B specific fork. We're shooting to have this bike retail for about $2,600.
- The Mary 29er bikes are getting some significant changes. The frame will get a bent top tube along the lines of what we use on the Beasley 650B hardtails; this will help provide some added standover on those beasts. They will also get a whole new graphic treatment...if you like the looks of the Masi steel bikes with classic panels, you're going to love the look of the new Mary graphics.
- The Ally series won't get the frame redesign that the Mary's are getting, but they are going to share the same classic panel graphics.
- The popularly-priced Flightline series is getting a graphics facelift. I am SO excited about the new look of these bikes. These are going to be the most expensive-looking inexpensive bikes on the market.
- We're introducing a $550 fixie with riser bars and all the fashion-forward details the fixie crowd has come to expect.
- No more On-One Mary bars on Mary 29ers or Beasleys. We've been using that bar for a few years now, so we felt like it was time for a switch. Ritchey has a new 10-degree sweep bar that's pretty damn cool we're going to use instead.
- Think purple...yes, purple. Purple is a hot color this year and we're using in as an accent color on several bikes.
- We're introducing a slopestyle-specific 4.5" travel full suspension bike called The Porter...named after our slopestyle superstar, Eric Porter. As this is Porter's signature bike, it's going to be spec'd just like his personal bike...with Fox suspension, Hayes brakes, Kenda tires, and a slew of Gravity components.
- The Shift bikes get a new frame...this frame is lighter and sleeker.
- Due to recent price increases, we're bringing in some new sub-$300 Heartland comfort series bikes with entry-level spec so people will still be able to buy a comfort bike at an entry-level price.
So there you have it. All the news you can use about our 2010 line. I'll be sure to post some pics of the new graphics and frames soon. In the meantime, you'll just have to rely on that vivid imagination of yours.
Happy trails...
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I don't know you, but I hate you.
It's a beautiful Saturday morning. You and your friends just got with an epic ride on one of your favorite trails. There's a mixed bag of banter going on between the group as you change out of your riding clothes, load bikes onto bike racks, and take swigs of beer from the stash of cold ones someone was thoughtful enough to bring along. Pretty soon the random chatter becomes a little more focused as the discussion turns to where we should ride tomorrow. You pipe up and mention, "Hey, I think I'll give John a call to see if he wants to join us."
Your friends suddenly stop in your tracks and look at you like you're nuts. One of your friends says, "Why in the world would you want to ride with John?"
"Well, why not?" You ask, puzzled. "Besides, I don't even think you know John that well, so why would you say such a thing?"
Your friend rolls his eyes and says, "John's Asian. Why would you want to ride with an Asian? We don't want him or any other Asian on our ride."
Flabbergasted by what's just come out of your friend's mouth, you blurt out, "But you don't even know him. How can you say you don't like him?"
"And I don't want to get to know him either," he says. "Besides, we all know that Asians can't ride a bicycle. They aren't real cyclists. They are just a bunch of posers!"
To your horror, the rest of your friends are nodding their heads in agreement with your friend. One of them even goes as far as to say, "He's right. I wouldn't bring John if I were you. You have a lot of other white friends who ride...why don't you invite one of them?"
At this point, you don't even know what to say. Your friends all start to walk towards their respective vehicles, leaving you confused and alone at the trail head.
Of course, this situation never happened. It's a story I just made up. But if this were a true story, chances are you'd be outraged, right? You'd feel compelled to speak out against the bigotry and insensitivity of the situation. You'd forward this story to all your friends and co-workers. You might even demand to know just who these creeps are who refused to ride with someone simply because of the color of their skin and their perceptions of that race.
Although I have never heard of anything like this happening that involved a person, I can tell you that this "bigotry" happens with bicycles all of the time. I hear it at the races and on the trail. I read it in the forums. And since my brand is one of the proverbial "minorities", it breaks my heart. Here are just a couple examples taken from a thread on MTBR.com:
"Why so many Haro haters out there??? I just finished the build of a x7 and I really like this bike but guys on the trails and forums seem to dis the Haro! What is up with that? I don't care as I like my bike but it gets annoying. HARO was the shiznit in the bmx world when I was a kid!!!"
"I have had a bike mechanic comment that my [Extreme]X2's suspension design wasn't "real". I have also had a guy comment that 'it certainly wasn't the bike' the first time I made it up Heart Attack hill at Phoenix's South Mountain."
The biggest challenges I have faced as a brand manager for the Haro MTB line is overall lack of awareness for the Haro MTB line and the perception that Haro MTB line can't be taken seriously since we also make BMX bikes. The awareness issue is turning around thanks to increased marketing efforts in that area. However, convincing some of these folks that Haro does indeed make a legitimate mountain bike has proven to be more of a challenge.
However, I don't want to turn this into a Haro problem. It's not. I see many, many other bike brands..good bike brands...falling victim to the same form of brand bigotry. It sucks. While I have met some of the coolest people ever through cycling, I have to say that the biggest downfall cyclists have as a group is their closed-mindedness to certain brands.
This isn't an issue with brand loyalty. I encourage people to be loyal and become true "fans" of the brands they enjoy. The biggest issue I have is with people who feel the need to bash other brands in the wake of their loyalty without having any direct experience with the brand they're picking on.
Consider this situation:
It's a beautiful Saturday morning. You and your friends just got with an epic ride on one of your favorite trails. There's a mixed bag of banter going on between the group as you change out of your riding clothes, load bikes onto bike racks, and take swigs of beer from the stash of cold ones someone was thoughtful enough to bring along. You say to your group of friends, "I'm thinking about buying a new bike so I can keep up with you guys. I think I am going to go with Brand X".
Your friends suddenly stop in your tracks and look at you like you're nuts. One of your friends says, "Why in the world would you want to buy a Brand X?"
"Well, why not?" You ask, puzzled. "Besides, I don't even think you've ever even ridden a Brand X, right?"
Your friend rolls his eyes and says, "Brand X is a road bike company. Why would you want to ride a mountain bike made by a company that makes road bikes? We don't like Brand X mountain bikes."
Flabbergasted by what's just come out of your friend's mouth, you blurt out, "But you never even ridden one. How can you say you don't like them?"
"And I won't ever ride one," he says. "Besides, we all know that Brand X isn't a real mountain bike company anyhow."
This, sadly, is a story based in truth and propagated by ignorance. Pretty sad, right?
So here's where I'm speaking out against the bigotry and ignorance of this situation. To those of you who participate in this sort of bike brand bigotry, take the time to ask yourself why. Does it make you feel better about the brand you bought? Does it make you feel like an expert? Are you just a hater? I'll tell ya, life is too short for those types of head games. Next time, try giving the person seeking your opinion information based on your experience with certain brands. And if your friend shows up at the trail head on a bike that's not on your "A" list, keep your opinions to yourself. Be grateful he/she in on a bike.
To those of you looking to buy a new bike and are thoroughly confused by all the opinions people have of the brands you are considering, just remember...buy what YOU like. Buy what you can afford. Buy the bike YOU feel will perform the best for you and meet YOUR needs. Take test rides, do your research, and buy what you like...not what people say you should like.
OK, rant over. :)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Haro in Kenya!
As you can probably imagine, we got a LOT of sponsorship requests here at Haro. I think I could practically fill the bed of my truck up with all the proposals that roll in this time of year.
Goals: My goal in biking has been to improve both in standards and performance and to once ride in the international scene among other world top mountain bike riders. My goal in life has been to be successful in whatever I do and to become a mentor to whoever may want to follow in my line. I have been thinking of what i can give back to mtn biking and how I can improve the levels of competitive mountain biking in my country.
(X-Post from Haro Bikes)