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Founded in the early 90s by Bruce Gordon of Bruce Gordon Cycles and Mark Norstad of Paragon Machine Works, SOPWAMTOS grew out of a general dismay at the amount of outsourcing going on in the bicycle industry.
“Mark and I were driving back from Freidrechshaffen show in Germany to Basel, Switzerland,” said Gordon.
“It seemed as though we were the last people who went and set up a show booth, manned the booth, and also made the products.
“We were grumping how everybody farms out their work to Taiwan and then claims to do it themselves. The goal of SOP was to point this out and keep some of these people from claiming credit for something they didn’t do."
Golden Toidys are given to industry members and companies who have violated the SOPWAMTOS decrees.
Have you been claiming to have “invented” the 29” wheel? You may be in line for a Toidy. Or perhaps your company has “mistreated” its vendors. Please step up to the podium!
The award’s revival is welcomed by supporter companies such as Soulcraft, Timbuk 2 and Screen Specialties.
Sean Walling from Soulcraft Cycles said: “I wanted to see SOPWAMTOS make a comeback. The Vegas show has become stale and, although I didn’t think it possible, I got tired of half naked girls making coffee and cheerleaders holding CNC’d bike parts. It was time for SOPWAMTOS.”
An awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, September 29th at 3:30pm in the SOPWAMTOS booth (# 4871). Ten Golden Toidys plus one ‘bonus’ award will be given out. The Dirt Rag ‘ReaderÂ’s ChoiceÂ’ awards will be presented afterwards.
