The M Diaries
Chapter 1: JB’s Big Idea
June 20th 11:43am 0 bikes built
I should know better than to make eye contact with somebody who has just thrown a crazy idea onto a table in a room full of people. I should especially know better when this person is the president of the company you work for. We were trying to come up with an event that would draw attention to our new environmental initiative, “1 World 2 Wheels,” and our president, John Burke (here forth referred to as “JB”), had an idea.
I guess it sounded like fun. Build 1000 bikes in 8 weeks to transport 1000 bike dealers to a kickball tournament? Keep it a secret from everybody? Sure, why not? It kind of incited the minor league baseball team promotions director in me that I lived in a life previous to Trek. 1000 bikes. Say it out loud right now. Go on, I’ll wait. Doesn’t sound too difficult, right? Hey, when you’re trying to make a statement on the potential environmental impact of increasing bike trips in this country, you need to do something to stand out. 1000 bikes are going to stand out.
The bike we decided on was the Trek Lime Lite. Simple in its design, the Lime also comes with a great consumer-research based back-story and touts a serious altruistic lineage. The Lime was designed to lower the barrier of entry to all people to ride their bike. Equipped with Shimano’s Coasting technology, the bike shifts automatically and features other comfortable options like an upright riding stance and coaster brakes. Perfect for a group of people who may sell bikes but not necessarily ride them.
JB closed that meeting with words that I will never forget as long as I live. “This’ll make you a legend or you won’t work here anymore.” He said it with a smile but I wasn’t sure if he was kidding. I didn’t have the spine to find out. This thing better rock.
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