Wandertec Blog

Early Spring

2008-03-30T19:49:00.001-07:00

We're having an early spring here in Flagstaff. And with it we're surging ahead with strong sales.

It's been awhile since I last posted and we've got quite a bit of news to report. First off, Jeff Hankens has joined the Wandertec team. Jeff was a great find for Wandertec, already having experience with bicycle trailers, previously working for Bikes-At-Work in Iowa, manufacturers of industrial-duty trailers. Jeff brings a wealth of cycling experience as well as a solid repertoire of web designing skills.

With Jeff on board, we've been able to manage sales and moving ahead with other projects. We've reformatted the Bike Trailer Blog, moving it to a WordPress installation and updating the look and function of it. We are now currently working on updating both the Wandertec and Bike Trailer Shop websites.

We've begun adding Bike Child Trailers to the mix at the Bike Trailer Shop. And will be adding in more panniers and racks thoughout the spring and summer.

The Burley Nomad has been our top selling bike cargo trailer throughout the spring with the BOB Trailers close behind.

The Wandertec website will feature the full range of Wandertec Products as well as Carry Freedom Trailers and possibly Extrawheel Trailers.

Help Wanted

2008-01-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

EDIT: This position has been filled. Thanks for your interest.

I'm getting settled into the new shop nicely. The sign-cutting, CELLO-carving CNC machine, the shopbot, has been relocated to the new shop. I've been putting up some large pallet racks and I'm now shopping for shelves, bins, and racks for getting all the inventory arranged.

With the new shop space settling in, I'm now ready to try to bring on board an employee to help with the BikeTrailerShop.com. I am looking for someone to help grow the business. Specific duties will include shipping, customer service, accounting & internet product listing. I am looking for someone with a strong knowledge & passion for cycling. Business and computer experience are preferred.

If there's anyone out there interested in relocating to Flagstaff and joining the Wandertec team, email me your resume to josh@wandertec.com

New Shop!

2007-12-25T06:54:00.000-08:00

The shop expansion at Wandertec, Inc. has just been completed. The best part was when they fired up the furnace. I will be getting everything organized in the next few weeks including moving over the CNC machine, setting up inventory shelving, and moving over the sewing equipment. Once that is wrapped up, I will start looking for a Sales Manager.

In other news at Wandertec, Inc. we are starting the process of distributing Carry Freedom Trailers in the US. We are planning on getting several pallets of the Y-Frame Large and Small trailers shipped over, likely arriving in April. Our plan is to sell the trailers through the BikeTrailerShop.com and offer them through other specialty retailers. The Carry Freedom City is still available through another distributor. We will plan on offering this trailer to retailers once these run low in availability as well.

It's been a great year of growth at Wandertec,Inc. and we are looking forward to another exciting year ahead. Thanks to all of our customers, business partners and friends. Happy Christmas, Holidays and New Year!

New Shop on the Verge...

2007-12-12T03:43:00.000-08:00

This week at Wandertec:
1: Dug out from 2ft of snow.
2: Watched as the workshop is getting achingly close to completion.

The shops is in a bit of chaos now as the buildings are being joined together. Once completed, I'll be moving the ShopBot and sewing machines all into the same building. The back of the shop will be for manufacturing and the front will be for the office, inventory storage and sewing. Once its complete I'll be throwing up some pictures. Once were setup and running, I'll post a few more.

At the moment, I've got my operation spread out between the shop, my house, the shed, and a garage across town. But once the shop is complete, it will all come together into one space. Getting the real heating system will be greatly appreciated rather than running propane and electric heaters. Everything will be set to start looking for an employee.

Sales of Bike Cargo Trailers continue on at a decent pace despite the wintry season upon us. I think that the Christmas season is keeping things moving forward at the moment. Once the New Year hits, we can only hope that people start looking forward to the spring ahead.

Progress with the Wandertec mLite continues. We've come up with a source in China for the CR2 battery. We will be receiving in our first large order in the coming months and begin introducing them to a variety of bicycle trailer and recumbent suppliers.

Floats Away

2007-12-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

This week:
1. Sold some Demo CELLOS.
2. Worked on some ideas for updating the CELLO design for its next incarnation, hopefully sometime next year.
3. Picked up some pallet shelves for stacking bike cargo trailers on.
4. Wished I could have done more but time sometimes floats away.

Google Top 10 in the Top 3

2007-11-24T07:19:00.000-08:00

This week at Wandertec:
1. Started the final cap-off to the BikeTrailerShop.com marketing campaign:
My buddy Ben, my web-marketing guru, and I were discussing the success of the marketing campaign for BikeTrailerShop.com. We concluded that things were looking very good. The key components of the campaign are high results in Google Searches, a well constructed Google AdWords campaign, and a smattering of low-cost advertisements in key bike touring and commuting magazines and forums. To cap-off the marketing a little fine tuning to the Google Searches needs to be performed. I will be determining what the top 10 Google keyword searches that lead people to the BikeTrailerShop.com are such as bike trailer, bike cargo trailer and BOB Trailer. I will then begin a campaign to bring all of my Google searches for these terms into the top 3 of their listings. Ben has suggested quite a few clever tips for making this happen. He suggested registering with Yahoo directories focusing the listing on the important key-words and convincing bloggers to write posts about the BikeTrailerShop.com that include contextual keyword links.

2. Ordered a new size and style of the Wandertec Cargo Net:
We are switching the Wandertec Cargo Net over to a larger net that should give a little better capacity for items stowed underneath it. I ordered up 200 of this larger size. Unfortunately the company sent me only 50 of them in the correct size and about 150 more in a size that was twice as large, way to big for a bike cargo trailer.

3. Waited for my webhosting company to fix the problems with their servers:
Tuesday and Wednesday were a couple of very irritating days as I waited for wandertec.com, biketrailershop.com and the biketrailerblog.com all to come back online. I've got a low priced webhost and this has put even more fire under my butt to switch the website over to the web hosting company Zoovy or something like it.

4. Stayed warm running my shop heater burning propane:
The new shop complete with natural gas furnace is achingly close to being completed. In the meanwhile its getting quite cold up here in the mountains of Northern Arizona and I'm burning the propane heater to stay warm.

BikeCastle

2007-11-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

This week at Wandertec:
1. Started sewing the new Wandertec Woven Labels on the CELLO, SAX and Cargo Net.
2. Ordered some Down Low Glow lights from Rock the Bike to sell with the Xtracycle and to figure out how to mount to our other bike trailers. I bought a double tube blue system to use on my tandem and Xtracycle.
3. Saw work resume on the shop and they told me their expected completion date in 12/03-wooHoo!
4. Continued brainstorming the design of the Wandertec SanToor bike.
5. Picked up the new Wandertec work vehicle, a 1986 Toyota Pickup. Its in dire need of TLC with no rear view mirror or turn signals and some serious shakes when putting it in gear. But hey it was free and it's perfect for hauling loads to big for the Xtracycle/Carry Freedom setup around town. Many thanks Tom and Cynthia.
6. Launched a few holiday specials at the BikeTrailerShop.com.

Demo CELLOS

2007-11-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

This Week at Wandertec:
1. Watched the shop not being built(progress is to resume soon)
2. Sold my Honda Element (CELLOmobile)
3. Came up with a name for my new bicycle design, the Wandertec SanToor.
4. Did away with the Wandertec Purchase page and pointed all sales to BikeTrailerShop.com.
5. Listed Demo CELLOS for sale at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
6. Was introduced to a great website that makes it easy to discover other great websites called StumbleUpon.com.

Xtrarecycling

2007-10-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

This past few weeks at Wandertec:
1. Watched my shop being built
2. Attended Interbike
3. Picked up some Wandertec woven labels
4. Rode in the Tour de Fat parade.
5. Unsuccessfully attempted to fight a bicycle traffic ticket

The expansion of the Wandertec shop is starting pick up some steam. The framing and roof are complete. Now the utilities are going in and the painters have just showed up. It's looking great and I'm hoping it will complete perhaps in a month or less.

It was a quick trip to Interbike this year. I spent some time handing out the Wandertec mLite. I was able to get it displayed on BOB Trailers as well as several other bikes and trailers around the show. I was busy gathering information about a variety or bike pannier companies in preparation for expanding into bike rack and pannier sales.

Yesterday, I went to traffic court to try to get out of a traffic ticket for running a red light. The light was turning from yellow to red as I rode through. I didn't really dispute the charge but was hoping to get a different penalty than is applied to motor vehicles. Unfortunately, the law in AZ gives you the same punishment on a bike as if you were in a motor vehicle. Here are a few thoughts on the matter that I put together before going into court:

I strongly agree that bicyclists need to obey traffic laws, however violations of traffic laws should be punished in a manner that takes into consideration the very different nature of bicycle travel vs. motor vehicle travel. Motor vehicles are inherently much more dangerous to others. A bicyclist violating traffic laws is extremely less likely to injure or kill someone else when compared to a motor vehicle doing the same traffic violation. Given this factor, punishments and fines for bicycle traffic violations should be adjusted to fit their relative impact. Punishments and fines for bicycle traffic violations should not be combined in with the fines of the exponentially more dangerous motorized vehicles.

Additionally, the use of motor vehicles also creates pollution and congestion. The use of bicycles poses less risk to others, does not cause pollution and causes comparably far less congestion. The many benefits to our society of using bicycles instead of motor vehicles deserve some consideration in determining how traffic violations are punished.

On a practical level, riding a bicycle is a very different experience than driving a motor vehicle. When riding a bicycle there is a much greater sense of vulnerability. There is also a much greater sense of awareness of surrounding traffic because you have a completely unobstructed view and are in standing position where it is much easier to swivel around in any direction. While traffic laws are very appropriate for motor vehicles, they do not currently take into consideration the very different nature of riding a bicycle. Bicyclists should be supported with laws adjusted to the different nature of the vehicle. Perhaps, bicyclists should be required to get licensed, registered and insured in a manner that is appropriate for bicycle use. This would lead to safer, more knowledgeable, better equipped, and better supported bicyclists.

Breaking Ground

2007-09-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

This week at Wandertec:
1. Watched the new shop construction begin.
2. Shopped for a multi website platform.
3. Listed Ortlieb Pannier Accessories on the Bike Trailer Shop.

After months of making arrangements and waiting around, the Wandertec shop expansion is finally underway. I'm hoping to have it closed in and the heating system operational before the snows begin to swirl.

Sales have begin dropping off as expected this time of year as Fall and Winter approach. Now that I'm not packing boxes and answer calls and emails all day there will be some time to forge ahead on some new projects. I began looking into a variety of shopping cart systems. For the BikeTrailerShop.com I've been using the free Oscommerce. This has worked well for getting started in Ecommerce however as I look to ad other niche bicycling sites, its capabilities are becoming somewhat limiting.

My interest is to find a shopping cart system that supports multiple websites and that is well integrated into my accounting program, Quickbooks. I came across the website Zoovy and spoke to their sales department. It appears to be a very well rounded system that supports everything that I'm interested in. They charge around $3500 to get you setup and then 1.5-2% of your sales.

So far I've read some mixed reviews on them but apparently they've recently had some major revamping which may have lead to improvements. Before diving in, I will be looking for some more opinions from tech based web review sites and really grilling them on what shopping cart features they offer and how they support it.

CELLOing to EuroBike

2007-09-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

This Past Few Weeks at Wandertec:
1. Added loads of info and options into the Bike Cargo Trailers at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
2. Purchased a Toyota Corolla for the business.
3. Sent Joe and John of VooDoo Cycles off with some demo CELLOs on their trip to EuroBike.
4. Ordered a bunch of 20" tires and tubes to expand my offerings of Bike Trailer tires and tubes.

I've been expecting orders to slow down at the BikeTrailerShop.com with the end of summer approaching so I could get to work on some other projects. Rather than that the last few weeks have been busy as ever. I definitely can't complain though. Sales are a good thing. I just might have hired someone sooner if I had knows things would continue on at this pace. I know it has got to slow down a bit more in Sept. & Oct. though.

I took the new Corolla up to Zion canyon for Labor Day Weekend. I was amazed when I first checked the mileage and calculated it at 45 mpg. I've been working on keeping the speed below 70 and slowing my accelerations to improve my mileage. With my Corolla on the highway and bikes and bike cargo trailers around town I'm definitely getting better gas mileage then I would with just using a hybrid. I'm still a fan of the Plug-In-Hybrid concept however and plan on jumping into one as soon as they are available.

Wandertec SAX - BOB Cargo Liner

2007-08-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

This week at Wandertec:
1. Designed & listed a new adapter that makes Ortlieb rear panniers fit much better when used together with a BOB Trailer.
2. Listed the Wandertec SAX on the BikeTrailerShop.com.
3. Worked on sourcing Wandertec woven labels for branding the SAX.
4. Ordered a sizable load of trailers including 10 Carry Freedom Large Y-Frames to stay stocked up for a good while.
5. Discussed a bike cargo trailer design project with a student from the Art Institute of Colorado.

The new Wandertec products are starting to come to fruition. With the SAX now available I'm ready to start taking some nice photos and getting these products visible on the Wandertec website.

Once I get the new products visible on the Wandertec website, I will conduct a (soft) sales launch of the Wandertec mLite by introducing it to online bicycle trailer retailers, Greenspeed retailers and other shops. I've currently got approximately 100 Wandertec mLites and my goal is to determine the level of interest from these dealers before putting in a large order of 500-1000 mLites.

The next step following the larger order of 500-1000 mLites will be the marketing launch which will include press releases and contacts as well as blog/messageboard postings and new Google Ads.

I was brainstorming ideas for new Bicycle Cargo Trailers with a student from the Art Institute of Colorado. The student is taking part in a group project in which they are designing a trailer as part of a final project for there industrial design degree.

My suggestion was to focus on a bike cargo trailer designed for bike commuting. My feeling is that the market is well served in the area of utility style trailer such as the Carry Freedom Y-Frame and the Burley Flatbed as well as for performance touring trailer such as BOB Trailers, the Burley Nomad and Extrawheel. However, there seems to be a void in the area of bike trailers designed for bike commuting. The Carry Freedom City offers a very interesting solution for many commuters. By having the trailer fold up very compactly, this is a great way to stow the trailer while at work. However, there could be interest in a trailer that locked up to the bike and was also lockable. The now defunct BOB Coz had some of these features. It may be a good starting point for such a design.

I've posted a survey given to me by the student from the Art Institute of CO. They are looking for some good feedback on uses of bike cargo trailers if you care to participate.

Business Platforms

2007-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

This week at Wandertec:
1. Finalized the design of the Wandertec Sax
2. Got interviewed by a journalist for the Chicago Tribune for a possible story about Bike Cargo Trailers and their use in Chicago.
3. Worked on designing some packaging using Adobe Illustrator for the Wandertec mLite.
4. Listed some the Ultimate5 Plus Handelbar Bags at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
5. Got in 10 Xtracycles after being out of stock for the last few months.

Life is good at Wandertec these days. Sales have been strong at the BikeTrailerShop all spring and summer. The shop expansion should be underway soon. I've been enjoying developing several new products.

However, as an anxious entrepreneur, I'm constantly bitten by the bug to do more. Its good to be where I'm at, having climbed the first hurdle of establishing a profitable business, but the dreams around the corner keep me blazing ahead. Getting to the next level means having a large fully functioning shop and hiring an employee to help with the daily tasks of keeping things running.

I'm very excited about starting to work on expanding the BikeTrailerShop platform into including other websites. The plan is to launch another site focused on selling racks and panniers. I will carry a very complete selection of brands and models of rack and panniers along with other bicycling bags. Really focusing in-depth on the niche of Bike Cargo Trailers has really gone over well with customers. It has also worked well with one of our main advertising mediums, Search Engine Rankings. I'm looking forward to a similar success with Panniers and Racks.

Taking this business model one step further, I would like to continue to launch other niche specific stores within the bicycling industry. This is a growing trend throughout the Internet. I feel it is a great way to serve the bicycling public. I also feel that it is a service that is complimentary to local bike shops. While local bike shops offer a large variety of bicycling necessities, specialty web stores can offer those hard to find items that it doesn't really make sense for local shops to stock.

Using the Trailer

2007-07-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

This week at Wandertec:

1. Finished the Wandertec SAX (BOB liner) design and began testing.
2. Began assembly of the 1st batch of Wandertec mLites.
3. Fitted lights on my Carry Freedom Y-Frame Trailer.
4. Started using my Carry Freedom Y-Frame and Xtracycle to transport a large load of work equipment across town instead of using my Honda Element.
5. Signed off on the plans for the shop expansion.

I decided to start up with using my Carry Freedom to try to avoid one of my trips across town. I bought the Honda Element a few years ago so I'd have a car that got relatively good gas mileage (26mpg) and that could still be used to haul some stuff. But lately I've been hauling almost everything in town by bike.

This got me thinking about changing up my vehicles. I've decided to sell the Element soon and replace it with a Toyota Corolla. My girlfriend is going to sell her Mercury Sable station wagon and replace it with a used Toyota Pickup. The Toyota Pickup will be used for when our loads are just to big for bike trailers around town and the Corolla will be for road trippin. I've used the Element as the Wandertec trade show and event vehicle. But with only a few of these events to attend each year, I figured I'll be better off just renting a van when it was needed.

When considering the choices of fuel efficient cars to replace my overall all-purpose but not optimally fuel efficient Element, I first thought on the Prius. It seems that if I will mostly be using the new car on the highway for road trips. In these conditions the braking energy recapture benefits of the Prius are less applicable. I also considered a VW Golf diesel. My problem with this was I'd spend approximately $5000 more than the Corolla and only get 45mpg vs. 40 mpg. I've decided rather to put that $5000 into updating the heater in my house.

I put in all my data into an energy/carbon use calculator and discovered that the best use of my resources was to replace the 38 year old furnace in my house. This would reduce my energy use by 15% while using a 40 mpg car instead of a 26 mpg car only resulted in an 8% reduction in energy use.

For the long term, I'm very interested in using a Plug-In Hybrid. But saying as they are not yet available, the Toyota Corolla and some other energy saving technologies will have to do as my bridge to a more energy efficient day.

Monsoonal Rains

2007-07-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

This week at Wandertec:

1.Pressed forward on the BOB Liner (Wandertec SAX) design.
2.Set up a new CELL Phone & Land Line for clearer phone time.
3.Cut a large batch of sign blanks for Signarama on the ShopBot.

The long awaited monsoonal rains came yesterday into Northern Arizona. With our on going drought like condition, this change in the weather is very much appreciated. I took a beautiful evening mountain bike ride. The trail was perfect for riding. I was cleaning all the sections that the powdery dust had previously rendered unrideable.

Transitioning back into prototype development has required me to slow down and refocus my brain parts. The day-to-day hustle pace of shipping and receiving does not translate well into design work. It requires a different cadence. I have to relax and allow myself to go back and forth between flurries of inspiration and spiraling meditations. When I find the right balance between time spent on visualizing an idea and physically putting it together, I can move forward at the best pace. To much visualizations leads to getting no where, and not enough leads to loads of frustrating attempts.

Progress has been made and a functioning prototype of the SAX now exists, the next step is to clean up the design and get it fitting nice and snug in the BOB Trailer. At this pace, I expect to have it available in the next few weeks.

Gone Fishing

2007-07-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

How many Blogs begin something like "It's been awhile since I last posted"?

This Month at Wandertec:
1. Set up an ad in the new publication Practical Pedal.
2. Signed a contract for the Wandertec Shop Expansion.
3. Worked on the design for the long awaited BOB Liner.
4. Recieved confirmation that the Wandertec mLites have been completed and are being delivered.
5. Went on vacation up California's PCH and snapped a photo of a BOBBer near Muir Woods.

We were glad to jump on board with the new publication Practical Pedal. This magazine/blog/website is doing its part to support and grow our favorite niche, bicycles used as a means of transportation. We've been including a copy of the printed version in with all of our orders and handing them out around Flagstaff.

Plans are finally underway to launch our workshop expansion. The contract has been signed and we hope to have a much bigger facility running by the end of the year.

The Wandertec mLites have left Germany and should be available soon. With the new Wandertec SAX BOB Liner design almost complete, we are looking forward to introducting all of these new products with a website update and a new printed brochure soon.

Business Building

2007-06-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Its been another record breaking sales month at the BikeTrailerShop.com. My only question now is when do the sales slow down. My guess is that they'll remain strong through the summer and taper off in September.

I've been learning the hard way about getting a bigger shop building put up quickly. I found a contractor and have been waiting around for a bid for over two months now. Translated: the builder is keeping me on the back burner until they have a lull in their activities. It seems that the situation calls for shopping around my building expansion work to a few different bidders just so as to firm it up. At this point, I'm just looking to get closed in with it before the snow flies.

Last week I moved my office into my workshop. Before I had my office inside the house and would always be running back an fourth. This was a move I'd wished I'd made a long time ago with the efficiencies gained.

BOB Trailers 10% off-BikeTrailerShop.com-Ends 6/1

2007-05-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

This Week at Wandertec:

1. Recieved a truck load of BOB Trailers for the BOB Trailer Sale at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
2. Updated my PayPal Shopping Cart.
3. Finished off the listings for the Carry Freedom & Croozer Trailers.
4. Manned a booth at the Bike-For-Work Week kickoff here in Flagstaff.

The BikeTrailerShop is jammed full of BOB trailers for the kickoff of our spring BOB Trailer sale. If things go well, I'll have some free space again soon.

I had a great time showing off bike cargo trailers, the CELLO, the Wandertec mLite and the Wandertec Cargo Net at the Bike Swap and Bizarre that kicks off our Bike To Work Week here in Flagstaff. Flagstaff Biking does a great job of putting on the event. It is great to see how many people are excited about using their bikes for commuting and transportation these days.

Xtra Carry Freedom

2007-05-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

This Week at Wandertec:

1. Listed Carry Freedom Trailers at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
2. Listed Croozer Trailers at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
3. Stayed busy all week long.

As things start to really pick up with the business, I no longer have the relative luxury to work on the parts of the business that are truly intruiging to me. In starting a business, a large part of my motivation was in doing the tasks that seemed the most interesting. I would switch from task to task based on what caught my interest on any given day. Now that the business is in full swing, the daily demands of operations and growth no longer really allow this. My extra developmental time is now a much more rare comodity. Having grown the business to this point where the demand is at this level, it is now time to look for help to handle the operations of the business freeing myself up again in the area of development...

Extrawheel is Here

2007-04-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

This week at Wandertec, Inc.:
1.Listed the Extrawheel at the BikeTrailerShop.com (1 sold the first day).
2.Worked out a deal to bring in a large stock of BOB Trailers.
3.Ordered Carry Freedom and Croozer trailers.

It was a fairly uneventful week of waiting for the weather to change back to spring. I stayed busy shipping out what seems to be the normal flow of about 1 trailer per day now.

Trying to get this shop built, I've been looking around for someone who wants the work. My step-Dad pointed me in the direction of a contractor who is a long time cyclist (even ran a bike shop in Williams for a while). He is savvy on green building techniques, and had some interesting recommendations on ambient heating and using insulated concrete forms (ics).

On the fun side of things, I just put together a cruiser tandem. My girlfriend and I took it on its maiden voyage this morning to Miz Zips for breakfast.

Ticking Over

2007-04-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last week:
1:Redid the Template for my other blog BikeTrailerBlog.com.
2:Ran around like a headless chicken filling a steady stream of orders.
3:Got an account approved to start carrying Carry Freedom & Croozer trailers at the BikeTrailerShop.com.
4. Started advertising the BikeTrailerShop.com on CrazyGuyOnABike.com

The orders have really started to pour in in the last few weeks. The BikeTrailerShop.com is really starting to tick over at a steady rate lately. Now, I just need to get my workshop extension built. Once the full shop is up and running I should be in a good position to start looking around for a full time employee. Sometime this coming fall or winter things should be coming together for that. I'm looking forward to bringing on board someone who can help speed up the growth of the business.

I recently discovered that Chariot Carriers of Canada had both Croozer and Carry Freedom bike trailers available. I've been very keen on all of these trailers especially the Carry Freedom City which has been a big hit in the UK for the rapidly growing commuter crowd there. Look for these two new lines of trailers on the BikeTrailerShop.com in the coming weeks.

The Socks

2007-04-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

This Week:
1. Got in the New BikeTrailerShop.com socks.
2. Layed out a cut pattern for the developing Wandertec BOB Trailer Liner.
3. Developed a new support brace for front-corner side panel on the CELLO bike case.

Our BikeTrailerShop.com socks arrived from SockGuy this week. I had my girlfriend modeling them for the listing on the website. I'm offering these as giveaways to our customers in return for their posting a review about the bike trailers they've purchased from the site.

I've been developing a fabric liner to fit the cargo area of the BOB Trailer. In preparing to bring this to production, I was working on getting the sizing just right. BOB Trailers lent their support by forwarding me a 3D Cad drawing of the BOB Yak. With this image I can create the cut pattern so that the liner follows the inside dimensions of the Trailer to a T.

Since beginning to sell the CELLO 2 years ago, we've had 2 come back with the warranty issue of the panel breaking at the front bottom corner where there is a connection between the BOB Fork, the side panel and the crossbar. The panel has been cracking along the cutout for the crossbar to insert. After these two warranties came back, I realized that this spot was exposed to greater impacts and was subject to greater exposure with its corner position. As a solution, I designed a corner brace. An extra piece of the extremely resilient plastic polycarbonate has been sandwiched over this spot and bolted in place to effectively triple the strength of the front corner area of the CELLO. Rigorous testing has shown this to be a very effective solution. This new corner brace will be included on all CELLOs.

Melanie Riding Big

2007-04-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

This Week:
1. Worked on making the mLite available into the US in the next few months.
2. Capped off another record breaking month in BikeTrailer sales.
3. Tested out an Extra Wheel bike trailer while watching my little sister take some names.

Last weekend I was down in Phoenix to watch the opening round of the National Mountain Bike Championships. My sister, Melanie Meyers was riding for her newly formed team Kenda-Titus-XFusion in the Pro Field. This is a picture of her riding strong on the wheel of former world champion Alison Sydor. She had her best result yet in the Pro Field, breaking into the top 15 with a 13th place finish. She's had a great start to her season after recently earning the U-23 Bronze in the Pan American Champions in Argentina.

While at the race I took the Extra Wheel demo out for a ride. While it is not as easy to pack and unpack as most trailers, it is a great handling trailer for mountain biking. The large diameter of the wheel with the weight slung low on either side of it keep the trailer from bouncing.

mLite

2007-03-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

This Week:
1.Shipped out our largest quantity of bike cargo trailers for one week (11).
2.Placed orders with all of largest suppliers BOB, Burley, Xtracycle & Ortlieb.
3.Got ahold of a new light by Weber of Germany.

It was a great week for sales. The first week of Spring ushered in great demand as people gear up for the riding season ahead.

On another front I was sent a sample of the M-Lite by Weber Products of Germany. This is a unique light designed to fit on flag poles. We are very excited about the design and can see it being used with bike cargo trailers, bike kid trailers, recumbants, and kids bikes with flags. We hope to have it available along with our other bike cargo trailer lighting systems this summer.

Socks

2007-03-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

This Week:
1. Ordered socks for the BikeTrailerShop.com
2. Updated listings for Burley Trailers with photos of their new hitch design.
3. Discovered a bike case/bike trailer for coupler & folding bikes, the Turtle Tow by Bilenky Bikes.
4. Discovered a light that mounts on flags for Bike Trailers, Recumbents and any other devise with a safety flag.

I realized that in order to encourage customers to write product reviews, a small gift was needed. So, I've ordered up 20 dozen pairs of socks bearing the BikeTrailerShop.com name and logo.

I was looking at the S&S Coupler site and discovered a very intriguing trailer. The Turtle Tow trailer is designed similarly to the BOB. Rather than having an open cargo area, it utilizes a bike case designed to pack S&S coupler bikes in while traveling. The trailer structure is built around the case. When not being used as a trailer for gear, a coupler or folding bike can be packed inside of the case. The trailer can also be disassembled and packed into the case.

The system is very comparable to the CELLO bike case in that it works in both bike case and bike trailer mode. The main difference of course is that it will only work with coupler and folding bikes. The cases are available in 10" 12" and 14" wide versions. The 10" version is within airline restrictions of 62" width x length x height. The larger versions usually get on board without additional charges.

I also found a brilliant little light manufactured in Germany by Weber makers of the Monoporter trailer. This light is designed to fit onto a flag pole and is a perfect safety add on for both cargo and kid trailers as well as recumbents and other bikes with flags. A few samples are on the way to test out.