Yes! That's the most exasperating part of it. They had a clear market advantage, huge brand value, and all they had to do was treat customers with a modicum of respect.

Having grown up south of Rochester, NY, it brings to mind Kodak. They invented the digital camera in 1975. In 1975!

But instead of looking forward, they chose to cling to quarterly sales bonuses based on film - and in the process produce massive amounts of "acid rain" to eastern Canada (on behalf of Americans in general, and upstate New Yorkers in particular I'd like to offer a sincere apology to our esteemed Canadian neighbors.). Then, much to their shock, they got their asses handed to them. It pays to look up once in a while.

I'm aware that Racermate faced challenges outside of their control, and I'm sure there were good people working there, but their leadership displayed the vision and competence of a wingless bat.

I'm confused, I didn't think the Computrainer aspect of Racermate was available for sale, that it had been shut down and according to the comments in the home page article, already sold in some mysterious manner to an unknown party. Are you saying it actually is still available for sale and it's just a matter of raising the needed capital?

Even if it is still available, unfortunately a great deal of the brand equity and reputation has been squandered away with the long gradual rampdown, and eventual shutdown of Computrainer. The purchase terms would have to be pretty favorable for me to consider investing. My own outlay in my CT is modest, having bought a second hand unit for short money a while ago, but it would be nice to know it has a future nonetheless.

 
from:
http://www.djc.com/...l?platform=hootsuite April 4, 2017


2017Property near U Village sold; bike shop planned

The buyer was Element Investments LLC, which is associated with Rally Capital of Kirkland.

By BRIAN MILLER[/url]
Journal staff reporter
A small commercial building at 3016 N.E. Blakeley St. has sold for $3 million, according to King County records.
The seller was Blakeley Real Estate LLC, which acquired the property in 2011 for $1.65 million.
The buyer was Element Investments LLC, which is associated with Rally Capital of Kirkland. Rally Capital's managing director is Dennis Weibling, a former telecom executive associated with the McCaw family and Nextel Communications.
Chris Corr of Kidder Mathews represented the seller. KM's Rod Keefe and Jason Bloom represented the buyer.
The three-story warehouse-office building sits between Blakeley and the Burke-Gilman Trail, just northeast of University Village.
Constructed in 1966, it has 11,400 square feet. The land measures 7,200 square feet. The building is now vacant, but past tenants have included Bordner Construction, FloScan Instruments and RacerMate.
Plans filed with the city by Ryan Rhodes Designs indicate a new retail bike shop with a small addition. It will be the second location for Element Cycles.
Founded in 1981 as Sammamish River Cycle, Element Cycles changed its name in 2013 when it moved to its present location in downtown Redmond. The current ownership group, which includes Weibling, acquired the business in 2010.
Element general manager Lorraine Wright said the new Seattle flagship location should open by March of 2018.
West Corp Construction will be the general contractor.

So they basically get to live on Vashon Island for several more years. Thanks, Obama.

The property is right behind the University Shopping Center, where there' s a brewery and an Apple Store, and of course, UW is a couple of staircases away.

It's also on the Burke-Gilman Trail, so it should make some money now.

If anyone from the new ownership of RM is reading this; call me. Let's talk.

---

Richard Wharton, USAC L1 since 1997.
Technology, Application, Attention, Success
http://www.onlinebikecoach.com, http://www.cyclingcenterdallas.com
#whareagle, #leavewithnothingleft, #knowyournumbers, #numbersdontlie

Hello Livio Livius and All,

I have an old CompuTrainer ... no wires ...... PM me .... yours free ... currently bolted to a sheet of plywood.

I live in Escondido, CA.

---

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

Racermate never fully moved forward in making the unit accessible for various platforms despite having a device that did just that via the WiFi connection:

/this photo was from 2014. Photo came from the dcrainmaker site.

What other smart trainers did you try? A studio I went to up until I moved away uses computrainers and I definitely can appreciate them as being indestructible. I think that’s great for studios but for normal home use I think that’s overkill. Don’t get me wrong it’s great but the average home user doesn’t need that level of indestructible. I have a Tacx vortex smart because I wanted a smart trainer but have an old cycleops fluid 2 that still works fine. And with things like zwift cycling studios have a tough time keeping open IMO

Studio I was going to used the original kickrs. I was unimpressed. Calibration was always a bit off and usually 2 out of 10 trainers in a session didn't function. They upgraded to the newest Kickrs this year and these appear to be much better. Although one was out of action the last time I was there. They also have kickr snaps for overflow cases. I rode it once, found it to be very solidly built but the calibration wouldn't work. The coach told me that the snap is usually 30% off for them. I have friends who ride a snap at home and are happy with it, but it just may not be suitable for several different riders every day.

I own a Magnus and have had a lot of problems with it, both control wise and build wise. A couple of parts have broken and the firmware still has a ways to go.

Would go back to a CT in an instant. I don't think the CT is overkill for anyone.

I too am a CT fan. Mine is reliable/indestructible & accurate. Best is with Zwift or Trainer Road it never drops the signal as it is wired. Some find the one extra wire bad, but its only one extra wire that goes through a head unit. I like the head unit since you can easily adjust the interval on TR or Ergvideo by punching the + or - keys. I do recognize that the next great thing may not support CT, but thats a worry for later.

I bought one used and bought another used for parts when they went out of business. Total of $650.00 for both.

Their software was pretty bad while their cadence & HR setup was terrible. AFAIK all the third party apps support ANT+ for cadence/HR so its no issue for me.

I would argue it's overkill for most non-slowtwitcher or very serious athlete who really really is concerned that the watts are off a bit. Most people here are very in tune with if they're off by a watt or two. Other people who are just jumping on Zwift to get in their workout or race are not paying that much attention. I have a tacx vortex smart and have never had calibration issues with that. I think for a studio it makes sense. you want the most indestructible and accurate piece of equipment. But you pay a big price for that. I can't compare kickr and computrainer as I've only ever used computrainer. For me, it would have been overkill to spend that much money for a trainer.