COMMENT: What bike do you ride?

Some BikeBiz forum comments of his, from his early days of bicycle retail, were recently dredged up by a bored bike exec. I spent some time deleting them, because I was asked nicely to do so.

I found it fascinating that the bored bike exec (pseudonym: DevilsAdvocate) would take the time and trouble to cause a little bit of mayhem on the forum. He’s since apologised so I won’t name names but he’s a high profile exec.

On the bunch of topics which so quickly disappeared from view, another high profile exec had made some comments on the early Baskerville postings. The exec (even more high profile than DevilsAdvocate, but who uses his real name to post on the forum) said he had been mooching around the forum at the same time as watching TV. It must have been a less than riveting episode of the Dragon’s Den or else this male exec has a highly developed multi-tasking ability.

Forum bashers like to say the most prolific posters must neglect their businesses in order to write so copiously on a trade-only forum. In fact, they are just so passionate about the bicycle business they are plugged in to BikeBiz.com 24/7. Quite right.

Steve B is a prolific poster but his business has thrived since opening in 2005. Recently he asked the same question the mag asks on the In The Saddle panel on the Spokesman page: what bikes do you own and ride. There were some great answers. I was delighted to discover the fact many industry types seemed to have more bikes than me.

I have a wild and wide assortment of bikes, starting, in order of the number of wheels, with a unicycle. As well as the obvious road bikes, a tandem, city bikes, recumbent trikes, BMXes, folders and a tourer, I have a cyclo cross bike. It’s a Kona Jake the Snake and it’s a very recent addition to my collection. I love it, it’s become my winter bike of choice and I’m also going to do some fast tours on it. I used to think a mountain bike was the do-it-all machine but CX bikes are faster and just as flexible. Niche product? Maybe. Next big thing? Probably not. Worth stocking? Definitely.