Silly downhillers

One of the guys at the shop brought this little dity to my attention today.
I love it.
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Document origion: http://littermag.com/2008/news/newsarti%20...%20ewsID=1087

Manufacturers request to downhillers:

- Please be a bigger overall market. While something like the numbers for basketball or baseball would be great, we'll settle for numbers similar to skiing or lacrosse.

- Please pay retail. As long as there are bro-deals, semi-sponsorships, freebies, online sales, and the secondary market, we don't have the resources to fully support you with new and innovative product.

- Please be richer. Go out and become doctors/lawyers/wall street executives, and then saunter into your local shop and drop $10k on the latest and greatest, just b/c your corworker got one last week.- Please make up your mind and stick to it. Don't ask for 10+" hucking bikes one year and 7" travel DH race bikes the next. It takes long enough to develop a product, and then for it to not sell b/c the market has moved on to something else is a waste of resources.

- Please ride bikes appropriate to your skill/competition level. Sam Hill runs a 48deg headtube angle and a 6" bb height. You're not Sam Hill. If you want to ride that level of product anyway, don't complain about the spec, HA or BB height. It's like complaining that your F1 replica doesn't have cupholders.

- Appreciate the DH-specific products that manufacturers put out for you. Most will never actually pay off tooling before you've changed your mind and decided that you actually want 2" rise, 12deg backsweep, 4deg downsweep 735mm bars just because that's what Sam/Nathan/Kovarik is running.

- Be nice to beginners, especially rich ones who will walk into a local shop and drop $10k on the latest and greatest. They're the future of the sport, and hopefully their coworker will see what they've got, how much money they spent, and go out and buy something similar.

- Stop trying to warranty your used up, clapped out crap. Warranties cover "manufacturing defects", and it's not a defect when you 50/50 a double and trash your frame/wheel/shock/etc. We don't care that you've only had it for 2 months, or that the your girlfriend mainly rode it, or that you forgot to take it off the roof of your car before driving into your garage. It's NOT WARRANTY. Slam into a lightpost in a parking lot on a snowy evening while doing donuts, and try to warranty your "but I just bought it 2 months ago" GTI.

- Realize that this isn't moto, cars, computers, guns, or . The details and particulars of every industry is different. Just because it is done a certain way in a different field or industry doesn't mean the creation, manufacturing, or sale of something in the bicycle industry will unfold in the exact same manner. There are many extremely competent and experienced people working behind the scenes for companies to make sure that product is getting to market.

- Do not sell your old equipment until new equipment is available. Companies do their best to get a product to market in a timely fashion but there will always be snags, especially when dealing with off-shore production. Just because you see something cool on a pro's bike, a sneak peak from a trade show, or in the pages of Mountain Bike Action does not constitute instant product availability. Of course we want to "sell product" but we also want to make sure that the product we sell is good to go and isn't going to get someone injured or isn't going to sit in our warehouse for years because a color or size was wrong.

- Do not wait until the day before Sea Otter to buy all of your new equipment for the season and expect the product to be in-stock in the size or color you want. If you are so set on having a particular color then pre-order it. Along these same lines are common wear items; example, have an extra derailleur hanger on hand. Don't call on a Friday afternoon and demand that a company send your part out for Fed Ex Saturday delivery at no charge.

- Your local shop is a past due or delinquent account. Well, not all of them but many of them. While they may be "cool people", "support the scene", or "a big shop", that doesn't mean they can always pay their bills. If they can't pay their bills, we can't ship them product. Sorry!

- Get yourself personally involved! Stop whining about the declining quality of your local ride spot, the lack of cash payout for beginner-sport class, or the start times of a World Cup unless you have picked up (m)any of the following to do something first: a shovel, an IMBA membership, the telephone to someone of authority, a pen & paper (signing an online petition or "ctrl + C", "ctrl + V" & "replace all" does not replace writing an actual letter), the phone to someone you know or are related to in "the marketing/promotions department" of a business, a yearly Norba license. Also, please go to more than one event a year (or ever even) before passing judgement and having a hissy-fit online.

- The internet is not a replacement for reality. Just because something is cool or popular on pinkbike, ridemonkey, or mtbr downhill forums does not directly translate into success on the sales floor of a dealer or product performance on the trail.

- There are proportionally more downhillers & freeriders online than there are roadies or cross country riders. This doesn't mean there are more of you in the world. You are just more vocal and demanding. The most popular downhill products still sell less quantity than the least popular road or XC products.

- Your local riding community is not the best thing since sliced bread. Europe, the UK, and Japan are!- This isn't a high margin, well paying industry. Pull up outside any bike company and you won't see shiny new Porsches and Benzes. You will see beat up pickups, VWs, and Subarus. No one is in this industry for the money, they are in it for the fun and friendships. Please understand we are regular people just trying to do our job the best we can.