At the end of my drama and trauma-filled weekend, I’m back at the computer and ready to bring you some interesting tidbits.
In Houston, they recently installed 21 new bike racks on the city’s hybrid diesel-electric buses. While that number itself is not particularly impressive, they do plan to have them on 800 buses by the end of the year. It’s like a little glimmer of hope.
Far outweighing the good, there are plenty of unpleasantries to report over the last few days. For instance, a drunk driver struck and killed a cyclist in Missoula, Montana. While this in itself is bad, it is far more disturbing that a witness claims the motorist appeared to intentionally swerve and hit the cyclist. In the opposite hemisphere, two boys, one 15 and the other 16, were out riding their bikes at 4 A.M. (?) in Brisbane, Australia when they were accosted by 4 teenagers roughly the same age, who gave one of them a bashing before making off with the 16 year-old’s bike. It’s very distressing that merely riding a bike can make someone a target for violence.
Somewhat less distressing is the Google Alerts that I get regarding bicycles in India. I still cannot make sense of whatever it is that gets reported.
In closing, I take the risk of offending my friends at Trek, but I have to bring this up. While I certainly mean no disrespect to them, I was reading an article that stated they were the world’s top bicycle maker, and have to question that assertion. Certainly Giant produces more bicycles than Trek, either with their own label on them, or for other companies. I will have to look into this, and see if I can get a better definition for the word “Top”.
So, what is it that distresses you about your India bicycle alerts good sir? I have a similar alert and they are perfectly understandable to me. I’m a bit of an Indiophile so I’m happy to help.
And Trek? Well given my new job with them I’ll have to wait a bit before I comment, but as with most metrics ] it pays to take a measured approach, it depends on how you define the word “top”.
I saw that article too (though I don’t remember where it was) and immediately thought the same thing. A handful of large Wal-Mart stores probably sell more bikes than Trek and Giant combined. The *world*’s largest bike company probably sells exclusively in China or maybe India. It used to be Flying Pigeon, but they’ve fallen on hard times lately.
No response from Trek yet…
Phil, they all seem to be about some sort of political argument relating to the sale of bikes to students, with a component of impropriety.
I do believe that the “world’s top” was mis-quoted in the article you read. What was stated to the writer was the “top” selling brand in the United States – what is also obviously implied with that statement is to the Independent Bicycle Retail channel. You are all correct, both Giant and Pacific make and sell more bicycles than Trek. Additionally, many are sold to mass-merchants such as Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us. Thank you for the opportunity to clear up the confusion.
Derek, thank your for clearing that up. You’ll be my new source at Trek.