Friday News And Views

Meet Advocate Cycles' Lorax

Advocate Cycles' Lorax:

Debuting at Interbike was this green machine from Advocate Cycles dubbed the Lorax. No, it isn't an animated bicycle for a mustachioed character. However, if you have a mustache, hey! That's cool. Anyway, I see that Dr. Suess said of his book, "The Lorax", that it "...came out of my being angry. In The Lorax I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might."

Okay, so get this bike and attack the things you think are evil. Or something...... Anyway, this rig is made from Reynolds 531 and will have a full carbon fork with a retail of $999.00. Full build Lorax bikes will also be available. Look for these bikes to be out fighting evil in the Spring.

Commentary: It looks to have a swinging rear drop out, which I find is a very cool gravel bike feature, as many who popped off their rear derailleurs at several mud infested gravel events this year might say as well. Single speed from the get-go would be cool, and this feature allows for that, of course, along with the bail-out feature for geared set ups.

Oh! And this green is sweet. Reminds me of my 20" high-rise handle bar "Sting Ray" style bike I had as a youth which was very nearly this color.

Heller Bikes Bloodhound

Now We Know, And Knowing Is Half The Battle....

Remember when I wrote about this Heller Bikes dealio the other day? Well, I said I needed more info, and maybe then it would make sense. I cannot say this article totally cleared things up for me, but I can say that it made things make a lot more sense.

So, take a look and see for yourself by clicking the article link there. My take-away: "Hey! We get that carbon fiber from China is a cheaper deal, and if you don't care about "Open Mold" design, but you maybe would like the peace of mind of having that design pass tests and have a warranty, here ya go." If I have that wrong, please have the Heller bike dude pick up the white courtesy phone and give me a call. (<===HA!)

Anywho...... It looks as though QBP is saying they want to fill that niche and give the local bike shops a playing field to get in on the action. Fair enough. It'll be interesting to see if things like rims/complete wheel sets, (a big time market in terms of direct from China buying by consumers), for fat bikes and triathlon wheels becomes available through the Heller Bikes channel.

Update on "The Sock":

I also wrote about this Wednesday, you know, "The Sock Debacle" at Interbike. Interbike said that "...this isn't how @Interbike rolls" in its apology on Twitter, then on Thursday, it's media partner, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent out its "Show Daily", a rag that all attendees can get and is also sent out digitally to bike shops that receive "Bicycle Retailer & Industry News". Apparently "no we don't roll that way" really means "yes, we do!, and it's okay because we're in Las Vegas" in their parlance.

The Show Daily had a little blurb on the socks,  made a tongue in cheek commentary, finishing off the first paragraph with the following: "..some industry marketers feel a little "naughty" is a lot nice. And a little "naughty" sells. Just look around Vegas."

Then the story points a finger at the itchy trigger finger of social media, saying to the effect that no one "fact checked" anything before they started throwing stones. Then the author tried to spin it all off as being a factor of having "a gaggle of temps " tossing the socks and "a bunch of other oddball junk" into the goodie sacks without the oversight of a "Tacky monitor".

Uhh.....'scuse me, but as the bags represented the show's "goodwill" towards their attendees, and as such was representative of what the show is supposed to be about. Which, by the way, Interbike has stated profusely should be inclusive of women, and maybe should be respectful of all folk's sensitivities. So, maybe they should......ya know, be aware of what they are having themselves be represented by?  This isn't the first rodeo for this stunt either.  Interbike has had socks with this sort of message on them several times before. It isn't as if this was a first time, "whoops!" thing. I cannot believe for a minute they didn't realize this was going on....again....

Either way, an oversight is an oversight, and you cannot just brush that off as not being something you are responsible for if you have third party folks doing work for you, or if you have companies providing goods, (no matter how oddball and "junky" it may be), as gifts to your attendees. That's on the show organizers all the way.

And excusing that as being part of the Vegas culture is lame, lame, lame! 

But the author was just getting cranked up on the Vegas part:  "The Twitteratti have spoken. The blog-o-sphere has rendered its verdict. A social faux pas has been committed. The guilty must be castigated or castrated, depending upon your level of social angst. But in the grand scheme of things, we're in Las Vegas- at least along the soul-draining swamp that is the Strip. So tweeters and bloggers, feast on that thought for a while."

So, seeing as how this is a blog, and what not, I get the picture that I am, as this blog's writer, not competent or intelligent enough to figure out that this "Sock Deal" is no big deal. Am I right? Did I get that right? Maybe my "angst level" is too high? Or, maybe, just maybe, this is representative of some things that have been shoved under the rug for too long. Oh, and on that note, here is another, non-blogger outlook on this, check out this Dirt Rag on-line article here.

Well, you have the quotes and the details. I bet you folks out there are smart enough to figure this out for yourselves.  

Have a great weekend and get out there and ride those bicycles.