For the helmet thing that has cropped up again , and that Ive had a couple of PMs about I think I might as well give the company line and background - even though the photo shoot wasnt what wed really term a ride as such - but still yes the riders should have been in helmets .
(Photo shoot was ride a bit , stop , hang around , wait for sun , get hypothermia , sit in car , ride a bit , stop wait for sun , sit in car , run up hill , wait , get hypothermia a bit more , walk to top of hill , pose on hill , get colder , - etc etc )
There was various reasons why several athletes
were not wearing helmets - largely circumstancial - eg Spencer was on vacation did not have one , Michael Gohner only brought a TT lid ,
Sergio came over not realising we were riding just doing studio shots
etc - you might well say well thats no excuse and its probably not .
You have to realise we are not a specialised , a trek , a litespeed or
a Cervelo or Felt - we are an extremely small company , we do not have a marketing department ! , we have extremely limited resources , and I personally put togethor that photo shoot , with no help whatsoever since everyone else in the company was flat out ,and we didnt get it right - and the lack of helmets was just lack of organisation on my part .
We are a company of 4 employees , (and 3 sales consultants and a web designer and accountant) , growing incredibly quickly , the team
shoot was organised by myself only , trying to coordinate 12 riders to
turn up ,custom building 24 bikes , arranging flights , picking up ,
dropping off , etc etc and all the time whilst trying to keep a lid on
a business that has just gone through a phenominal growth spurt plus being father to an 18 month old (was in hindsight a very big task (above me) , and basically we had 1 day to do photos - some riders didnt realise we were riding and didnt bring helmets and others were not told they should have been obligatory (I even forgot my own helmet) . I can honestly say organising the whole thing was the most tiring thing I have ever done , (and if anyone can explain why athletes are incapable of doing washing up d be most grateful )
There were 4 uk pro roadies who chose not to wear helmets , as some
have said maybe thats a euro roadie thing , but again they turned up
without helmets .
So yes , I accept the criticism 100% , if we had a large and
efficient marketing department to organise these things so that every
rider knew exactly what was happening and to make sure they knew it
was obligatory to ride a helmet - if the weather had played ball so
we didnt get 2 days wasted , but the brutal facts are at this stage
of our business we dont have enough organisation and resources to be super efficient , and in hindsight we messed this one up a bit , and it would have been better to have riders in helmets . .
The problem is now - at this stage we only have these photos of some
of the new riders , so for the time being we have to use these, in due
course we will end up with an archive of photos and have a good
selection with helmets these photos wont be used so much, if at all .
It should also be noted there is also of course no legal or statutory
obligation in the UK for any of the riders to wear helmets , and no
laws were broken .
Many slowtwitchers probably dont realise we really are a tiny company , we have a big image , and we are going through big changes and
growing pains - we have 3 new staff starting on Monday to try to ease
the pressure and well get there in the end Im sure .
We have an extremely fast product that is custom specced , and custom built at great prices - by a group of guys who have come togethor through a love of creating developing , building , speccing , testing, and racing very fast bikes .We have always believed in the best way to develop a product is working with and supporting top riders , and been involved with the UKs , and now the worlds fastest athletes , and of course this is driving the demand for our product still further , but were having to learn a lot of things as we go along , and this is something well learn from and it wont happen again .
Hopefully this time next year we will have a marketing department to put togethor photoshoots and coordinate with riders to make sure it goes like clockwork .
Last edited by:
planetx: Jan 14, 07 7:13
