Oregon Scientific Video Camera Demo Footage

Footage from camera mounted on helmet, and ridden up and down stairs. The camera sound quality is poor, but putting your own choice of music always kicks the quality up. Editing was thru Microsoft Movie Maker, and really wasn't that hard. Background music: "Wide Side" instrumental by Motley Crue

Affordable Helmet Camera!

Have you had those issues with telling your friends and family about how fun your off-road activities are? I've struggled with this too, but we have an option for sharing your fun. It's made for Oregon Scientific, and it's a solid state camera. SKU # 186071, our price is $119.99. It's easy to see which stores know about it, as they're sold out. Almost all of our stores got two at the start.

How does it work?
Like a standard digital camera, it saves the compact movie files on a Secure Digital card. You can find the big size (2GB, enough for an hour!) at Fry's for ~$30, or a little more at Staples/Office Depot etc. It runs on two AA size batteries, and since your storage time is not huge you'll be able to check the batteries when downloading video.

It comes with plenty of attachment parts, enough to fit most applications. If you connect to a TV to review your video, the view will be a little pixellated/fuzzy as most TV's are larger than the resolution it records. The camera records at a max size of 680x 480, which is way above what Youtube seems to play at. In other words, plenty of resolution for most uses.

Mounting to things
I tried the handlebar mount first on a XC ride, and got a lot of jittery turning left/right/left as I was climbing. The good news is that any thing you climb looks much steeper, due to the lower perspective of your handlebars. The DH stuff wasn't bad, but seemed to have some weird distortion. When I knew I'd been cookin' a corner, it sure didn't look like it. Maybe it was the lighting? I rode/recorded past dusk, and the video still looked pretty good in the lower-light situations. Better than I'd expected, in fact. Due to the microphone's proximity to the tire, I also got a constant roar. Turning off the mic would've been best here.

When mounting to a bicycle helmet, I had to experiment. It weighs 6.3oz/177 grams so the weight is definitely noticeable if it's hanging off the side of your brain bucket. I tried many other options, and finally realized that the clip did not have to face f-to-rr. The third picture shows the strap running front to back, which was a very solid mount. The camera also needs to be mounted much further back than you might figure, as pictured it may be a little too far forward. I rode around a little today, and you could hear my uh, comment as I smacked the rear rim as I rode up some stairs.

I'll try again when it's not raining. It is very well sealed, but one raindrop on the lens and the video's gonna look nutty. I'd recommend it to anyone who can keep the idea clear that it's a BASIC video-cam.

Hayes Brakes adds Manitou and Answer= Hayes Bicycle Group

Hayes Bicycle Group, a division of HB Performance Systems Inc., acquired the assets of Answer Products Inc., in November. Answer Products has been renamed HB Suspension Products and is now a part of the Hayes Bicycle Group division. Under this new business arrangement the company will continue to produce Answer™ and Manitou™ brand bicycle suspension forks, shocks, bars and stems.

“I offer my personal assurance that there will be no disruption in company operations,” said Rhonda Kirkwood, vice president and general manager of Hayes Bicycle Group. “We will continue to be responsive and remain dedicated to delivering the highest quality products on time and at competitive prices.” The excellent customer service and support systems that Answer Products’ customers have come to know also will continue, Kirkwood added.

Hayes Bicycle Group products, including Answer™, Manitou™, Hayes™ Disc Brakes and Sun Ringlé™ wheels, rims and hubs, are distributed through 120 worldwide distributors to customers in more than 50 countries. More than 200 worldwide bicycle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are supplied by Hayes Bicycle Group. Its products are well known and respected in the mountain bike market. Hayes Bicycle Group provides products for all segments, especially freeride, gravity and recreational.

Kids bikes incoming!

We have done a great job of selling thru our 12" to 20" bike range, and some stores may feel low-on-stock. We have a good amount of Diamondback Vipers coming in, which should be in your stores today and tomorrow.

Please build and floor them as soon as possible.

Link: http://www.diamondbackbmx.com/items.asp?deptid=1&itemid=232

2007 Iron Horse Owner's Manuals

You say you don't want an Owner's Manual written in the Russian language?
Jonathan Urata @ Corporate and Harry @ Iron Horse are getting replacement manuals today, which will be distributed out to all affected locations.

Every bike sold must go out with an Owner's Manual, and it must be written in English. Never let a new bike buyer leave without one!

Marin Pioneer Trail and Bobcat Trail

If your shop has been having ANY issues with the rear wheels on these bikes, please call Pete Black.

Parts Inventory- What's Happening?

No one's asked, but I know the question is out there. The Small Parts Inventory has two effects on our business, one of them Inventory Management and the other Business Management.

Inventory Management-
We now know exactly what all of our stores have in stock for repair and upgrade parts. We did not know the details before as much of it has accumulated over the last few years under a miscellaneous SKU. Under that SKU, we only knew retail dollar value and an item count, but nothing else.
The Inventory has been reviewed, with most of the items assigned to get a specific SKU and price. The other items have been "Get Rid of It" priced. The items that get specific SKU's will go into our E3 replenishment program, and will facilitate the growth of our repair/upgrade business.

Business Management-
Let's use one item as an example, a Shimano LX (High-Normal) SGS Rear Derailleur. Sales of this item per location is an indicator of the quality of the associates and manager team. As more of an "indicator item" are sold, the overall volume of repair work goes up, and the range of customers expand. The indicator item, and sales of others similar will be used to determine "How" we are doing and "What"we should be changing.

From an in-store perspective, it can be very tough to see the big picture. Heck, it's tough from even knowing all of our stores like our Trainers do. But clearing out the old items and gathering critical new things will place us in a position to have the business, the vendors and the customers that will keep us in the place that will enrich us all.

And that is when we help the customer...

Diamondback Takes 'Voluntary Action' with Mission Bikes

DECEMBER 06, 2006 -- KENT, WA (BRAIN)--Diamondback has taken a "voluntary action" with nearly 100 of its Mission six-inch travel mountain bikes due to a potential flaw in the bike's top tube.

According to Diamondback marketing coordinator Trevor Knesal, the problem occurred when a customer rode a test bike off a loading dock. The result was a crinkled top tube.“This only occurred because of the tight tolerance the Mission is built with,” Knesal said. “The top tube is triple butted, so if someone were to sand the top of it too much—like the one confirmed frame—the center of the top tube would become very thin and would crinkle after an unknown number of drops.” Knesal wanted to stress that Diamondback took a “voluntary action” regarding this situation, and that this isn’t a recall. “It may seem like nit-picking, but there is a very big difference between a recall and what we’ve done with the Mission,” Knesal said. “A recall takes place when the CPSC [Consumer Product Safety Commission] deems a product unsafe. We have brought all Missions back in to replace their front triangles, the CPSC didn’t force us to.”

Knesal said there is a very good chance that what occurred was an isolated incident involving one frame. “But we didn’t want to take any chances with our customer’s safety nor the bike,” he added. Since Diamondback discovered the potential frame flaw so early, less than 100 were shipped, and less than 10 were sold at retail. “All who bought them are now riding loaner bikes we provided them and anxiously awaiting the return of their Missions in January,” Knesal said.