FM015 is NOT made by Carbotec. Just trust me on this one.

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I do agree that Pez needs to re-visit their editorial policies. Peztech's reviews of bikes and equipment are useful, if a bit positive, with detailed photographs and an excellent description of what the product does and why it is technically different. But more recent sponsored 'reviews' from a certain NY shop are merely garbage. The latest release was clearly another step in that direction. I'd suggest that Pez broadens its journalistic reach, as I'm there are plenty of people on this site with nothing better to do than write about cycling, who might be glad to do a small amount of irregular 'work' on an unpaid basis.

While prendrefeu is mostly right about market sizes, nothing would ever happen if people did not challenge the large brands out there today, and perhaps there is a segment out there looking for these bikes, so one has to hand it to Josh for getting stuck in and taking some steps which few of us would manage.

I think the market will quickly decide if Broken Bones is the right direction. But in my view Josh should think a bit about the basic values of the company. I would recommend lay some foundations stones like honesty, respect and transparency, which will keep things on the right track, before deciding whether the values should be about being cool edgy and exciting, being professional, making money, or including lots of people.

It's an interesting point about the market research and not appealing to most riders. Obviously from the name you guys got that i am not trying to appeal to most riders. Not trying to appeal to 10% of riders, not trying to appeal to 1% of riders. The industry sells 20 million dollars worth of bikes a year. The big guys have 99.9% of that all taken care of. They don't need my help. But if i can tap into that .1% then i can pay down my credit cards and move the business out of the garage. My theory is that to really appeal to that .1%, I have to really NOT appeal to the other 99.9% Based on the comments here, it looks like i've successfully done that.

Here's the thing about me. I've never done anything in my life for any reason other than i thought it would be fun. I spent 20 years trying to get a pro license because i thought it would be fun to race in Philadelphia. I wasn't very good which is why i got into all the coaching and sports psychology. I needed to learn that stuff so i could even come close to competing with the big guys. But still no one would give me a pro contract so i finally had to start my own team. I spent 6 years building what would become the Wonderful Pistachios Pro team all so i could race Philly. After the race i hung up the bike. I had more fun that day than i could have even imagined.

Then this opportunity to create a bike brand came along. Looking at the extremely rigid design elements of the major manufacturers i thought it would be fun to create a company that was as different from that as i could possibly imagine. Then i thought it would be really fun to give it an outlandish name that people will love or hate but no matter what would illicit a reaction. I got to work with a bunch of different artists, visit Hong Kong, test the bike with the team. Fun, fun and more fun. Tomorrow i head to Vegas. We're going to have this massive tricked out Broken Bones van parked right up front. i've got models, musicians, DJs, face painters. Fun for me and all my friends that will be hanging out. If it hits then I'll have a lot of work to do to build the brand into something real. If it doesn't hit i'm going to have a great time for three days and i'll go back to LA retire from the industry for good and take on full time Daddy duty to my two kids and I'll never look back and i sure as hell won't regret giving this a shot.

Throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks is not a good business model, particularly when everything you are throwing feels cheap and trashy. This all wreaks of WWF rather than cycling. I feel like you're missing the difference between entertainment and sport.

Josh - when a lot of your potential clients are offering some sound advice, it may be a good idea to listen to it.

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Exp001

I agree with Prend on this one... and my take is this...

It's fine to be a niche brand - and I think that there is even a hell of a lot of room in the market for them. As much as people here love or hate Rapha, they have been extremely successful at taking a small brand, knowing their market very very well, and attacking it thus being incredibly successful on a business level. On the other hand, I think a small/new brand in this industry trying to hit the mass market is a business plan for a disaster (unless that new brand has limitless pockets/investors). Damn, do your homework! In the process of building my brand, I have spent (and still do) just as many hours staring at Hoovers, promostyl, bicycle retailer, etc. as I do actually designing. It takes a lot longer to get off the ground, but it's a framework that is actually grounded and sustainable and not some flimsy-assed party bus foundation. A lot of people here are offering a ton of great advise that would normally take a lot of hours and/or money to accrue.

That niche that you are trying to hit does NOT want models, musicians, face painters, DJ's, etc. all in front of a van parked illegally in front of a convention center. Well, ok... maybe the models... My point is that you are taking a WWF model (as someone has appropriately mentioned previously) and applying it to a market that is just about the absolute opposite. I know rock racing had it's own set of internal issues which helped lead to its demise, but don't you think that their demise had just a little bit to do with exactly what you are trying to do?

And I am personally sick of all this rebranding shit! The market is saturated with rebranded bikes and "custom" apparel lines all putting out basically the same crap with a different paint job / graphics.

OK, I feel better now...

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It didn't quite take a couple hours for the editorial policy to get reviewed

And I agree that the sponsors writing their own stuff is wrong, but at least Pez clearly labels those...

At least we still don't post product announcements etc, or "pro bike" reviews that clutter so much of the net... It isn't perfect but...

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

Many magazines have "advertorials", which are paid for by sponsors (a company, a country, a province, or whatever), and labeled as such. Everyone reading them should understand they are produced by the sponsor, and can be interpreted accordingly. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. People look at company websites and literature, which are produced by the company selling products and services. When the sponsorship is not made clear however, then it's a different matter.

I just hope that the daily distractions are chosen properly, and don't have to pay (so to speak) the owner or editors in order to appear.

The best thing by far on PEZ are the daily distractions.

The Broken Bones Bicycle Company (BBBC) Van was prominent at InterBike, lodged right in front with an odd arrangement of circus about it. Comments from vendors that I met with throughout the three days usually encompassed the phrase "WTF?" but I did not mention anything more about BBBC as everything that had to be said has been said I suppose and I was meeting with them for business purposes. Small chatter opens things up though.

It was interesting to note however that the same frames atop and around the BBBC Van were also on display a few booths away in the Taiwan and Chinese vendor areas where some smaller mfgs were showing off their open mould frames.

Long after the show closed on Friday while the Teamsters were immediately rolling up the carpets and I was chatting it up with Saris/Polar, the BBBC Van awkwardly moved through tight spaces forcing different vendors to move their goods out of the way or else they would get damaged. Curse words were a plenty, especially as the van's engine filled the interior space with the fine stench of gasoline and carbon monoxide.

That's really all there is to report about BBBC.

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Exp001

You mean to say that Interbike wasn't invaded by juggalos looking for new road bikes from BBBC? Color me disappointed...

sent by tapatalk because my computer is a paperweight

Wrong

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Saw it at Interbike and all I can say is that it is absolutely the worst most pedestrian aesthetic I've ever seen on a bike. It's obvious that this guy is out of touch with the market.

lol Juggalo bikes. should start selling these at Hot Topics. He will soon find out that he is hard pressed to get anyone to want to pay anything for such heinous nonsense. People in the 909 don't ride road bikes.

Now you've gone too far. Where do you think Rock Racing sold all of their surplus kits?