It's a little known fact that putting a line of bikes onto the market is an awful lot of work. Work that really requires a lot of coordination and input with more than just one person. Work that requires meetings and discussions and even arguments. Work that has to be done though. Today was a two hour meeting to discuss colors and graphics and a few other items. It's true that ten people will have ten opinions about a color or graphic treatment. You really do end up searching for a middle ground with the least amount of dissenting opinions. Well, that is unless you want to take the old Ford approach of "any color you want, so long as it's black". Sometimes that seems like the way to go.
Developing a line of bikes in today's marketplace also requires finding a way to differentiate your bike from the next brand and do things that will also allow you to get the bikes delivered when you want and need them. It's easy to lose sight of how intricate the process is and how much has to happen at the same time.
All in all, the process is actually fun when you keep an eye on the final outcome; bikes. Fortunately, none of the decisions we make are life-or-death (though losing your job because you were horribly wrong and now you have a warehouse full of bikes nobody will buy is certainly a major bummer) and we are talking about an industry built around fun and exercise. So really, how bad can it be right? Ask me again tomorrow after the next meeting is done...
Tim
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