Welcome to Pond Beaver 2021: Pinkbike's Virtual Trade Show is Back
Well, I was hoping I wouldn't have to write this one. Despite bike media saltiness about trade shows, we love heading down to the annual Sea Otter trade show in Monterey, California. Well, most of us anyway, I'll let you guess which of the Mikes complains every time. But for a second year in a row, the event isn't happening for obvious reasons.
Look at us, so full of naive hope and joy.
The tents are still in storage...
Fingers crossed for 2022, but in the meantime, there's still a bunch of new stuff coming out. So through the magic of the internet and the postal service, we're putting on another virtual trade show: Pond Beaver 2021.
We'll be taking a look at all the new tech and doing our usual show coverage—first looks, randoms, videos, etc., but we'll be doing it from the comfort and safety of home. In order to recreate the experience as accurately as possible, I'm going to make sure I've got a sunburn, a hangover, and dust in my eyes at all times.
Most importantly, we'll be doing another Pets of Pond Beaver.
Mike Kazimer is an expert in Zoom, Slack, FaceTime, Hangouts, Messenger, Skype, Teams, and GoToMeeting. Ugh.
Over the next few weeks you'll see a ton of new bikes, suspension, and gear from Pond Beaver, starting tomorrow. We've got fresh goods from a ton of brands, including Trek, Fox Factory, NS Bikes, Dakine, Ion, Niner, Race Face, Lezyne, and many more!
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12sp Deore chain, 100 miles in: 200$
Yeti SB 150 with no drivetrain, seized BB and no seals in the fork: 250$
Don’t mind me. Sea Otter was a ton of fun.
I'm a business owner in a trade and I could have bought a house and put you through college with the money I've spent in the last decade, just in trade show participation fees. My company takes a last-minute discount booth in the pop-up tent behind the tool shed... a brand like The North Face builds a two story discotec in the middle of the main hall. Presumably, they pay more.
I'm guessing that @ridingofthebikes has no idea what a trade show is, what it's about, who the different interests are which come together for a few days, and what the Human spirit is all about. It takes a person who has only ever "wasted their time staring at bike parts" to think that his mountain bike has anything to do, at all, with people who would actually do such a thing (maybe a tiny bit for marketing and sales researchers, to occasionally study the natives). First of all, they've already seen everything that can be seen on the screen, that's part of the trade. Secondly, they don't "waste their time" when they look at trade documents, such as pictures and specs of bike parts.
Trade shows, generally, are open to the public. But they are not public events. The public gets to see a lot, but they are just the public, at a trade show. Have a sticker.
Not picking on you, @ridingofthebikes, but I'm going to continue. You teed me up too high, time to swing... @brianpark was pointing out that there is often "waste" in terms of company resources at these trade shows. And he's right. In the days of The North Face disco parties and free beer (not public), a lot of companies (including media companies) would send everyone, because there is a shit load of work to be done in four days and its important to have your best team there, even if your ace southpaw don't like hotel rooms and free beer. You totally misconstrued his comment and warped it to fit "that way of thinking" which you "love". Thoughts and emotions are two entirely different things. When you love thoughts, the result is literally "ME ME ME.... it's all I heard man sorry".
When you love thinking, the result is quite the opposite. At a certain point, you get a group of like-minded thinkers who, for one reason or another, come together, share (some steal) ideas on their mutual thought, and go back to their laboratories having decided on the next step to develop their idea. These folks call themselves a trade and the event a trade show.
The fact that there are still no trade shows should give pause to all of us. My business is not content with the "new normal situation". Every business I work with is not content with the "new normal situation". The "new normal situation" favours monopolies, organised crime, parasites of every type, and brands partially owned by BlackRock. The consumer is in for a nice ride. Producers are asking themselves why they need to work like damn donkeys when they can sit in the grass and think about something else (like MTB!) all day without taking another order or paying another tax, because they know they are in for a nice ride... and there are no brakes on this "new normal DH...". (Also no seat, just a seat tube. Chainless. Full New School.)
In any case, a trade during war time isn't a trade... production on government command isn't trade. Nobody gets to build or ride a bike during the war. RIP Fausto Coppi. Bella, ciao!
#pbcommentoftheyear
(edited to add: Rabbit Breeder, card-carrying)
and OnlyFans.
I might be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me anyway.
Am I right @brianpark?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtGfyruroU&ab_channel=redbabylon
Can't believe she was mentioned on Pinkbike.