October 14/97 22:41 pm - Editor's message, B.C./Ontario Results, World Rankings, Industry News

Posted by Editor on 10/14/97
 

From the Editor   You have probably noticed some of the juvenile postings that have been made on the Forum (and that we have had to go in and remove). We do not appreciate the extra work that this causes, and we will NOT tolerate slanderous or offensive postings. This Forum has run for over a year with absolutely no problems, and we do not want to shut down what is a valuable service to many readers. We do not want to limit your ability to comment on cycling politics, racing rules, urban transportation problems, or a host of other controversial issues. However, personal attacks MUST STOP...NOW.  You have been warned, and this is your only warning.  Rob Jones Editor  P.S. For those few responsible - you may not be aware of this, but with a bit of work we could go through the server logs and determine who you are. How would you like for everyone to know who was responsible for shutting down the Forum?   UCI World Road Rankings (after Worlds)  Women  1 KUPFERNAGEL, Hanka GER 425 points 2 CAPPELLOTTO, Alessandra ITA 333 3 ZABIROVA, Zoulfia RUS 257 4 POLIKEVICIUTE, Jolanda LTU 246 5 HEEB, Barbara SUI 238 6 MARSAL, Catherine FRA 211 7 LONGO-CIPRELLI, Jeannie FRA 209 8 LUPERINI, Fabiana ITA 175 9 TADICH, Elisabeth AUS 160 10 JACKSON, Linda CAN 158  50 LANGTON, Kimberly CAN 21 60 SAMPLONIUS, Anne CAN 13 108 BUSSIERES, L. CAN 2  Men to follow tomorrow.   Prince George Cycling Club Fall Challenge Series (B.C.) - race #2 of 4 Held at the Otway Nordic Center Sunday Oct 12th (report by John Tolkamp)  Temperatures near zero and snow greeted riders this week as remnants of the light flurries all week were still evident in the shaded areas. Course conditions lead to slower times but this did not stop Jeremy Cook from posting an extremely fast time as he bettered all riders by more than 3 minutes! Jeremy is an extremely strong rider as witnessed by his 1st place in the Senior Men‚s expert race at the Cheakumus challenge in Whistler a few weeks ago, with a time good enough to have placed him 11th in the pro/elite category.   The third race will be held next week, assuming the cross-country skiers aren‚t already on the trails.....  Results:  Senior Expert Men Jeremy Cook 34:27 John Tolkamp (Olympia/Giant) 37:50 Luc St. Denis (Olympia/Trek) 39:19 Cam Grose (Olympia) 40:04 Kevin Klymchuk 40:52 Nathan Blok (Olympia) 43:17  Senior Sport Men Merle Tutte (UltraSport) 43:16 Darren Masse 44:29 Ken Myers 45:33 Les McCarthy 45:49 Charles Morlund (UltraSport) 46:05 Paul Gruner 53:36 Rob Jamieson (McBike) 54:43 Matt Brochu DNF Dave Erwin DNF  Cadet Men Adam Cook (Olympia) 39:20 Sean Dylke 42:02 Tyler Doerksen 43:56 Carl Blouw 55:27  Junior Men Trevor Hawkins 41:33 Gareth Dyer 43:57 Trevor Doerksen 48:35 Mitchell Elliot 50:41  PeeWee/Minime/Women Marina Lipinski 50:51 Shelly Escobar 51:53 Jordan Giesbrecht 51:54   Results of South Humber Park Cyclo Cross (Ontario) - Monday 13th October, 1997  Organized by Chuck Bonnaffon Results submitted by Valerie and Keith Davidge  Senior Men  1. Christian Hansen Silent Sports 2. Andrew Croutch Ind. 3. Peter Morse Chain Reaction 4. Brent Arthurs Woodbridge 5. Jeff Hansen Silent Sports 6. Warren Davies Woodstock @ 1 lap 7. James Rivet Racer Sportif 8. Heath Cockburn Optiped 9. Neil Ross Ind. 10. Matt Hansen Espoirt de Laval 11. Jack Sochacki Polonus @ 2 laps 12. Ray Keirstead Earl Cycle 13. Dean Peddle Ziggys 14. Krys Hines Jet Fuel 15. Kris Tobias Ind. 16. Don Hunter Mississauga CC @ 3 laps 17. Jason Castelli Ind. 18. Sam Monardo Optiped 19. Ben Ayson Mississauga CC @ 4 laps  Veteran  1. David Dermot Ind. 2. Scott Buschlen Ind. 3. Rob Cheskey Hamilton CC @ 1 lap 4. Shawn Kehoe Dougs Bike 5. Leighton Davies Woodstock 6. Pierre Perrin Schwinn @ 2 laps 7. Tedd Suddon Ind. 8. Stephen Kotlowski Ind. 9. David Pinder Ind. @ 3 laps  Women  1. Lisa McGilvray Silent Sports 2. Lisa Hussey Chain Reaction 3. Julia Bradley Lakeshore 4. Anne Marie Hansen Ind.  Junior Men  1. Oscar Salvenary Ind. 2. Colin Campbell Ind. 3. Brian Turner Ind.   Check out the Junior Results - what does it tell you about club life in Ontario???  It was a beautiful day, a well organized event, well set out course. Absolutely terrific way to spend Thanksgiving Monday - except for the smell from the sewage lagoons!!   Coffrin Group Newsletter - RockShox, GT Stumble Bicycle Industry News & Analysis - October 14, 1997  ROCKSHOX PREDICTS DOWNTURN. RockShox of San Jose, CA announced last week that it expects sales for the remaining two quarters of their fiscal year to be below last year‚s levels. „This is primarily because of reduced volume from our OEM customers, reflecting soft demand for mountain bikes in the domestic IBD channel," said Steve Simons, Chairman and President of RockShox.  Coffrin Group Analysis. Suspension bicycles are continuing to grow in popularity. Most of the growth in suspension bicycle sales is occurring at the lower end of the price spectrum. RockShox, with its USA production, has few low-priced offerings.  It appears to even the casual observer that Answer and other fork makers have gained OEM sales at RockShox‚s expense in even the high-end portion of the USA market. RockShox‚s image as the premier builder of high performance shocks is under attack. RockShox‚s OEM sales to bicycle manufacturers have accounted for about two thirds of their revenues.  RockShox recently begun marketing its bicycle disc brake. RockShox does not have the advantage of being first to market with this new product. Several other manufacturers already sell disc brakes.  RockShox‚s future will depend on its ability to develop new products and then market them in a manner that will allow good margins. Much of RockShox‚s early success came from its image as an innovator in suspension technology. It will be difficult to duplicate that success or expand on it in this competitive market.  Today RockShox stock was trading at around $11.00, compared to a 52 week low was $10.43. RochShox‚s results from their past three fiscal years with quarters ended March 31 were:  RockShox Results 1997 1996 1995 .......................................... Revenues ($Mil) 106.2 83.5 52.2 Net Profit ($Mil) 6.7 5.3 2.4 Net Profit (%) 6.3 6.4 4.6   GT PROFITS DOWN. GT Bicycles announced that it expects sales of approximately US$56.2 million, and net income in the range of $600,000 to $800,000 for their third quarter ended September 30, 1997. This would compare with net income of $3.6 million on sales of $52.4 million for the third quarter of 1996, which included non-recurring after tax income of $1.6 million.  "During the third quarter we saw a continuation of the challenging market environment that existed in the first half of the year," commented Mike Haynes, President and CEO of GT Bicycles.  Coffrin Group Analysis. GT has excelled at building market share by leveraging a large and consistent commitment to BMX. The foundation of their growth strategy is now under attack. GT now faces heavy competition in the BMX arena from nearly every major bicycle brand, including new entrants like Specialized, RideHard (from Brunswick/Roadmaster), and Trek.  It is interesting to note that GT has consistently pursued a multi-brand strategy for BMX (Powerlite, Robinson, Dyno, GT brands), with heavy budgets for race team sponsorships. GT developed this multi-brand strategy long before Trek pursued this strategy in the adult market (Fisher, Klein, LeMond, Bontrager, Trek).  GT stock has been trading for some time with a low price to earnings ratio (P/E) of under 10. Today GT stock was trading in the $7 + range, near its 52 week low if $7.00. Historical results for the company have been:  GT Results 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 ............................................................. Revenues ($Mil) 208.4 168.9 145.7 123.7 93.0 Net Profit ($Mil) 11.6 -0.3 0.9 3.0 3.1 Net Profit (%) 5.6 -0.2 0.6 2.4 3.3   IDEAL BIKE SUFFERS FIRE. Ideal Bike Corporation, in the Taichung area of Taiwan, has suffered significant fire damage at its modern factory. Early reports this week from a USA customer are that the factory is a total loss. Early information is that the fire started during the night and that there was no loss of life.  Coffrin Group Analysis. Ideal started bicycle production in 1980 and the company has many USA customers. Ideal has produced bicycles for Trek, Fisher, Redline, Jamis, Diamond Back USA, Fuji America, and Jamis. Our expectations are that other Taiwanese bicycle producers will quickly cooperate with Ideal to minimize the impact on Ideal‚s customers. We wish Ideal a swift recovery from its difficulties.   This was too close to our hearts to merely place in the Classifieds!  Stolen bike wanted back. If you see someone riding a 14 inch black-to-neon green fade Klein Rascal, hurt them bad. It belongs to a friend of mine who had it ripped off in St. Catharines a few weeks ago. Bad Karma to all thieves!