My view is that making a small change to how I conduct business and run my life is better than doing nothing, and that if everyone tries to introduce small changes, these changes will take hold and make a difference, hopefully in time to prevent a dystopian future or one that is just not very comfortable. This is how I have arrived at doing what I can to make A-D Bikes a circular and sustainable bike company.
The last time I was around for the double loop in 2022, it was a balmy 40 degrees by the time the ride was underway. The Gatorade flowed freely. My feet and hands were warm. I wore a wind vest and arm warmers. It felt like early spring in Maine. If I had been asked to identify a single, simple, cycling-related and personal measure of how the climate has changed over the past twenty years, this would have been it.
Topview Sports does an excellent job of organizing and executing this event and Cornelia, Georgia, which is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is a very nice place to visit and race (it is also the name of our daughter which is really the reason I chose this event....I don't know anyone named Jackson).
John Burke (CEO of Trek Bicycle Corpoation) understands the Circular Economy better than he did when he was brainstorming on the white board. Mr. Burke is on the right track and he is ready to bring Trek and the entire bicycle industry kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. If there ever was a time for a serious restructuring of the bicycle industry it is now.
John Burke is indeed the first bicycle industry professional that I am aware of to recognize that sustainability is the new gold standard for the industry (not the Tour de France).
What drives the bicycle industry to repeatedly produce more bicycles and e-bikes each year than the market can absorb? Sunk costs. Economies of scale. Ride it out the door. A bike for every price. Model year.
N + 1 is embarrassingly out of touch. It sounds like the Schafer beer commercial from the 1970s that went “Schafer is the one beer to have when you are having more than one.”
The largest expense related to the sale of the frameset is the labor required to clean, describe, image, list pack and ship the frameset. However, I have become very efficient at this process and can turn an item into cash very quickly. It is work, but it generates cash and new business, it helps the customer, it differentiates A-D Bikes from all the other large and small bicycle companies and it is sustainability in action, not green talk or green wash.
It is much faster for you to buy just the frameset, the bottom bracket and headset from us and buy the components and wheels you want yourself (or use what you have). Of course, we can provide guidance on what works and we can source group sets and wheels on your behalf if you really want us too, but we are just going to ship everything to you and you are going to have to Build Your Own Damn Bike.
My view is that making a small change to how I conduct business and run my life is better than doing nothing, and that if everyone tries to introduce small changes, these changes will take hold and make a difference, hopefully in time to prevent a dystopian future or one that is just not very comfortable. This is how I have arrived at doing what I can to make A-D Bikes a circular and sustainable bike company.
The last time I was around for the double loop in 2022, it was a balmy 40 degrees by the time the ride was underway. The Gatorade flowed freely. My feet and hands were warm. I wore a wind vest and arm warmers. It felt like early spring in Maine. If I had been asked to identify a single, simple, cycling-related and personal measure of how the climate has changed over the past twenty years, this would have been it.
Topview Sports does an excellent job of organizing and executing this event and Cornelia, Georgia, which is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is a very nice place to visit and race (it is also the name of our daughter which is really the reason I chose this event....I don't know anyone named Jackson).
John Burke (CEO of Trek Bicycle Corpoation) understands the Circular Economy better than he did when he was brainstorming on the white board. Mr. Burke is on the right track and he is ready to bring Trek and the entire bicycle industry kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. If there ever was a time for a serious restructuring of the bicycle industry it is now.
John Burke is a white board guy. He uses that idea very effectively in the Trek Sustainability Report August 2023.
John Burke is indeed the first bicycle industry professional that I am aware of to recognize that sustainability is the new gold standard for the industry (not the Tour de France).
What drives the bicycle industry to repeatedly produce more bicycles and e-bikes each year than the market can absorb? Sunk costs. Economies of scale. Ride it out the door. A bike for every price. Model year.
N + 1 is embarrassingly out of touch. It sounds like the Schafer beer commercial from the 1970s that went “Schafer is the one beer to have when you are having more than one.”
The largest expense related to the sale of the frameset is the labor required to clean, describe, image, list pack and ship the frameset. However, I have become very efficient at this process and can turn an item into cash very quickly. It is work, but it generates cash and new business, it helps the customer, it differentiates A-D Bikes from all the other large and small bicycle companies and it is sustainability in action, not green talk or green wash.
It is much faster for you to buy just the frameset, the bottom bracket and headset from us and buy the components and wheels you want yourself (or use what you have). Of course, we can provide guidance on what works and we can source group sets and wheels on your behalf if you really want us too, but we are just going to ship everything to you and you are going to have to Build Your Own Damn Bike.
