I don't know SEO, but I'm pretty sure the phrase "here are photos of my hot wife posing in bathing suits" it's pretty effective at generating internet traffic.

His checkered past is pretty much Red for me....
Always all talk and no walk. Salesman.
Ever was, always will be.

He's still lying and/or deceiving. Here's one example from the latest article:


Then he closes with:


He's trying to market himself as someone who is bucking the trend. As always, he's coming up with some new marketing approach. BS. There is no shift or change with respect to bike (or any other product) marketing. Same as it ever was. (He proves it by pointing to his own past and by being able to come up with only three "impartial" reviewers.)

I don't dislike Tom or mean that as a criticism of him as a person. He's a marketer. Nothing wrong with that. But drop the new "I've seen the light" shtick.

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________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Can you imagine what kind of review the next vendor/product will get. Just to prove the point they will/don't have a chance. Maybe other reviewers will feel the need as well - just to prove their cred.

It will be interesting.

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Dan Kennison

facebook: @triPremierBike
http://www.PremierBike.com
http://www.PositionOneSports.com

Tom is not well regarded in and around Detroit.
Just google some of the complaints against him when he ran his bike shop.
Personally I wanted to kick the s$&t out of him.
Colorful personality is being to nice. He is a con artist at best - thief/criminal at worst.
I wouldn't trust anything he says or does.

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"There may be men that can beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it." Steve Prefontane

+1

here's a little perspective. then you can give me your perspective.

i started doing business with tom's shop in the early 90s. he was one of my earlier retailers after i started quintana roo. it occurs to me, if memory serves, that the shop mike wood ran in battle creek and then tom's shop in ann arbor were the west and east michigan tri shops back in the old days (though i sold wetsuits to gazelle sports and there were a few others).

he was VERY highly regarded in the metro-detroit area (maybe you don't know this because maybe you weren't around then). not only was he regarded in ann arbor, people used to drive clear past 10 good shops in 4 states to get to him so that he could fit them to their tri bikes.

tom's shop went out 7 years ago. in a ball of flames. it was ugly, and it probably took your deposit money down with it and that's why you're still very butt-sore. i get that. would i have taken consumer money down with the ship? i hope i wouldn't.

but, for the perspective part of this, i double damn promise you that i've been hit by people closing their doors way, way worse than you got hit by tom. we have people doing business today in triathlon who've gone through a reorg or a chapter 7 and took my money with them. what i know in these cases is:

1. they likely made me a nice return on my money before they... didn't.
2. they likely got hurt way more than i got hurt when they closed their doors. they gave me a cold. they caught pneumonia.

i know the way consumers think. that it somehow doesn't count when somebody stiffs me for $6,000 or $12,000 because it's the cost of doing business. no. it's not the cost of doing business. it's getting stiffed. it's losing money. do i get mad? sometimes. depends on the circumstances.

what you need to realize, whether or not you're willing to admit this to yourself, is that money is money, consumer or not, and you and i WILL approach a bad occasion the same way: we had money and now we don't have that money. the only difference between you and me is in how we personally process it.

tom has had his 7 years in the wilderness. he has had a pretty public journey of business and personal loss. tom getting your trust back is tom's gap to close. i'm not tom's defender. i'm just saying, in general, there ought to be some sort of statute of limitations to the ass-chafings such as the one you went through.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It's funny you say that people would drive by 10 good shops to have Tom fit them on a bike... I drove over from the west side of the state a couple of months back, passing quite a few shops to buy my new P2. I had a great time working with Tom and could have spent the entire day there talking about triathlon, cycling, etc. When all was said and done I got the bike I wanted at a good price, and a fit I'm comfortable with. The only negative was that on my way home, about an hour from the shop, I was admiring my bike (it was inside my minivan) and noticed there was a chip in the topcoat on the fork (you can see black). I called Tom and Scott right away and they offered to split the cost of a new fork. It's not really in my budget so I'll go the nail polish route but as someone who spent years working retail I can understand why they wouldn't be able to offer a replacement fork. They don't know me and have no idea that I'm telling the truth when I say the bike was carried by hand from the shop to my car, gently placed in the back (standing up) and driven away. With that being said, I'd still go back and do business with Scott and Tom and have recommended a friend go there for a fit as he's having the same problems I did on this side of the state.

Hahahahaha, wow.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Maybe I missed it here, and very well could have, but has there been any expression on Tom's part: regret, apologies, etc for the multiple people who never saw their money again?

I'm all for second chances, truly, but if there was no acknowledgement at least if I was one of the burned ones I'd have a bit of contempt for a Demerly re-entry to such a venue as this. I'd also bet that some who lost their money were introduced to him here and likely did business with him due to Slow twitch.

He seems like a nice guy via internet but you might be underestimating some's ability to forgive and forget if the approach is silence on Tom's part re the past financial troubles since they affected others.

"Maybe I missed it here, and very well could have, but has there been any expression on Tom's part: regret, apologies, etc for the multiple people who never saw their money again?"

yeah. a bunch. it's been 7 years. let it go. your life's too short.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I assure you I'm not stressing over it and I never "had it" to need to let go and I'm well aware of mortality and the value of opportunity of each day.

Your apologistic nature at times is confusing and inconsistent. Very strange for someone of your experience and intelligence.

my apologistic nature? if you understand the meaning of that word, you're saying that i'm arguing on behalf of a belief system. i believe in redemption. you're right about that. i believe in acknowledging the sin, and i believe in eventual forgiveness and redemption.

i also agree with you that forgiveness shouldn't be granted where it isn't sought. in fact it's presumptuous to offer forgiveness to someone not seeking it and who doesn't think he's done anything for which forgiveness is required.

but i don't think that applies to tom. tom's financial meltdown was pretty complete in 2009 from an outsider looking in. i would guess it pretty devastating. i heard a lot of remorse. maybe you didn't hear it in precisely the way you felt you needed. okay. i did.

if you think my belief in redemption is "inconsistent" that's your view. i think i'm pretty consistent in redemption for those who want it and who repudiate the past behavior or regrets the pain past bad acts caused others. i think my "experience and intelligence" is in line with this approach.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

For seven years I've thought about what my public response to losing Bikesport and the loses others suffered should be.

Here it is:

It was my fault and I apologize to those who suffered their own loss when Bikesport closed. I am sorry.


I think ownership and apologies are important, and I also acknowledge they have little intrinsic value. They are, at best, a point to start over. I started over seven years ago.


Seven years of introspection and work mean I could write a book, literally, about the experience of starting a business, growing it, losing it, then clawing back to some measure of success in the exact same industry, in the same place. It is a remarkable experience (understatement). Especially in Detroit.

This forum isn't the place for that. The book is.

I write in several industries: Triathlon and cycling, defense and aerospace, pets and cat ownership. I'm published in all three. Each of the outlets I write for tell me, "You are a good/pretty good/excellent/gifted/natural/ writer" for whatever that is worth. My best editors tell me I "need work". I seek those editors out. Because they help me learn. I've already had the incredible fortune of learning from the very best in the world. The guy who stood over me in high school, taught me to write a headline once wrote a headline that said, "McCartney Dead, New Evidence Brought to Light". It started the rumor of Paul McCartney being dead. He also effectively founded cable TV in the United States. His name is Russ Gibb, and he was my homeroom and media teacher in high school. He still lives here in Dearborn.


I do know I can write a headline that trends and generates traffic. Numbers show that. This post being here proves it.

I did not set out to willfully cause a business loss seven or eight years ago with Bikesport, nor did I willfully include others in the loss. And I am sorry. That doesn't diminish the loss. Dan Empfield has done a good job of framing the experience in this thread.

What is left to be said? You guys decide.

I'm moving forward with the business I've helped start and continue to help run and develop new projects like writing for Dan here on the Slowtwitch.com front page if Dan will have me.

To a degree I'm glad my name still attracts some sense of excitement, rancor, interest. I guess that's good. A few people have said, "There is no such thing as bad publicity" although I may tend to temper that somewhat.

I doubt any one post in any one source will resolve or absolve any number of mistakes on my part. As it should be. Because- one thing I have absolutely resolved about my experiences in this industry is to learn from them, own them and make better decisions and do better work every day going forward.

So that is what I am doing.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Big respect for writing this - sincerely. Don't underestimate what you wrote, it takes guts. Thank you.

Says the guy who wants to bring him back and prop him up. Maybe take your own advice and let it go.

You know how this type of situation is resolved? A good person makes it right.

When I first went into business the hardest lesson I had to learn was how to loose money. Let me tell you it was difficult and took me a while to figure it out but I did. I learned how to loose money and move on. There are still a few of those losses that make you feel like some one still has a knife back no matter what you do.

Like the friends that you knew before you were both in business and who pull the plug on their business with no warning and owe you a helluva lot of cash. Or like the bike store owner who takes your cash for the bike he is supposed to deliver the following week and surprise. Closes the doors! We all know both of these situations could have been handled a different manner.

You see what still sticks me with both of these is that they each knew what was going in their situations and instead of trying not to screw someone over they took the opportunity to deliberately try to screw someone. I just cant seem to get over that.

So in my book. Anything that comes out of Tom Demerly's mouth or off his pen is just a bunch of unbelievable crap not worthy of my time.

Once a Liar always a Liar!

Agreed. Though, for myself, I've come around to Dan's way of thinking on this one, at least somewhat.

By all accounts, Tom's spent his 40 years in the desert, and he's back in the bike shop business. He's writing more articles, reviewing bikes, etc. Fine - a bunch of what he wrote was fun to read. I hope that he'll help other new triathletes as he did me, that things will turn out better, that there won't be more lost money and trust.

But I still shop elsewhere.

True, and there was a time I did write here. As Slowman alluded to, I eventually ran out of time in the week to make it fit, and from a prioritization standpoint it became tough. I wish I had more hours in the day, otherwise I would.

But, I still read here numerous times a day, as well as post quite a bit in the forums when/where I can be of help.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com

Yes, all for letting lost money go and such. But would you sink more money into it?
Anyway, trust and credibility are important in journalism and in business, and this is the business card you will be wearing.

People in much higher positions had to quit their jobs and/or find a different way of making a living (at least temporarily) after they made a grave 'mistake' or failed in their profession. Most of them got a fresh start and got fresh chances to prove themselves. And mostly lead a happier life now.

I wished Mr. Demerly would have started fresh outside the Triathlon/cycling/multisport world.
With a different way of earning a living, in a different world without that heavy business card.
He certainly appears to be capable of that.
I understand the love for the sport, but there are other ways to stay involved.

Having been in that situation, I am really surprised that he didn't take that chance.

Shooot! I'm returning my tri rig breaks, my flo wheels, ahhhhh, my kask helmet, my carbon pedals, ahhhhh, my carbon bars, my adamo seat...ahhhh...everything....the world is a lie!

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"It's Simple, if it jiggles, it's fat" Shwarzenegger

i'm thinking lifetime ban

THIS is how you write:

http://trstriathlon.com/throwing-bricks-tom-demerlys-confession-says-endurance-press/

Wow, that was excellent. I have nothing against Tom at all as I never bought anything based on what he said.
I would hire this writer in a heartbeat.