branding

China’s Moves to OBM via OEM-Powered Takeoff – Whither Taiwan’s Brands?

With King George’s agreement, the British East India company sent an emissary, Lord Macartney, to meet with the Qianlong Emperor of China in 1793. The problem was the trade imbalance — silver flowing into China; tea flowing out. Textile producers having grown fevered at the thought of selling just one pair of socks to every [...]

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The Great Divide – “Henry Ford is the Albert Pope of the Motor Car”

Readers of this blog may feel inclined to say “not again!” when I mention Iain Boal’s lecture on The Green Machine, at the Copenhagen Museum in April of this year. The quote which is the title of this post comes from that part of his talk dealing with “the great divide” in bicycle manufacturing–that between blacksmith/craftsman [...]

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Wheelbuilding 101 – Rims, Hubs, Spokes, and Cost Effectiveness

This is the first post of a few talking about wheelbuilding production issues. Technology is important but will not be the exclusive focus. Can’t be the exclusive focus. I’ll try to explain this later. The overall idea is similar to the principle discussed in a recent post: technological solutions must be cost effective. And I think cost-effectiveness [...]

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Rest in Peace – The Rest is History

As you drive through the Taichung county hinterland, you will see this rising above the rice-fields. When you get right up to it, this is what it will look like: A water-tower. Well, yes…and no. Imposing, and–as I understand it these days–no longer used. It also marks the burial site of the failure of an [...]

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Compression Clothing Does Not Work

The Journal of Sports Sciences just published this article claiming to be the first study to evaluate the effect on endurance performance of different types of compression clothing with increasing amounts of compressive surface. Check out the abstract by following the link. The study was carried out on a group of 15 well-trained endurance athletes doing maximal and [...]

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The Commercial Logic of Cycling Tribes-Roadies v MTBiker v BMXers and so on

The Fat Cyclist recently posted a call for us to go beyond what could be labeled ‘tribalism‘ in the world of cycling. He writes There’s no reason in the world why cyclists should choose to be either strictly mountain bikers or road cyclists (or track cyclists, or cyclocrossers, or downhillers, or BMX-ers). Don’t be one or the [...]

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