Stock tip for JD.

Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,

*** Santa Cruz Bicycles on cutting edge ***

Santa Cruz, CA (AP) -- 09/19/2003
Despite the overall downward trend of bicycle sales and mass
industry consolidation, Santa Cruz Bicycles is quickly gaining
market share in the high-end mountain bike industry with a
simple formula.

"We only make what we would personally want to ride," says
former local professional skateboarder Rob Roskopp,
company owner.

Santa Cruz Bicycles, led by Roskopp and his business mentor
and partner Richard Novak of NHS Inc., is smartly navigating
the industry's bumps and turns with cutting-edge technology
that has helped push the company to the top echelons of U.S.
bike makers.

"We're the one everyone's shooting for,"
Roskopp said.

The small, private company reports 75 percent growth in the
last year, which has included the debut of the Blur, a cross-country
bike with new technology that has gained rave reviews in the trade
press since it was released in April 2002. Roskopp says it will help
boost company sales this year to 20,000 bikes. About 70 percent
of sales are domestic, but the company sells to more than 40 countries.

Crammed into several different corners of Santa Cruz's light
industrial warehouse neighborhood on Bronson Street, Roskopp
said the staff is working hard to keep up with Blur-driven demand.
The company is in the middle of an expansion that will nearly double
its 7,800 square feet while consolidating divisions in various
buildings.

For now, one gets to his second floor office for the first time only
with a guide who can lead the way around boxes and bicycle parts
lined up on shelves.

Visitors head down a couple short hallways and up some stairs
to a couch parked next to a couple desks and a jar of peanut
butter beside a stack of tortillas on a tiny fridge. Some bicycle
parts lean up against the file cabinet and Roskopp's view is a
metal warehouse roof. He says he's looking forward to
reorganizing the company for "the next phase of growth and stability."

Roskopp got his start in business as a young professional
skateboarder for Novak's NHS, which is the parent company
of Santa Cruz Snowboards/Skateboards. After racing, Roskopp
worked for NHS. That's when he and Novak decided to start a
bicycle company with Mike Marquez in 1993, the heyday of
mountain biking. Novak was to be a behind-the-scenes partner
in Santa Cruz Bicycles.

They liked a full-suspension design by Santa Cruz bike designer
Tom Morris and it became the Tazmon, a simple, lightweight
bicycle that they carted around to different dealers with new
business partner Hans Heim from well-known Bontrager bicycles.

A year later, a new model, the Heckler, bumped sales 350
percent and Heim, Novak and Roskopp incorporated as partners.

By 1996 Santa Cruz Bicycles was a $2 million company with
a reputation for new technology that pushed biking to a new level.
Parts were made in Portland, Ore., and Taiwan and assembled,
according to custom orders in Santa Cruz.

The company designed several styles of mountain bikes, focusing
on the high-end market where innovation makes the difference.
They left the low-end, low-margin sales to mass distributors.
They created a hard tail bike called the Chameleon and full
-suspension bikes such as the Superlight, the Super-8 and the Bullet.
By 2000, Santa Cruz Bicycles was a $10 million company.

In the late 90s, however, Roskopp had started
to look for the next big technology.

He found what he was looking for in a failed company called
Outland Designs, which had a short life in the 90s with a novel
suspension system called virtual pivot point suspension. Roskopp
bought rights to the technology and engineers started working on it.

It took more than 700 configurations on the CAD
(computer aided drafting) engineering software program to
get the right virtual model but finally they came out with the V-10,
a downhill version that was well received. Since the introduction
of the cross-country model, the Blur, in late 2001, sales have spiked.

Roskopp expects to sell 10,000 Blurs by year-end. The frame
alone with a powder coat starts at $1,350 and the complete bike
can be about $4,700.

"It's our most successful bike ever,"
Roskopp says.

The recipe is simple, according to Novak.

"You make really good stuff, keep the technology level high,
find the right niche and try not to get out of it," he says.

And it's worked. Half-jokingly Novak complains that he went
into business with Roskopp planning not to work hard but
success has brought many challenges and they discuss the
business regularly.

"Business capitalization is a tough one," Novak says. "You have
to move money really fast. You can't be sitting on inventory or
debt. It's really tough in this business climate to do that, and it's
extremely hard in California. Your windows of opportunity are
really small."

Novak predicts sales could double in the next year and then
maybe grow 15-30 percent in two years. But it depends on
the next innovation in the world of bikes.

In a sloping industry, success has had many challenges.
The bicycle industry's high point, in terms of unit sales,
was the so-called "bike boom" in the 70s, according to
the National Bicycle Dealers Association. But, the market
was soon saturated with low-end, inexpensive imported bikes.

Improvements in design and materials helped the industry survive,
but the National Sporting Goods Association still ranks bicycling
seventh in popularity in the United States behind exercise walking,
swimming, camping, fishing, exercising with equipment and bowling.

The bright light has been mountain biking, which continued to grow
in market share into the 90s and represented 37.4 percent of all
bicycles sold in 2002, according to the National Bicycle Dealers
Association. That number had been as high as 60 percent just a
few years earlier.

The U.S. bicycle industry, estimated at $5.5 billion in 1999
by the National Sporting Goods Association, grew to $5.8
billion in 2000 before dropping to $5.3 billion in 2001 where
it stayed in 2002.

In addition to new technology, the company has pioneered
innovative Internet customization, an online ordering system
that allows bike enthusiasts to pick among styles, colors and
bicycle parts to create a one of a kind, truly personalized,
really expensive bicycle.

"I'm pretty good at feeling what works," Roskopp says.
"The industry's declined since 1994 but we are taking market share.

In a move that puzzled some, Santa Cruz Bicycles recently
licensed its virtual pivot point technology to a direct competitor,
Intense Cycles Inc. of Southern California. The strategy was
two-fold, Roskopp said. Competition can speed up the
development process, and it also helps validate a new technology
in the marketplace.

"We work together to build a better product,"
he says.

The VP-Free, a virtual pivot point extreme bike with
"a long travel" of 8 inches
- which means it smoothes out bumps
- should be out later this year.

The company employs 38 people and sponsors a number of
professional extreme bikers such as the Lunachix team with
Alison Dunlap and Marla Streb, who is featured in IMAX
movie Top Speed and ITS/Santa Cruz team with Gary and
Rich Houseman and Johnny Waddell.

Not too far down the road may be a line of
mountain bikes for kids with a 24-inch wheel.

"I don't have a ceiling (for growth) but I don't want to mass
produce and stick the Santa Cruz name on every trinket,"
Roskopp says. "I always want to make high-end. Maybe
down the road we'll get into something else but I want to
always make the best product."

Santa Cruz Bicycles
WHAT:
Designs and manufactures high-end
downhill and cross-country mountain bikes.

HEADQUARTERS:
104 Bronson St., 22, Santa Cruz.

BACKGROUND:
Founded in 1993 by Rob Roskopp, Richard Novak and
Mike Marquez. They incorporated after bringing in Hans
Heim as a partner.

EMPLOYEES:
38, not including production in Portland, Ore., and Taiwan.

LEADERSHIP:
Rob Roskopp, owner, with partner Richard Novak.

INFORMATION:
459-7560, http://www.santacruzbicycles.com

FINANCIALS:
The privately held company reports 75 percent growth in
the last year. Roskopp hopes to sell 20,000 bikes this year.
About 70 percent of sales are domestic, but the company
sells to more than 40 countries.

GUIDANCE:
Novak hopes the company will double sales next year.

"Michael Dart" wrote in message
...
Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,

Santa Cruz, CA (AP) -- 09/19/2003
Despite the overall downward trend of bicycle sales and mass
industry consolidation, Santa Cruz Bicycles is quickly gaining
market share in the high-end mountain bike industry with a
simple formula.

"We only make what we would personally want to ride," says
former local professional skateboarder Rob Roskopp,
company owner.

"I don't have a ceiling (for growth) but I don't want to mass
produce and stick the Santa Cruz name on every trinket,"
Roskopp says. "I always want to make high-end. Maybe
down the road we'll get into something else but I want to
always make the best product."


Cool article even though you tried to steal my "newsboy" job, but in this
case, I'll be happy to let you take the bullit for me ;^ )

I never knew the history behind Santa Cruz... heck, didn't even know they
started as a skate company.

--
Slacker

"Slacker" wrote in message
...

snip
I never knew the history behind Santa Cruz... heck, didn't even know they
started as a skate company.

--
Slacker

One of my first "real" skateboards (not plastic) was an SC back in about
1980. I was surprised when I saw that name on bikes for the first time. I
thought it was just the (lame) sale of the name so it's cool to hear it was
really the same guys.

Matt

as long as you sell before it lose's it's "flavour of the month status"

--


"Michael Dart" wrote in message
...
Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,

*** Santa Cruz Bicycles on cutting edge ***

Santa Cruz, CA (AP) -- 09/19/2003
Despite the overall downward trend of bicycle sales and mass
industry consolidation, Santa Cruz Bicycles is quickly gaining
market share in the high-end mountain bike industry with a
simple formula.

"We only make what we would personally want to ride," says
former local professional skateboarder Rob Roskopp,
company owner.

Santa Cruz Bicycles, led by Roskopp and his business mentor
and partner Richard Novak of NHS Inc., is smartly navigating
the industry's bumps and turns with cutting-edge technology
that has helped push the company to the top echelons of U.S.
bike makers.

"We're the one everyone's shooting for,"
Roskopp said.

The small, private company reports 75 percent growth in the
last year, which has included the debut of the Blur, a cross-country
bike with new technology that has gained rave reviews in the trade
press since it was released in April 2002. Roskopp says it will help
boost company sales this year to 20,000 bikes. About 70 percent
of sales are domestic, but the company sells to more than 40 countries.

Crammed into several different corners of Santa Cruz's light
industrial warehouse neighborhood on Bronson Street, Roskopp
said the staff is working hard to keep up with Blur-driven demand.
The company is in the middle of an expansion that will nearly double
its 7,800 square feet while consolidating divisions in various
buildings.

For now, one gets to his second floor office for the first time only
with a guide who can lead the way around boxes and bicycle parts
lined up on shelves.

Visitors head down a couple short hallways and up some stairs
to a couch parked next to a couple desks and a jar of peanut
butter beside a stack of tortillas on a tiny fridge. Some bicycle
parts lean up against the file cabinet and Roskopp's view is a
metal warehouse roof. He says he's looking forward to
reorganizing the company for "the next phase of growth and stability."

Roskopp got his start in business as a young professional
skateboarder for Novak's NHS, which is the parent company
of Santa Cruz Snowboards/Skateboards. After racing, Roskopp
worked for NHS. That's when he and Novak decided to start a
bicycle company with Mike Marquez in 1993, the heyday of
mountain biking. Novak was to be a behind-the-scenes partner
in Santa Cruz Bicycles.

They liked a full-suspension design by Santa Cruz bike designer
Tom Morris and it became the Tazmon, a simple, lightweight
bicycle that they carted around to different dealers with new
business partner Hans Heim from well-known Bontrager bicycles.

A year later, a new model, the Heckler, bumped sales 350
percent and Heim, Novak and Roskopp incorporated as partners.

By 1996 Santa Cruz Bicycles was a $2 million company with
a reputation for new technology that pushed biking to a new level.
Parts were made in Portland, Ore., and Taiwan and assembled,
according to custom orders in Santa Cruz.

The company designed several styles of mountain bikes, focusing
on the high-end market where innovation makes the difference.
They left the low-end, low-margin sales to mass distributors.
They created a hard tail bike called the Chameleon and full
-suspension bikes such as the Superlight, the Super-8 and the Bullet.
By 2000, Santa Cruz Bicycles was a $10 million company.

In the late 90s, however, Roskopp had started
to look for the next big technology.

He found what he was looking for in a failed company called
Outland Designs, which had a short life in the 90s with a novel
suspension system called virtual pivot point suspension. Roskopp
bought rights to the technology and engineers started working on it.

It took more than 700 configurations on the CAD
(computer aided drafting) engineering software program to
get the right virtual model but finally they came out with the V-10,
a downhill version that was well received. Since the introduction
of the cross-country model, the Blur, in late 2001, sales have spiked.

Roskopp expects to sell 10,000 Blurs by year-end. The frame
alone with a powder coat starts at $1,350 and the complete bike
can be about $4,700.

"It's our most successful bike ever,"
Roskopp says.

The recipe is simple, according to Novak.

"You make really good stuff, keep the technology level high,
find the right niche and try not to get out of it," he says.

And it's worked. Half-jokingly Novak complains that he went
into business with Roskopp planning not to work hard but
success has brought many challenges and they discuss the
business regularly.

"Business capitalization is a tough one," Novak says. "You have
to move money really fast. You can't be sitting on inventory or
debt. It's really tough in this business climate to do that, and it's
extremely hard in California. Your windows of opportunity are
really small."

Novak predicts sales could double in the next year and then
maybe grow 15-30 percent in two years. But it depends on
the next innovation in the world of bikes.

In a sloping industry, success has had many challenges.
The bicycle industry's high point, in terms of unit sales,
was the so-called "bike boom" in the 70s, according to
the National Bicycle Dealers Association. But, the market
was soon saturated with low-end, inexpensive imported bikes.

Improvements in design and materials helped the industry survive,
but the National Sporting Goods Association still ranks bicycling
seventh in popularity in the United States behind exercise walking,
swimming, camping, fishing, exercising with equipment and bowling.

The bright light has been mountain biking, which continued to grow
in market share into the 90s and represented 37.4 percent of all
bicycles sold in 2002, according to the National Bicycle Dealers
Association. That number had been as high as 60 percent just a
few years earlier.

The U.S. bicycle industry, estimated at $5.5 billion in 1999
by the National Sporting Goods Association, grew to $5.8
billion in 2000 before dropping to $5.3 billion in 2001 where
it stayed in 2002.

In addition to new technology, the company has pioneered
innovative Internet customization, an online ordering system
that allows bike enthusiasts to pick among styles, colors and
bicycle parts to create a one of a kind, truly personalized,
really expensive bicycle.

"I'm pretty good at feeling what works," Roskopp says.
"The industry's declined since 1994 but we are taking market share.

In a move that puzzled some, Santa Cruz Bicycles recently
licensed its virtual pivot point technology to a direct competitor,
Intense Cycles Inc. of Southern California. The strategy was
two-fold, Roskopp said. Competition can speed up the
development process, and it also helps validate a new technology
in the marketplace.

"We work together to build a better product,"
he says.

The VP-Free, a virtual pivot point extreme bike with
"a long travel" of 8 inches
- which means it smoothes out bumps
- should be out later this year.

The company employs 38 people and sponsors a number of
professional extreme bikers such as the Lunachix team with
Alison Dunlap and Marla Streb, who is featured in IMAX
movie Top Speed and ITS/Santa Cruz team with Gary and
Rich Houseman and Johnny Waddell.

Not too far down the road may be a line of
mountain bikes for kids with a 24-inch wheel.

"I don't have a ceiling (for growth) but I don't want to mass
produce and stick the Santa Cruz name on every trinket,"
Roskopp says. "I always want to make high-end. Maybe
down the road we'll get into something else but I want to
always make the best product."

Santa Cruz Bicycles
WHAT:
Designs and manufactures high-end
downhill and cross-country mountain bikes.

HEADQUARTERS:
104 Bronson St., 22, Santa Cruz.

BACKGROUND:
Founded in 1993 by Rob Roskopp, Richard Novak and
Mike Marquez. They incorporated after bringing in Hans
Heim as a partner.

EMPLOYEES:
38, not including production in Portland, Ore., and Taiwan.

LEADERSHIP:
Rob Roskopp, owner, with partner Richard Novak.

INFORMATION:
459-7560, http://www.santacruzbicycles.com

FINANCIALS:
The privately held company reports 75 percent growth in
the last year. Roskopp hopes to sell 20,000 bikes this year.
About 70 percent of sales are domestic, but the company
sells to more than 40 countries.

GUIDANCE:
Novak hopes the company will double sales next year.

"Michael Dart" wrote in message ...
Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,
snip old news

I had a santa crud skateboard in the 70's and it was a POS compared to
the Sims and Alva boards I rode. They were all about a name and
nothing more back then as well. Nice fairy tale though.

JD

On 25 Sep 2003 11:55:10 -0700, (JD) wrote:

"Michael Dart" wrote in message ...
Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,
snip old news

I had a santa crud skateboard in the 70's and it was a POS compared to
the Sims and Alva boards I rode. They were all about a name and
nothing more back then as well. Nice fairy tale though.

JD


you had an ALVA? cool!!! I was kinda fond of my old Logan Earth Ski,
gull wing trucks, OJ wheels, rad pads...the works. Then I got a
Banzai! The Alva's were quite expensive over here on the east
coast...never could afford one of those...

Dave W wrote:
On 25 Sep 2003 11:55:10 -0700, (JD) wrote:
"Michael Dart" wrote in message
...
Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,
snip old news

I had a santa crud skateboard in the 70's and it was a POS compared to
the Sims and Alva boards I rode. They were all about a name and nothing
more back then as well. Nice fairy tale though.

JD
you had an ALVA? cool!!! I was kinda fond of my old Logan Earth Ski,
gull wing trucks, OJ wheels, rad pads...the works. Then I got a Banzai!
The Alva's were quite expensive over here on the east coast...never
could afford one of those...



jd has had one of everything. Just ask him, he is the demi-god of all
things awesome and gnarly. Once again, just ask him. He's better on a
board than you have ever been too! He has mad flow and dough so mess
with him, cuz he's down!

That was all a joke, but you don't have to laugh, jd won't. I wanted a
"real" board so bad when I was but a young lad, however my folks could
only afford one of those Kmart types they had in the early '80s
(Variflex?)! What a pile, but I had some fun on it. Man, that board
sucked. Ride on!

K.



--
Don't give up, don't ever give up.

--------------------------
Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

ireman_1 wrote in message ...
That was all a joke, but you don't have to laugh, jd won't. I wanted a
"real" board so bad when I was but a young lad, however my folks could
only afford one of those Kmart types they had in the early '80s
(Variflex?)! What a pile, but I had some fun on it. Man, that board
sucked. Ride on!

Ever hear of a job? I earned the money for all of the quality
sporting equipment I had as a kid.

JD

Dave W wrote:
On 25 Sep 2003 11:55:10 -0700, (JD) wrote:


"Michael Dart" wrote in message ...

Of course you already knew about this... ;^p,,,

snip old news

I had a santa crud skateboard in the 70's and it was a POS compared to
the Sims and Alva boards I rode. They were all about a name and
nothing more back then as well. Nice fairy tale though.

JD



you had an ALVA? cool!!! I was kinda fond of my old Logan Earth Ski,
gull wing trucks, OJ wheels, rad pads...the works. Then I got a
Banzai! The Alva's were quite expensive over here on the east
coast...never could afford one of those...

I still remember the Blogan Dirt Ski ;-) Thought it was cool till I got
a G&S. The local skate park three blocks away calls to me from time to
time. Then I remember my separated shoulder, shaky ankles, 40 year old
healing time...

Shawn