Re: [CR]Colnago/Masi Comparison

(Example: Framebuilding)

To: jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 14:05:20 -0500
Subject: Re: [CR]Colnago/Masi Comparison
From: "Richard M Sachs" <richardsachs@juno.com>
cc: Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca
cc: Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca

jerr-issimo that is some serious extrapolating to that metaphorical exponential end you got goin' on!! i wasn't even thinking about the motives of the current day owners of "brands" and/or producers of these goods. i thought we were discussing how folks from "then" who were once, in your word, "artistes" somehow traded their motivation for "business". you mentioned colnago. somehow his current state of things is equal to an enron situation? c'mon! he's lucky to have created a business model in which he can remain a part of his love - the sport. you expect him to stand next to a bench like he did in the 60s? he made the same choices all builders made in that era. his practices allowed him to prosper. many others tried it and were less successful. e-RICHIE chester, ct

<jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> writes: Well, I'd don't believe the business of business is business. Having myself been an officer of a $ billion company, I believe nothing bankrupts a company faster than a management which places profit first and only . Far too many US companies are now run by people like this, Ivy League MBA types, who edlessly analyze "THE FINANCIALS" but who are totally ignorant of the goods and services which the company is supposed to provide. Furthermore they are totally conviced that providing any real goods or service is irrelevant. The criminals Andy Fastow and Jeff Skilling at Enron are the perfect examples.

When these sorts of people take over a company, it rapidly stops providing quality goods and services. And since even American consumers are, in the end, not total idiots, the company eventually loses its customers and ceases to make a profit as well. This has happened in the bike business as well as many others. I don't think Ernesto Colnago has ever had this kind of disregard for the product. One of the worst examples I've seen in the bike industry was in the early 90's, when Schwinn, several owners after the Schwinn family lost control, started slapping the Paramount name not only on lower end Taiwan built bikes, but on cheap bike computers and helmets and God knows what else. Perhaps Richard Schwinn at the Cirque banquet will share his thoughts about what has happened to his family's former business in the last decade and a half. I imagine his is pretty unhappy with much of it.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Houston, TX