There are some more results from Madrid over at MBA. Interesting to see Ryder Hesjedal so far down the finishing list. There’s a substantial age gap between him and Thomas Frischknecht and a substantial gap in their respective placings. Miguel Martinez’s time out from Mountain Biking doesn’t seem to have worked in his favour either.
I don’t know whether Travis Brown won the recent Big Bear event on his Singlespeed, but it is fairly certain he is a rather impressive rider.
Along with Singletrack’s Mark Alker, I was on Radio 4s You and Yours programme today to talk about the global shortage of certain raw materials and how this may impact on the bicycle trade. There’s more about it on Singletrackworld and Bikebiz.
My point is that new season bikes don’t all appear on a certain date. The launch of bikes in recent years has been staggered across many months, spanning from July through to January. Different models appear at different times and if a particular style of bike from one manufacturer isn’t available, it’s fairly likely that another company will have a similar product that is available.
The advantage for many small IBDs is that there is a certain amount of flexibility in being able to move between suppliers to meet demand. I still think that the coming months will be a real test of the on-demand ordering and supply chain that certain elements of the industry seem to have adopted. I think the coming months are veiled in a certain amount of uncertainty partly due to many of the manufacturers playing their cards very close to their chests.
Price increases which seem to be due, are probably the biggest variable over which uncertainty remains. Increases as high as 20% have been rumoured, but quite what level of increase arrives is unclear. Further some manufacturers may lower the specification on bikes to retain certain models at certain key price points. Again it’s a case of riding out the event to see what happens…
There ain’t no drugs for you to find here. I imagine there are a few people pleased about that fact.
Pedantic or a just decision due to a flouting of the guideline? The decision to strip Marcus Gronholm of his victory in the World Rally Championship is a controversial decision and one that has undoubtedly resulted in some harsh words in the Peugeot technical team All this because of a little bit of plastic.
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