Ladies and Gentlemen,
Start your anticipation meter. My trip to Vegas went very well for the NAHBS. The interest level seemed even higher than I could have imagined. Everyone who watched the slide show presentation seemed impressed that we had this growing list of builders that are ready for their own show. It was also apparent when I ran into Bill Rider ( wearing his NAHBS t- shirt from the first show), he commented on how many folks had asked him about the show just from looking at his shirt. The response from the countless folks I talked to was very overwhelming. All agreed that its about time something like this happened.
Now, onto the fun stuff. I met Dale Brown for the first time, such a nice guy. I was fortunate enough to be invited to lunch with him and his "crew". We sat in the spacious food court of the Venetian and talked "shop" for almost an hour. He seemed impressed with the presentation as did his staff. Cant wait to hang out with him again in March.
Got my pic taken with Magnus Backstedt ( spelling? ) the "big man" of the
TDF. I have to say this, he is one big guy. I am 6'2'' - 6'5'' depending on
which convenience store I am exiting and he was at least an inch taller than I
am ( but I have him by 75 pounds or so...more on that later). Very nice fellow
and I am not sure why he didn't have a crowd around him. He is a remarkable
rider and was so nice to chat with.
My next photo op was with Hour record holder Chris Boardman. Again, another
very nice person. No crowd there either...am I missing something? We talked
track and such for about 5 minutes and I had to go to a meeting.
Had several photo op's with many of the "eye candy marketing tools'' that
many of the big players utilize to get you in their booth. No faves stand out
yet..have to look at the pics again.
I think my favorite photo op was with the brothers Alberti. Stefano and
Eduardo run Stella Azzurra, a smaller component manufacturer from Italy and I was
fortunate enough to have my bike in their booth. They are the folks that
supplied me with some of the parts for the road test bike seen here (
http://www.frameforum.net/
Now for the biz part...
We had several companies commit to the show. We even drew interest from a certain "builder" whose initials are TR and is synonymous with off road bikes. The next batch of builders is as follows, wether or not a firm commitment was reached, this is the interest level.
My first visit was with a man who grew up in the biz, Richard Schwinn. Within 2 minutes, Richard committed Waterford to attend the show in March. I met with Pashley bikes of the UK. They still make their commuting bikes by hand and I hope they will be able to commit in the next week. I met with Terry Bill and Keith Noronha of Reynolds and found out that they still have a stash of 753...i really need to call them back on that. They commented that they would get back to me next week on as to how they can attend. Not a firm commitment, but an exciting one none-the-less as the new 953 is coming out. Met with John Castellano and he seemed very interested in showing off his gorgeous Ti frames. I expect a confirmation in the next few days. Mauricio Robedello has committed to displaying his stuff. "Mo" is breaking off on his own from Sycip, his employer for the last 6 years. The big news came from ABG. Litespeed and Merlin both agreed to come on board, mostly due to Tom Kellogg's involvement in the show. ( Thanks Tom!!!) For those who want to crucify me for allowing a "big company" in, allow me to explain why. Firstly, they do NOT sub out overseas. Secondly, they make EVERTHING in house, including their display for Interbike. They dig on the "handmade" factor and support our efforts. Nuff Said! Day one wrapped up and I was pleased as punch...however...walking and talking as much as I did took its toll. I crashed in my room and tried to regain strength in my legs and voice for day 2.
Day 2. Started off well. Had a meeting with Paolo Erzogovesi, the Managing Director from Columbus. Kirk Pacenti was present as well. Columbus had somehow mixed our dates up with the Taipei show and thought they couldn't attend, but in the end, it was all worked out and Columbus will be at the show. Paolo seemed so "moved" with my slide show presentation, I thought he was going to have tears of joy. He then walked 50 or so steps with me to the Stella booth and looked over my frame and commented how he truly loves how steel is beautiful and gives a great ride quality. ( I might have said something to the effect of you might get a nice Christmas present from me...) I might have to keep my mouth shut when someone compliments me and my work... I met Gilles Berthoud from France. He is another very nice guy and said due to his schedule, he might not be able to attend in person, but he wanted me to talk to his US distributor ( Euro Asia Imports) about attending. I made my way over and chatted with my old friend Anthony from EAI. I had said what Gilles had wanted and then I mentioned that since Nagasawa doesn't "travel" for shows that they should still display his beautiful frames as well as Gilles. I didn't get a firm commitment on this, but I should know on Monday or Tuesday.
Another semi firm commitment was from Vicious Cycles of NY.Carl will let me know Monday or Tuesday. Same with Don Ferris...he will get with me this week as well.
That's a day 2 wrap. back to the room for rest.
Day 3. Met Erik Noren in the QBP booth. Erik builds Peacock Groove frames and said "the minute I get home, I am writing out the check". I think that means "yes"... Followed up with Ventana and chatted with Sherwood Gibson and it appears I will have an answer from them this week as well.
On the way to visit with Matt Bracken from Independent Fabrication, I saw the Japan Bicycle Promotion Institute booth. I stopped and chatted with Hidetomo Okoshi, the manager of overseas development. I showed him the presentation as well, and I swore he was so excited looking at some of the slides I thought he was going to burst. Jaw dropping, looking at the slide, looking at me then back to the slide as a "did i just see that?" type of reaction. He and I chatted for about 10 minutes after that about having some of the NJS builders come over because they belong with us as well because they do things the "old fashioned way" and he totally agreed to do what he could to get them to sign up for the show. His enthusiasm for our show totally obvious. I think we can get some of the Japan builders here, if Hidetomo has anything to do with it.
So, I met with Matt and Shawn from IF. Showed them the presentation and on at least 3 occasions the same words were exchanged between the two...'Man, Baylis is so over the TOP" and then when they saw the Columbine slide that closes the show out both their jaws dropped. It was more a stunned silence...they looked at each other and just shook their heads in awe.
Schwag report
Matt and Shawn hooked me up with some very nice schwag in the form of a t shirt ( its only an XL, so I need to get my fatass back on a bike so I can wear it) and a pint glass ( which will get used this afternoon....) THANKS! Another Pint glass from Vicious of NY, Gracias! Sycip must have heard about my legendary cooking skills and gave me a kitchen apron that says "Spicy", thanks Jeremy! Teddy at Gu hooked me up with h20 bottles, hats, socks and some gu. Thanks! About 10 musettes from LG...( gotta love em) thanks Nathan at Zipp gave up some sweet Zipp hats! Thanks Big Jonny from drunkcyclist.com gave up a coveted pair of DC socks, but was unfortunately all out of the "livewrong" bracelets. Gracias! Curtis from Retrotec gave me a huge "break" on a XXL shirt, Thanks!
That's all I can think of at this point, if I left something out, I will follow it up when my fingers arent bleeding from typing this much.
Bottom line...this show is taking off like a rocket, so jump on or get the heck away from the launching pad cause you might feel the burn as we leave!
DW