The SKS Award

Interbike is fast approaching.  It takes place the 4^th week of September in toasty Las Vegas, Nevada.  Although not open to the public, Interbike has a direct affect on you….the consumer.  Information gathered, and deals negotiated at Interbike will shape the “shop knowledge” and prices that will be passed along to the consumer for the 2010 model year. 

As I am going through my plans and creating my strategy for Interbike this year, I find myself dreading the trip.  What, to the average consumer, seems like it would be great fun has turned into a chore.  How can rubbing elbows with Eddy Merckx, Gary Fisher, Bob Roll, Greg Lemond, Lance Armstrong, and top industry execs be so un-fun?  How can spending two days riding all the new 2010 bikes on epic terrain be so unappealing?  The answer comes down to three letters: SKS.

You may have heard of SKS.  They are a fender/pump maker from Germany.  What you may not know is that the people that work for SKS are jerks.  At the outdoor demo portion of Interbike 2 years ago, SKS was showing off the new “Sub 40 Pump.”  The Sub 40, crazily enough is a pump that weighs less than 40g.  It was being advertised along with what SKS was billing as a “totally revamped line of pumps.”  Naturally, we wanted to check out these new pumps as a possible story for the website (not to mention they had a big sign that said to stop by for a free pump).  When we arrived at the SKS booth, the jerks behind the table would not give us the time of day.  Since we were not from one of the dinosaur print media outlets like Bicycling Magazine or Velonews, SKS had no use for us.  Believe me; I understand where they are coming from.  It makes sense to cater to the big media guys.  What would we do without our monthly fix of Get Fit in Just One Week by Eating Cottage Cheese or Get Faster by Chanting “Chris Carmichael” 20 Times in the Shower Each Morning.  We are aware that our website does not have the following that Bicycling Magazine does, but that is no reason not to talk to us.  But, when consumers Google “Sub 40,” Bicycling Magazine isn’t the first to pop up.  For 5 minutes of chat time, and a chance to take a picture of the pump, the SKS may have been one of the product reviews we did that year…..and it wouldn’t have cost them a dime!

This experience was the beginning of the SKS award.  The prize is awarded to the biggest jerk of the show.  It goes to that industry exec that bends over backwards for a beat writer from the Boston Globe, but can’t figure out that cyclists don’t read the Boston Globe for cycling news.  It goes to that industry exec that still has a bleached soul patch and spends his entire Interbike day trying to look as cool as possible while ignoring customers.

 

Here are the previous winners:

2007  SKS

2008  Nite Rider

2009  ??????

 

By the way, the Sub 40 SKS pump sucked worse than any other pump we have ever tested.

 

31 August 2009 | Industry News | Comments