FLASH-POINT BLOG ARCHIVE: Sep 2005

Eurobike in Germany was a resounding success for Zipp and the Flash-Point unveiling went off very well. Redefining a product category is always difficult but the harder you work at it, generally the better the reaction.
Having now returned from Germany; this weekend we have representatives in Montreal for the Canadian Trade Show as well as Milan for the Italian Bicycle Trade Show. This time of year is crazy as the bike undustry turns itself inside out trying to show everything to everybody, nearly every weekend it seems. Montreal is always a very interesting exhibition as we sell dealer direct in Canada and our customers in Quebec are some of the most fervent cycling enthusiasts we have ever met with a definite penchant for most things European. It is an extremely strong cycling city, and is a great place to host a show. In Milan, once you have dealt with the traffic, found parking and are actually in the Exhibition hall, the show is very cool. This year it is a brand new venue that none of us have seen but the passion for cycling runs so deep in Italy that the enthusiam of all involved makes for one of the busiest and noisiest shows on the circuit. Flash-Point will be making its first apearance in these two countries at the same time. This is a very exciting time for our whole industry.

This morning was the first official day of commutting on the Flashpoint wheel set for me.  What that should translate to is that I drag my sorry self out of bed early and get a good ride in through some dodgy parts of town in the all too dark streets of Indianapolis.  This also means that because I do this lovely little short ride before coffee that I'm only about 1/2 awake while I'm spinning west of downtown.  In turn, this means that I have no good sense to handle the bike in a straight line or avoid ANY of the rough sections of pavement or the several sets of rail road tracks that come my way in my jaunt westward. 
My morning ride was literally all too rough road and "potholed".  The wheels handled it well though.  I arrived in good form and w/out puncture (always a plus for the morning commute because no one likes to start their day with a flat tire really). 
Tonight's ride home should be interesting having to dodge traffic and the bad spots in the pavement.  We have been trying, unsuccessfully to get a "cobbled road" ride going through the downtown area, and starting to commute again may just be the emphasis that I need to go and do some fun re-con on the way home. 
I'll keep you all posted as usual.  Talk to you soon.   

Alrighty....  It's been a busy week and unfortunately, I've only spent a very small portion of it riding the bike.  Officially, the show season is upon us all here in the cycling industry.  What that translates to is that we are debuting the new products all over the world at a handfull of different trade shows.  It's a busy time, of year, but one that is also quite exciting. 
First off, the Eurobike show.....  This thing is massive.  Think about several hundred bicycle companies all lumped into one incredible event center.  Literally 10 huge buildings of new bike stuff.  This is the first time during the new model year that companies get to show off new products and see what everyone else has brought to the table for the upcoming months.  The Flash Point display, while small in comparison to some of the big manufacturers out there, made a pretty big splash and there was a lot of interest in the new product.  It was nice to see others as excited about FP's release as most of us are right now.     
I'm off with Brian, our sales manager, to Milan next week for a show there.  I'll keep you posted to how it goes, but in all honestly, I expect it to be very well recieved and am hoping for the best.
 
On to the fun part:  RIDING!!!!  I got home on Sunday night this week, promptly ate dinner and went to bed for a few well needed hours of sleep.  After a good night of rest, I was classically up at 0600 and ready to go for the most part.  Post "grande quad" mocha (still coming down slowly from European coffee binge) I was ready to stretch out the legs and go for a bit of a long slow distance ride on the bike.  I was still feeling a little bit dazed and confused from the time change, but nothing to serious.  Needless to say, I was happy to be on the road and riding after a week off.  Had a great ride as I was in the saddle for just over 5 hours.  Wheels were very comfortable even on some of the "chip and seal" roads here in central Indiana. 
I'll have a chance to get some good miles in this week, so we'll keep you posted. 
Ciao for now.