Is Symmetrics getting hosed by the UCI and the Tour of California?

On Mar 2, 6:44*pm, "
wrote:
I was told that the Local Organizing Committee for the Prologue (in Palo
Alto) had to come up with $180k. We put in $1k ourselves, as did two other
shops, for a fund-raising event featuring the Astana team a couple days
ahead of the race. Overall there's quite a bit of money involved.

dumbass,

is the bike industry the stingiest there is ?

i realize bike shops aren't the most profitable business ever, but if
i owned a shop i would be embarrassed to post on a forum all i could
come up was $1000 to put towards an event like this.




Dumbass -


Since they don't make money, how do you expect them to put up more?

Win the lottery?


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

I was told that the Local Organizing Committee for the Prologue (in Palo
Alto) had to come up with $180k. We put in $1k ourselves, as did two
other
shops, for a fund-raising event featuring the Astana team a couple days
ahead of the race. Overall there's quite a bit of money involved.


dumbass,

is the bike industry the stingiest there is ?

i realize bike shops aren't the most profitable business ever, but if
i owned a shop i would be embarrassed to post on a forum all i could
come up was $1000 to put towards an event like this.

What do you think would be reasonable, and why?

And why should I, as a bike shop owner, be any more embarassed about having
a tough time coming up with $1000 to help bring a bike race to town than,
say, a Cat-5 racer who expects discounts and preferential service? A Cat-5
racer who might work in a job that brings home easily twice what I do?

We do what we can. Bicycle Advocacy is becoming a major focus, and that
costs a lot of $$$ as well (and probably, long term, has a much better
return on investment than a bike race, since if my customers don't have
roads to ride on in the future, there aren't going to be many bikes sold).
Tomorrow I get to spend 6 hours in a metal tube, breathing stale air,
traveling to Washington DC where we try and convince legislators that
cycling is worthy of their support. That cars aren't the only answer to
getting around. That schools should be encouraging kids to ride to school
rather than be driven 3 blocks by their parents. It seems like it should be
so simple, so obvious. But we're up against a whole lot of other ways to
spend the tax dollars they've snagged from me and you.

In the end, a bike race is more about entertainment than something that will
make the world a better place. But a better place without bike racing
doesn't seem like a place I'd want to live.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

On Mar 3, 9:30 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
I was told that the Local Organizing Committee for the Prologue (in Palo
Alto) had to come up with $180k. We put in $1k ourselves, as did two
other
shops, for a fund-raising event featuring the Astana team a couple days
ahead of the race. Overall there's quite a bit of money involved.

dumbass,

is the bike industry the stingiest there is ?

i realize bike shops aren't the most profitable business ever, but if
i owned a shop i would be embarrassed to post on a forum all i could
come up was $1000 to put towards an event like this.

What do you think would be reasonable, and why?

And why should I, as a bike shop owner, be any more embarassed about having
a tough time coming up with $1000 to help bring a bike race to town than,
say, a Cat-5 racer who expects discounts and preferential service? A Cat-5
racer who might work in a job that brings home easily twice what I do?

We do what we can. Bicycle Advocacy is becoming a major focus, and that
costs a lot of $$$ as well (and probably, long term, has a much better
return on investment than a bike race, since if my customers don't have
roads to ride on in the future, there aren't going to be many bikes sold).
Tomorrow I get to spend 6 hours in a metal tube, breathing stale air,
traveling to Washington DC where we try and convince legislators that
cycling is worthy of their support. That cars aren't the only answer to
getting around. That schools should be encouraging kids to ride to school
rather than be driven 3 blocks by their parents. It seems like it should be
so simple, so obvious. But we're up against a whole lot of other ways to
spend the tax dollars they've snagged from me and you.


dumbass,

i was expressing my frustration at trying to find support from within
the cycling industry for the various events we're organizing. i don't
know what's an appropriate amount to put towards a bike race for you,
but how does that $1000 compare to an ad in the paper or on
velonews ?

if you do indeed work towards growing cycling you have more foresight
than most shop owners who are short sighted and complain that they
lose sales to walmart and don't see a solution.

for example: in my area parents pay $8-10,000 a year for their kids to
play hockey, so it's not hard to conceive that parents would also be
willing to spend on higher end bikes for their kids if they felt value
in the activity. yet i see very few stores try to develop any sort of
kid's program.

we happen to have a very good shop supporting us, but it's
embarrassing that when i list my sponsors i can't list major players
in the bike industry (though we have decent support from other
industries). but many members of the bike business will not spend
money to grow the sport and aren't willing to invest the marketing
dollars that will grow their business.

they have the attitude that why should "i the owner of shop x" spend
money to promote the sport when shops "w", "y" and "z" will benefit ?

bike racers that go into shops expecting discounts because "they are a
racer" should also be embarrassed, but that is another matter.

On Mar 3, 6:30*pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
I was told that the Local Organizing Committee for the Prologue (in Palo
Alto) had to come up with $180k. We put in $1k ourselves, as did two
other
shops, for a fund-raising event featuring the Astana team a couple days
ahead of the race. Overall there's quite a bit of money involved.

dumbass,

is the bike industry the stingiest there is ?

i realize bike shops aren't the most profitable business ever, but if
i owned a shop i would be embarrassed to post on a forum all i could
come up was $1000 to put towards an event like this.

What do you think would be reasonable, and why?

And why should I, as a bike shop owner, be any more embarassed about having
a tough time coming up with $1000 ...
We do what we can. Bicycle Advocacy is becoming a major focus...

Nothing wrong with a $1000 donation and the work you do for the
cycling industry.

By the way, you replied earlier questioning whether the
letleviride.com was set forth as a grassroots campaign. I found the
press release announcing it and it uses the words "grassroots
campaign" to describe itself:
http://www.velonews.com/article/72252

Best of luck in D.C.

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

By the way, you replied earlier questioning whether the
letleviride.com was set forth as a grassroots campaign. I found the
press release announcing it and it uses the words "grassroots
campaign" to describe itself:
http://www.velonews.com/article/72252

It does stretch the meaning of "grassroots" just a bit, doesn't it? :)

Meantime I'm hearing reports of Levi on the prowl for decent lawyers to try
and fight his/Astana's exclusion from the TdF. I suspect there's funding
coming from other than Levi. If Trek didn't sign a sponsorship agreement
where the amounts were contingent upon being in the TdF, they may have a LOT
on the line in this one.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA


"steephill" wrote in message
...
On Mar 3, 6:30 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
I was told that the Local Organizing Committee for the Prologue (in
Palo
Alto) had to come up with $180k. We put in $1k ourselves, as did two
other
shops, for a fund-raising event featuring the Astana team a couple days
ahead of the race. Overall there's quite a bit of money involved.

dumbass,

is the bike industry the stingiest there is ?

i realize bike shops aren't the most profitable business ever, but if
i owned a shop i would be embarrassed to post on a forum all i could
come up was $1000 to put towards an event like this.

What do you think would be reasonable, and why?

And why should I, as a bike shop owner, be any more embarassed about
having
a tough time coming up with $1000 ...
We do what we can. Bicycle Advocacy is becoming a major focus...

Nothing wrong with a $1000 donation and the work you do for the
cycling industry.

By the way, you replied earlier questioning whether the
letleviride.com was set forth as a grassroots campaign. I found the
press release announcing it and it uses the words "grassroots
campaign" to describe itself:
http://www.velonews.com/article/72252

Best of luck in D.C.

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

In article
,
" wrote:

On Mar 3, 9:30 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
I was told that the Local Organizing Committee for the Prologue (in Palo
Alto) had to come up with $180k. We put in $1k ourselves, as did two
other
shops, for a fund-raising event featuring the Astana team a couple days
ahead of the race. Overall there's quite a bit of money involved.

dumbass,

is the bike industry the stingiest there is ?

i realize bike shops aren't the most profitable business ever, but if
i owned a shop i would be embarrassed to post on a forum all i could
come up was $1000 to put towards an event like this.

What do you think would be reasonable, and why?

And why should I, as a bike shop owner, be any more embarassed about having
a tough time coming up with $1000 to help bring a bike race to town than,
say, a Cat-5 racer who expects discounts and preferential service? A Cat-5
racer who might work in a job that brings home easily twice what I do?

We do what we can. Bicycle Advocacy is becoming a major focus, and that
costs a lot of $$$ as well (and probably, long term, has a much better
return on investment than a bike race, since if my customers don't have
roads to ride on in the future, there aren't going to be many bikes sold).
Tomorrow I get to spend 6 hours in a metal tube, breathing stale air,
traveling to Washington DC where we try and convince legislators that
cycling is worthy of their support. That cars aren't the only answer to
getting around. That schools should be encouraging kids to ride to school
rather than be driven 3 blocks by their parents. It seems like it should be
so simple, so obvious. But we're up against a whole lot of other ways to
spend the tax dollars they've snagged from me and you.


dumbass,

i was expressing my frustration at trying to find support from within
the cycling industry for the various events we're organizing. i don't
know what's an appropriate amount to put towards a bike race for you,
but how does that $1000 compare to an ad in the paper or on
velonews ?

if you do indeed work towards growing cycling you have more foresight
than most shop owners who are short sighted and complain that they
lose sales to walmart and don't see a solution.

for example: in my area parents pay $8-10,000 a year for their kids to
play hockey, so it's not hard to conceive that parents would also be
willing to spend on higher end bikes for their kids if they felt value
in the activity. yet i see very few stores try to develop any sort of
kid's program.

we happen to have a very good shop supporting us, but it's
embarrassing that when i list my sponsors i can't list major players
in the bike industry (though we have decent support from other
industries). but many members of the bike business will not spend
money to grow the sport and aren't willing to invest the marketing
dollars that will grow their business.

they have the attitude that why should "i the owner of shop x" spend
money to promote the sport when shops "w", "y" and "z" will benefit ?

Amit, you dumbass: I think you're underestimating the amount of
sponsorship activities that many bike shops engage in, and grossly
overestimating the economic scale of most bike shops.

There's a large component of "labour of love" in a lot of cycling
businesses, which is good for us because it means bike shops in
surprisingly marginal locations (ie high chance of having one near your
house), but bad for bike shop owners, because they would be better off
getting their real estate licenses and using their reduced work hours to
ride bikes.

Mike is not running a marginal bike shop, but $1000 is not milk money,
and it's not for an advertising campaign or a program to encourage kids
to race mountain bikes. It's for a pro bike race, which is, at best, a
mid-to-long-term investment in the general health of high-end cycling in
the region. And long-term investments have a substantial discount rate,
especially when they're as nebulous as this.

The reason your bike club can't get major bike industry support is
because cycling is not a major industry. Go solicit Magna or local pubs
or maybe Bata. Tell Bata that you have some interesting shoes to lend to
their museum, or something.

In general, I try not to tell bike shop owners how their industry works.
For the most part I imagine such well-meaning advice sounds like it
would if a layman told me how to do...whatever it is that I do.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message
]...

Amit, you dumbass: I think you're underestimating the amount of
sponsorship activities that many bike shops engage in, and grossly
overestimating the economic scale of most bike shops.

Amit hasn't even the slightest clue about the financial stability of the
cycle business.