I had a long phone conversation with Felt Bicycles President Bill Duehring when I wrote the review on my website about the Felt S32.
During the interview I asked Bill the usual technical questions. But Bill said something that shined about the usual conversation about bike specificatios and design:
"The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Duehring told me his father, who was also in the bike business, said that. I pondered that since the interview. I compare that with two other memorable quotes:
"We each create our own reality" Arthur C. Clarke, author "2001: A Space Odyessy" and inventor of the communications satelite.
-and-
"In racing, you make your own luck- I prefer to stack the odds in my favor." Bernard Hinault, 5 time Tour de France winner.
Recently I was building another one of Bill's bikes and was impressed by the attention to detail in the component spec. Each little detail was a pleasant surprise: The cranks were about the right size for the size of the frame, reducing the chances of us having to incur the cost of changing them. The saddle was correct for the bike. The gearing was correct for the type of customer who would be interested in this bike. The cogset was not a cheap knock-off, neither was the bottom bracket. Customers don't see these things, they could have cut corners.
The day before I was building a bike from another manufacturer (NOT Felt) and frankly, I just said, "pull everything off and start over- nothing is right on this bike with component spec....
So, what Duehring said appears to not only be working. He appears to practice it.
That quote has stuck in my head ever since. "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
During the interview I asked Bill the usual technical questions. But Bill said something that shined about the usual conversation about bike specificatios and design:
"The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Duehring told me his father, who was also in the bike business, said that. I pondered that since the interview. I compare that with two other memorable quotes:
"We each create our own reality" Arthur C. Clarke, author "2001: A Space Odyessy" and inventor of the communications satelite.
-and-
"In racing, you make your own luck- I prefer to stack the odds in my favor." Bernard Hinault, 5 time Tour de France winner.
Recently I was building another one of Bill's bikes and was impressed by the attention to detail in the component spec. Each little detail was a pleasant surprise: The cranks were about the right size for the size of the frame, reducing the chances of us having to incur the cost of changing them. The saddle was correct for the bike. The gearing was correct for the type of customer who would be interested in this bike. The cogset was not a cheap knock-off, neither was the bottom bracket. Customers don't see these things, they could have cut corners.
The day before I was building a bike from another manufacturer (NOT Felt) and frankly, I just said, "pull everything off and start over- nothing is right on this bike with component spec....
So, what Duehring said appears to not only be working. He appears to practice it.
That quote has stuck in my head ever since. "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com