To kick off 2022, here’s a story about a business dilemma.
Picture a growing, youngish bike component manufacturing company a bit to the north of Taichung.
On one hand they offer flexible MOQs in order to service smaller, boutique bike brands.
On the other, they’re dead set on snagging the business of the mega players, one of which until late last year accounted for some 2/3 of their business.
The idea is to get a few mega players to avoid the problem of depending on just one. Very wise.
Well, you guessed it: the sky caved in . . . the huge client cut their orders by 72% which turned out to be a 57% revenue cut for this hapless company.
Ashen faced executives huddled in meetings to figure out the art of dancing on the razor-tipped horns of their particular dilemma.
It’s a dilemma — and not merely a problem — because they can either go after the big fish OR encourage the smaller brands. Not both . . . as they see it, at any rate.
The problem with courting the smaller players is hiring the personnel to service them. “You can’t just hire and especially fire people as your business expands and contracts as brands come and go,” said an Exec as he reached for another shot of Glenfiddich 21.
They figure, therefore, that the economics clearly point to the big fish strategy.
They see it as cheaper in the long run given the changing circumstances of the labor market as we head deeper into the ‘20s.
Meanwhile, rumors of a couple of late-model Benz up for sale to the north of Taichung are just that—Rumors .
AROUND THE NET
—Bike Tech & Business—
Analysis of the carbon footprint of carbon frame repair shows that repair produces up to 95% fewer greenhouse-equivalent gas emissions than replacement. One of several areas of investigation in this carbon bicycle science program.
The mechanics of Rivian’s proposed tailgate bike rack for trucks.
The key is the tailgate grooves. A front wheel mount would slide into a square or flared (dovetail) groove and bolt into place. Another patent illustration shows the typical articulating arm that would lock over the bike’s front wheel.
Gutsy move while inside the Covid tornado:
After attempting to purchase a bicycle ourselves … and seeing the lack of inventory or effort from local shops to provide any real options we decided to do it ourselves.
Inflation and Ebikes—inextricably linked.
The bicycle industry’s challenges go to the heart of the conundrum facing the Federal Reserve and central banks around the world.
Hydrogen fuel cell cargo bikes to be trialled in Aberdeen.
7 gravel bike tech trends for 2022.
Inside a British bike factory in 1945. Is that a salesman in the white coat (dress shirt and tie underneath) show rooming a bike to a dealer at 7:32? 11:00 stamping a chainring. Fascinating.
A battery-less cyclocomputer that uses a hub dynamo for both power supply and speed measurement. If you like getting deep into technical details (without getting too deep), you’ll love this article. Great snapshot of problem-driven product design process in action.
—E-bikes—
A-Z guide to all (?) the e-bike brands. Is yours here? If not it probably should be…this page might get some serious traction in the search engines in 2022 let alone from being shared a lot, as I’m doing now. Just going through this list is an education!
A big-picture, comprehensive survey of more than 60 Velomobiles, Pod Cars, eBikes, Mini EVs, and other types of futuristic personal transportation including urban mobility vehicles like electric bikes, electric scooters, and more.
Riding a solar-powered ebike across the USA. Well…half way across the bottom, up the west coast, and then right across the top. Almost 6,500 miles all up.
The Electric Fixie. I likee (ignore the bit about ‘fearless climbing’…).
a fixed gear bike that has … an electric drive … [and] traction control and regenerative braking for battery recuperation. The latter is adjustable via the bike’s handlebar, and as easy as moving a slider knob on the jukebox. Right in the middle of the handlebar lies the Apple Watch-like dial which displays the current speed, battery level, regenerative braking status and more.
A bunch of mainly common sense suggestions in this comprehensive consumer guide to e-bike care.
If you’re cleaning the e-bike, don’t point a high-pressure hose directly at the electrical components – they don’t really like that…
The Pipegun electric kick bike from Turkish startup, Tozzbike. Here’s Autoevolution’s frank — but largely positive — take …
Pipegun lives in the gray area between several urban mobility solutions, and Tozz Bikes is …betting on a bold marketing campaign that includes bragging about how they ‘can’t stand’ mediocrity and won’t claim to be able to solve the climate crisis – but at least they’re trying.
Urtopia: high tech carbon e-bike at a non-high tech carbon e-bike price. #snazzy.
The growing consumer love affair with e-bikes probably does not much depend on whether or not tax-credits are available, you’d have to say.
Anyone will take any tax credit they can get, but I don’t think it’s the reason someone will make the decision to come and buy one,” Bell said.
Manufacturer switches suppliers but cannot do anything about log-jammed ports…
Requires subscription: The e-bike that encapsulates the global supply chain crisis.
—This n’ That—
They should have gone the Xindian – Pinglin – Suao route over the top (the old road). Except that those ruddy heavy motorcycles on the Xindian-Pinglin make for an irritatingly noisy trip.
Thieves in the night . . . and the day.
[O]nly two people were charged despite 929 bicycle thefts in the city between January 1 and November 30, last year. That makes 0.22 per cent.
Hybrid cloud, industry clouds, and AIOps.
How digital transformation in India is rolling out in line with the rest of the world. Raising productivity whilst keeping costs in check is the goal. And with Indian bicycle manufacturing developing in leaps and bounds, this is an area that only a few of Taiwan’s largest OE/ODM bike manufacturers appear to be taking seriously.
Is being busy just to be busy the norm in a modern career path.
I’ll finally get to the long-promised story from the most famous bicycle town in the world (that few cyclists have heard of) in the next post.