Sunday, September 30, 2007

Home

Well PDog is back from The Interbikes (tm). It was a very good show this year, fewer dudes looking for hook-ups and more shops looking for lines. I ended up sleepging a lot.. hey I got a 10 month old PPuppy.

Still have not seen Penn & Teller.

The after show highlight was Kenny's win at the industry crit. Now I know he was a wringer*. But freakin' Cipo and Bauer raced too so screw that. If it's open to ex pros it's a real race and game on I say.

CNik gets to stay in Vegas for Vision West next week while I get to play mr. mom while Mrs. PDog does her adobe thing in Chicago.

*yes I know it's ringer not wringer

Memo to Banford Bikes: In general I agree that pricing is a problem in cycling. But, honestly, *you* are the problem. And, as a trained economist, let me say it's hard to take your editorial seriously when it revolves around a complete incorrect use of the term price-fixing. Price fixing is when multiple companies act in collusion to create a defacto monopoly.*

And no, requiring authorized dealers of your products to sell at a set price is not a violation of anti-trust laws unless the company is a monopoly.

You also conveniently left out 2 very important reasons for hard MSRPs.

And if you want to get all wonky here you go. I'll see your term-abuse and raise you some actual econ 101.

Let's be clear. The Op-Ed accuses companies like Sinclair of acting unethical by requiring a hard MSRP on the products they distribute. It boolsters this arguement by incorrectly using the term price fixing. Yes, price fixing is unethical. But, again, price fixing would be if Sinclair and enough of the other shoe companies got together to create a virtual monopoly. That's laughable. One the the bike industry does not lack is competition. If anything, the industry suffers from too many products.

On the otherhand, a majority of online and mail order discounters (which, is what we are talking about) are free riders. They rely on brick and mortar shops to stock product for consumers to try out. They further rely on those shops to educate consumers and answer questions about the product. If we want to toss out charges of immorality and unethical behaviour, most economists I know would argue that it's the mail order shops in the grey area here because they shift the cost of marketing from their shop to the brick and mortar shops.

Full disclosure, I know and like the guys at Sinclair. I have neutral feelings about Shimano. I don't like Specialized. I don't shop mail order. But this isn't really about any specific company, my feelings towards them individually.

It is about poor logic and bad economic analysis. That does piss me off.

* interestinglty, the wiki entry makes this same mistake and adds in another. Contrary to the wiki article, the seller is often the victim of price fixing as they are forced to eat the cost of the price fix (which is what Banford's op-ed is arguing is happening to them).

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Off to the interbikes and stuffs

CNik & I are off to The Interbikes today, were 100,000,000.87 retail stores, upon meeting us will be overwhelmed by our Gin Optics / Axley Eyewear goodness and demand our products now at 120% *over* retail. And all because Stoked keeps saying such nice things about the Stungunner.

The good news is I will miss what is clearly PPuppy V2's newest cold. The bad news she will probably start walking and PPuppy V1 will get that PhD while I am gone.

And while I am gone.. how many local cyclists own or run a outdoor products producing company. I don't mean a shop or a rep (like Modus, EP or Salmon Cyclery) or a large distributor like SBS.. I mean like us, small independently owned manufacturer. We produce and sell sportsglasses. Marcroft and Holmes make and distribute Bikes. Robin does pedals... who does what out there in the greater Northwest?

Monday, September 24, 2007

Flandis: the 2 second verdict judgement

I have read the reports of the Flandis verdict and also the opinions, both majority and minority. I will caveat the following by noting that neither PPuppy V1 or V2 particularly care about my need to read this information so I may have missed an important point or 2.

In short, the verdict was correct.

What you say? I thought you hate WADA?

Well yes I do but.....

As I understand it the panel ruled that the initial test was not done according to the applicable international standard and threw out the results.

That is the correct result in my opinion.

However, the found that the second test was done according to international standard and upheld the result based on WADA's standards for a doping positive.

That is the correct result as well.

The beauty of following scientific protocol is it does not rely on the intention of the tester. If the protocol is followed a reliable result occurs. In the first test the did not happen. Whether the lab had malicious intent or not, the result was invalid and thrown out because the protocol was not followed. In the second test, protocol was followed and again regardless of intent the result is valid.

The problem, of course, is that the lab may have followed protocol in the second test's analysis but the use of the test as an anti-doping tool itself has not been validated.

However, it is my understanding that the arbitration panel is specifically barred from ruling on the actual scientific validity of a test. It can only rule on whether the testing protocols met international standards.

So the ruling was correct.

The problem I have railed against is WADA's use of unvalidated tests which it justifies by pointing out it follows a civil law standard... they only need to show it's 51% likely you doped. And that's what the arbiters found. It's 51% likely Flandis doped.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The truth about aging....


Why, asks Argysnufulfugus, are you so old and decrepit PDog? While Old As Dirt is so young and energetic? Why can't Schmirnov wake up before 10am for a ride, when Stoked is up every day at 5am bright and cheerful?

Cause, Argysnufulufugus, it's not age that gets you. It's the damn kids. But they are so cute I just can't stop making them....

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Called Out

Nameless Rider (tm) = Walter Yi

Friday, September 21, 2007

Balls of Steel

Updated Below

Last Fall a former team member, henceforth known a Nameless Rider (tm), bought a bike and '07 team kit*. He'd ridden on the team for several years and had always begged poverty but did pay his bills. So he asked if he could give me his check card number now, grab the stuff and then I could charge it at the end of the month. We said sure.

All was good until we went to run the card and found out he had closed the account. Well that's slimey. But, he had ridden for the team for several years and had always paid his bills so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I called. No answer. Called again. No answer. Called again from my home phone, which I had never used before, and amazingly he answered. He was very very apologetic. Swore it was a mistake and he'd get me a new credit card number. Well, never heard from him. Finally I found him at Elma. I grabbed him and said listen, you need to either pay for the kit and bike or give it back. Oh, I want to keep it, I'll pay, here's a new cc he said. I again suggested if he was in financial straights he should just give the bike and kit back. Nope, I want to keep it. The only request was to charge $500 now and the rest in 30 days. No problem I said.

So I go to charge the card, and it goes through. Nameless Rider (tm) then turns around and disputes the charge. At that point the gloves came off. I got the charge reinstated but couldn't legally recharge the balance. I told Nameless rider to either return the stuff or I'd file a small claim against him.

Well I filed that small claim and got a judgement against him (which I doubt he'll ever pay). In the process I learned that we aren't the only people (I mean we as a team and a company) he did this to. He also told a lie to the police and the court by claiming he was in Michigan when he is actually lives and works here in Seattle.

So why am I bringing all this up? Well, because Argysnufulufugus saw said rider riding the other day on a bike he stole from his ex-girlfriend and wearing that team kit he never paid for.

While I went down the tough love path with Nameless Rider, I assumed that he in fact felt bad about the whole thing. Just got in over his head and didn't know how to deal. I know I felt bad for having to take him to court, but I didn't see any choice. But, if I were in his shoes there's no way I'd wear that team kit. Just putting it on would make me feel guilty. I don't see how someone with a concience could do that. And the balls of wearing it the team's hometown?

Wow.

*We normally get our new kit in the Fall.


UPDATE I 9-21-07
The rider in question is not Trevor Mays. Not only doesn't he fit the description above (eg he live and works in Boise, has only riden for us 1 year) but is the exact opposite of my experience with him. He has always paid any bills on time. In fact I owe him money. So if anything, he should be posting nasty blog-o-grams about me.

I can say right now that unless you actually know who the rider is because I told you then you will not be able to figure out who he is. If you read into the post (eg TM is a hint) you'll just be grabbing names arbitrarily.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The difference is...

So this guy has a sex addiction. He's a creep and gets fired from his job.

On the otherhand here's Pepper Pots. She's hyper sexual and refreshingly candid about it. She gets feted.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Taste - e -Taste

XXC is on vacation. That means Hetheringbonator has been left in charge of Taste. I suugest you go there now, order lots of food and let him know you expect to be treated like royalty. I do it all the time. But be warned. The food is actually quite good.

Jerika at Worlds.


Jerika at Junior Worlds. Rockin' the Ohops.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Weekly Eyewear Bloggin'

So long ago I promised to do a weekly eyewear blog entry. And didn't. I Lied/ Get over it. I promised the wife the eyewear thing would make us rich too.

With the Stungunner and Ginny coming out the blog went crazy for a bout a week. All eyewear all the time, yo! And I even managed to co-opt Stoked's blog for a bit. Stungunner mania, it's all the rage*.

Now I could point out that we have a new Ohop color (pewter), another new model (the PruDog and for the record Chad chose the name, I wanted SuperCat!) and that you should all be getting the Marksmen Rose lens option for Fall and Winter because of the superior contrast and various cool lens treatments that help repel water and reduce fogging.

But I can't because I am too upset that PPuppy's soccer team lost 40-0 in their first game.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Jeezbus

I am not ready to ride in the rain. Riding in the sun is hard enough. Especially with Argysnufulufugus tempting me with tasty looking eurocandies. On the plus side, at least I don't have to worry about racing 508 miles in a few weeks like Emde.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Heads Up

Do you use click'n ship? It's a great feature the USPS offer were you can buy postage online and then have your mailman pick it up. Except.. USPS's production control / testing processes seem to be non existant. Someone set the system up to recycle old delivery confirmation numbers.... which has had the unexpected result of sending out postage due notices to the customers who originally used the delivery confirmation *before* it was recycled. So, say you sent a package in February and paid for it. Well, if that number is reused by the Postal Service you'll get a nasty gram saying that the original number was cancelled (it was, by the post office after it was used and paid for so they could reuse it) and that you need to pay for this cancelled postage (which you didn't cancel and paid for, but is now back in use by someone else). Better yet, USPS has known about this for about a month now and has been trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime, if you get more than 2 of these notices your account gets disabled. Sweet huh. Not sure how they'll resolve this but right off the bat I'd suggest shutting off the nasty grams and auto-disabling functions since they know it's their error. And maybe a few actual scafflows will get an unintended amnesty but the solution is to test that system better, not continue to punish paying customers who've done nothing wrong.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

On the bubble

Murdin and Little O are both on the deadblog bubble... no updaty the bloggy and PDog no linky. Assuming they don't update soon who shall replace them?

Now go check out flight of the conchords. Biznatched. (h/t to The Crow's Better Half)

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Overwhelmed

So I finally got a ride in. Maybe 2 hours, complete with cramps towards the end. I am so lame. Perhaps I should just be happy I got out.

Now to all of you who emailed me about getting stungunner, prudogs or other asundry products.... i apologize for any delays. the cool part is we are swamped. the uncool part is we are swamped which means paid for orders come first.... i am trying to get everything out as fast as i can. don't be afraid to pester me either; i have about 100 unread emails. sheesh.

Industry References

Hey gang. Anyone out there work with an import broker they like? While R.E. Landweer does a great job of clearing customs and coordinating delivery I just can't handle the manic way they handle paying customs. I am thinking of using Kamino International. Anybody have any suggestions?

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Cooked?

Expo season is about to start. Remember me kindly.

I haven't been riding much lately and probably won't much any time soon. It makes me wonder if I am just cooked on racing. Thinking about next year it's hard to find the motivation to hurt; on the otherhand I keep thinking of races it would be cool to put on. Have I become a later day Dave Douglas / Joe Holmes? Will I lose my hair as a result? Maybe it will make me skinny.

I've always wanted to put on a "kermesse" in T-town with a cobbled sector (yes, cobbles.. not dirt biznatches). Maybe next year is the year. Of course it wouldn't work with my dream "prime on each section" crit. That's right, 4 primes per lap. Hah!

Friday, September 07, 2007

On a lighter note

Mrs. PDog reminds me that it's the anniversary of this classic StarWars sketch.


Bill Murray Sings Star Wars - Funny home videos are a click away

Liberal slanted politics alert

and by that I mean you are about to hear my liberal slanted politics. So the drumbeats of war with Iran have started; Fox news has already begun referring to the war in the present tense and claiming that Iran started the war by attacking our soldiers in Iraq.

First, I realize that the true-red neo-cons* don't really care whether or not these statements hold up to scrutiny. To them words are just ways of conveying emotion and projecting strength: life is about being the alpha-dog or being the bitch. I get that. But for those of us who actually think that rational thought is important I ask the following question:

1. Is there any evidence that agents sanctioned by the Iranian government have attacked US soldiers?

2. Since the US Military has admitted we began running Black-Ops raids into Iran when we invaded Afghanistan didn't we attack them first?

3. If we are going to hold Iran accountable for the black market arms that the insurgents have gotten that were produced in Iran are we also going to hold Russia accountable? Are we going to invade ourselves? The majority of the weopons used were made in the USA after all.......

I am not saying that Iran is a shinning beacon of civilization and justice. I am not saying it's government is good. I am saying that we should think before we leap. And any arguments the administration makes are designed to get your reptilian core all angry.

I am just suggesting that it's easy to give into our reptilian core and start shooting. But once the shots are fired, things tend to get hard. Like, I don't know, say Iraq. And Afghanistan.

It's actually kind of hard to think things through. But, gosh, if we think things through we might find we don't need to smack Iran. Or, if we do, we might find we are prepared for actually managing the smacking so it doesn't turn into a bad version of playground bullying were a bunch of people don't die.


*As a side, I am not really sure the neo-libs and neo-cons are that different on the whole "transformation" theory. It's just that the neo-libs don't have the actual influence on the ground that the neo-cons do.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

You demended it.....

So it is now so. Spoke and Sprocket now has the PruDog, Stungunner and Ginny in stock.

Now, if you don't go buy every single pair of sportsglasses in his store (hell, even the Rudy Projects) I'll be very angry. After all, I had to (I mean had to) listen to the radio all the way there and back. I missed Dave Ross and ended up listening to Dori Monson. And I hate Dori Monson. So don't let my suffering be in vain.

Eyewear Centric Blogs

The blog has been somewhat eyewear-centric lately. But that ok, cause so is stoked's blog.

She did a nice review of the Stungunners, which made me smile and then made me think about reviews in general. You've probably noticed we don't have a lot of reviews in say velonews or other mainstream publications. It's not because we haven't been asked or because we can't. Rather, it's because with few exceptions the whole "review" industry pisses me off. While I am sure there are some fine examples of integrity and expertise in the mainstream review world, I haven't seen them. What I have seen is pay-to-play reviews (I am including straight up paid for reviews and quid pro quos.. I'll review if you buy ads) and ignorant reviews (the Wired review of Tifosi's sportglasses come to mind.. the critique was the lenses weren't good for sunny days when.. well that's cause the reviewer was using the red lenses not the dark ones.. duh). So my mainstream choices seem to be 1) pay and get a good review (that I probably get to write myself) or 2) get a review that may have more to do with the writer's inability to read directions than the product.

So my options tend to be editorial control or no control. What I want is to empower the writer to ask questions and learn about eyewear so the review is both truley informative and still their own. It's ironic that so far, blogs are the only media that seems to work in.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Fall is here

I was listening to bloggingheads.com and Mark Schmidtt noted that Fall starts at a different time for parents than for non-parents.

Well, it's the first day of school for PPuppy v1 and fall is here.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Stungunner revealed

Remember the Ohop? I mean the eyewear, not the bike race. We sold something like 75% of our initial POC run in 1 month (I guess that proves that concept doesn't it). Well, my pick for the next "blink and you missed it" model is the Stungunner. While it's intended to fill that leisure-wear gap in our line that the Shiva vacated it's a pretty damn good sports glass as well.





Is it grey? Is it metal grey? dark silver? I don't know... but it's got that sweet pink trim that says "that's right, there's pink trim on my eyewear, wanna make something of it?" And besides, pink is the color of the Komen foundation, which is trying to end breast cancer so quit being so insensitive! For those of you who still can't be seen in pink, we have a version with pewter trim as well.

The trim is an integrated grip for both the temples and nose to keep the slip-goblins off balance. It's a full orbital for lower orbital safety and frame stability. The lenses are from Carl Zeiss' field of play series: it a red colored tint for high contrast and a medium tint originally designed for shooting. Since it's a Carl Zeiss lens, the clarity allows it to be used in a wider variety of lighting condition than lower quality lenses. Examples of optimum uses overcast days, wet days or MTB in a variety of low-medium light conditions.






As you may have heard, we may be an Italian company* but we do have a Seattle office so what better for a color than Espresso Roast?

Besides the frame color, the Espresso Roast also sports a different lens. Also from Carl Zeiss' field of play series and formally known as the Triflection Grafite lens she's got a medium contrast green color paired with a darker tint. This provides some enhanced contrast while also blocking more light: it's more of a Sunlens that can be used for Sport. Use this when the major obstacle is the sun itself.

Now I know that you are beside yourself with excitement and really wanna go buy a pair right now. Well, you have 2 options. I highly encourage you to chose the first option: buy a pair from either Recycled Cycles or Kirkland Bicycles. They both have them and you can go in and try them on to make sure they fit. Option #2 is to buy them directly from us. Happy hunting.

*For those that don't get the joke.. well if I have to explain it I guess it isn't funny.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

My Humps?

Hey Black Eyed Peas, I think Alanis is making fun of you.

Next up...

Next up on the preview block will be the new Stungunner, named after the famed British Brigadier Rosemary Gerald Stungunner. His story includes horses, Mt. Everest and a hotdog. No pictures yet, but they are coming.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Lazy Time Over!

PPuppy v2.0 has awaken to inform me that I can no longer use eyewear as an excuse not to ride. So off I am, to ride my bike. I haven't touched a bike since the State TTT.