Kryptonite in SoHo on TMZ

Check out this TMZ tidbit. Forget Gerard Butler. Forget the girl. Check out what's keeping the bicycle safe...that's right, a Kryptonite Evolution Mini. We wouldn't expect anything less in NYC!

Guitar Man

This weekend marks the beginning of a new unbreakable bond between Tim Clifford, our director of sales, and his new pride and joy Fender Stratocaster.... So that he doesn't lose any sleep over keeping it safe, I thought it would be a good idea for you to weigh in with your ideas about how to secure it, using any combination of Kryptonite locks, cables, chains you think appropriate. Come on, let's hear from you! The most creative idea will win a Kryptonite cable lock to lock up some precious of your own...Winner will be announced next Friday, September 5th.

Take Lance Armstrong's Dare

Just saw that Lance Armstrong is daring YOU! And you don't even have to get on a bike. This is for everyone. Share your story in video with Livestrong.com

He wants to know how you dared to change your life or someone else's life. The top 12 will be shown on YouTube and Livestrong.com

Go on, Lance dares you to make a change! At Kryptonite we know that our customers and friends make a difference every day. We know many of you have made huge positive changes in your life and others have helped to change someone else's life for the better. Show the world. Show Lance. Deadline is September 8, 2008.

Go on...WE dare you, too!

Time To Break This Bond

Saw my beloved Rolling Stones (yes, I'll admit it) in the Scorcese film "Shine the Light" last night. I hate to admit it but its time for me to break the bond and time for the guys to retire. Better to have gotten out when they were on top....oh well, at least there was some killer Buddy Guy guitar work in it.

Kids Don't Do This At Home

After my beloved fixie went missing from campus a few weeks back, I decided to invest in your company. I got your lock in the mail today, and I'm afraid that it needed a little personal touch. I hope your not offended with my 'upgrade' - but I just couldn't run around campus with a stock'er - even if it's just the lock. JSM, Lincoln, NE

J, we'll just ask everyone to cut us a little slack for language that's a little saltier than we normally use here, because we probably all have to agree that if we're really truthful, we'd say the exact same thing if we were in your shoes!

PS - We're happy to report that the police found J's bike at a local pawn shop and he's going to be reunited with it today!

Roby's Ruminations on Life, Etc.

by Roby Holland, National Sales

Heavy title, I know, but really just some random thoughts, observations and comments about the last couple days.

R & B...Ridin' and Bondin'
Last Friday Kryptonite participated in a Bike to Work Day event in Boston, put on by the Mayor's office in an effort to get people to ride their bikes to work. The morning was awesome and made me think about how I wanted to get on my bike and go out for a morning ride after I was done with this event. The event was well attended by many teams and individuals who rode from different locations around the area. The organizers had coffee, bagels and fruit for the people who rode in and a radio station playing some good tunes for us to pass the time. I had a chance to speak with some people I had not seen in a while and catch up on what they were up to. I had a great time at this event and I look forward to the next time Kryptonite is asked to participate.

The Fishin' Blues
Last year was the first time I was able to take the Regional Managers out fishing after our annual sales meeting. This year I was only able to take one of the guys out because our other RM had a presentation to do in Canada. The morning was cool, much cooler then I had expected. I set out earlier to catch some bait for us to use. After a while of casting with little success, I tucked in my pride and went over to our local bait boat to purchase $20 worth of pogies. We would use these to catch The Monster Bass that I had promised Craig. After getting the fish into the bait well I made my way back to the dock to pick up Craig. We motored out to Gurnet Point, the area where I had several successful hook-ups with large linesiders. I gave Craig the lowdown on the fishing equipment. We each hooked a pogie and let them go. No luck...Well, after a few hours we decided to try several other locations with similar luck. Finally the tide began to turn and started to come back in. We headed out to a rip that I had luck with and knew would yield a fish, but not sure what. Once again I baited a hook for Craig, he cast and we let it swim out several yards. It didn’t take long for Blue Fish to get a hold of the bait. Craig had a fish finally. As he brought the fish along side, the Blue’s teeth cut through the leader and was gone. After several hook-ups and several bite offs, I decided that it was time to go across the bay and try our luck near Providence Town. I wanted Craig to get a hoagie, on a pogie and thought it was the place for that to happen. The trip took us twenty minutes to and it was just perfect. We threw our bait out and let the games begin. Wouldn’t you know it, not more then fifteen minutes later Craig had another fish onthe line, but it was a Blue Fish. Fortunately, I took the time to build some wire leaders in case these guys showed up again. We were able to get this one into the boat and released with minimal damage. Over the course of the next few hours we had several looks but no takers and ended up leaving with no Stripers. I had a blast and really enjoyed the time just hanging out with Craig, not doing much but fishing. I hope to get him on the boat again next year with better results.

What Time Is It?
Uniforms, foliage, double sessions and drop off are a few of the words we are beginning to hear in daily conversations. Summer is almost over and I have not ridden as much as I was planning.. It just seems that life is moving faster then I want or like. It was only a few weeks ago I was laying out my plans to go on a ride every morning I was home this summer. We’ll that did not work out so well. So, I have laid out my plan for the remainder of the summer and into the fall. If I learned anything this summer, it was that time does not slow down, it only speeds up. How was your summer?

Happiness Is.....

You just gotta give yourself a treat and watch this video. Humans are pretty cool after all!
Thank you, Matt Harding....

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080722.html

Lessons Learned

I have been with Kryptonite for almost 15 years, working in Customer Service. One of the unfortunate occurrences that Customer Service has to deal with is Bike Theft. Any type of theft is indeed a personal violation, and unfortunately it became all too personal to me last week.

I arrived home from work to find that my house had been broken into. Some small electronics were stolen. Ah, but let me talk about the jewelry….. My mother’s ring, which she inherited from my father’s mother….gone. That was the deepest cut of all. Also many other pieces of jewelry, jewelry received from my husband throughout our many years of marriage. My husband and daughter also lost jewelry. And no pictures and no receipts for that jewelry.

Other “things” were stolen; tote bags, a bike messenger bag, some antique sterling silver knick knacks that were also passed down from my parents. No receipts, no pictures…..no proof of ownership.

There is so much to be grateful for; no one was hurt, my “watch cats”, though ineffective, hid well and are safe.

My sense of security is gone. Thinking of my house as a safe haven….gone.

My advice to all: If you have any “thing” that is important to you or would be expensive to replace, take pictures of the items and the receipts. Keep them in a safe deposit box.

Security is my business. And I have to tell myself what I have told many before. We do the best we can to deter the thievery, but if someone wants something bad enough, they’re gonna get it!

Hmmm, I wonder how the watch cats would feel about a nice, big dog.

R.

Go Redline's Olympic "Great Eight"

Kryptonite wishes our Redline friends the best as they watch to see how their "Great Eight" BMXers do tonight. Don't forget to watch BMX history in the making tonight...around 8ish pm for everyone watching from the states.

Real Cycling Prowess!

by Eric Anastasia, Eastern Regional Manager

I'm sure like many of you, I have been watching as much of the Olympics as possible and I've become curious about what the bikes outside of the Olympic venues looked like. As I was poking around the internet (probably while gymnastics where on) I came across some interesting photos of the bikes that inhabit the Beijing area. Have a look.

Sturgis 08 Bike Week - Chapter 1

by Craig Glab, Central Region Manager

This chapter begins with my two day road trip (towing my bike) from my home around Cincinnati OH to Sturgis SD. I got there Saturday night just in time to hang with my Hamster friends at a block party..(priorities in order). Sunday, I got up and went for a ride through Spearfish Canyon to Deadwood. Great scenery and strange looking motorcycles too. Check out this one...

During the week I got ready for two Custom bike shows. One, that we sponsored, was the Dave Perewitz custom paint show, held at Thunder Road. The show was in a large tent where I set up a booth to show off our product line. I was placed right by the entrance where people would come in and go out of the tent. What a great spot! I talked to tons of people about our locks and proper lock up. A custom motorcycle was parked in the booth for "show and tell", to show them the best place to attach a lock. I gave away goodies like stickers and lanyards...funny how much these tough riders love the free stuff!

I helped Dave Perewitz hand out the winning trophies for a bunch of really cool custom paint jobs. You'll have to come back to the blog another day for more about that. I also worked out at the Top Fifty Rally Park bike show. We gave locks to the winners of the show. We also mixed things up with the crowd giving them crazy questions to answer for a chance to win a lock from us. This was alot of fun. While the crowd was a bit more thin this year than in the past because of gas price sticker shock, the spirit of the event was as strong as ever!

Congrats Kristin Armstrong!

Did you see that time trial ride of hers yesterday?? Way to make US women cyclists everywhere proud!

Bike Girl Blog: Bike Girl May Be A Bait Bike

Thanks, Bike Girl, for straightforward advice about how to hang onto your "Precious".... nice blog, btw!


Bike Girl Blog: Bike Girl May Be A Bait Bike

Tadpole

by Roby Holland, National Sales Manager

During the summer, I like to go to a pool or to the ocean for a dip with my family when the heat is too much, or after a long day working in the yard. I was taught a long time ago to always have a healthy respect for Mother Nature and more importantly , water. It is the great equalizer, no matter how big or tough you are, water could always defeat you. During my time in and around the water I have personally had several close calls with drowning. Three close calls stick out in my memory. My first happen at a friend’s house in the winter. I wanted to grab a piece of ice from the pool that had no top on it. I lost my balance and fell into the pool crashing through the ice. I was able to make it to back to the side of the pool, only to be pulled out to safety by one angry father and Uncle. Second time occurred on vacation with my cousins in the surf when I was just eight. We were in a line holding hands when a large wave broke my grip, sent me tumbling int0 the wash and pulled me back in to the grasp of another wave. My savior this time was a stranger who was on the beach and saw me tumbling around in the surf. My third incident, which still haunts me today, was a sailing accident. It was my first time using a harness on a fast and unstable boat. The wind cut out and the boat turtled (flipped entirely upside-down). The harness that I was attached to pulled me under and since I was not familiar with the harness system I could not unhook myself. Under that water I struggled to get free till I began to run out of breath. I was able to get myself into the cockpit of the boat which had a pocket of air and was able to grab a breath, which saved my life. There are many other times I have been in the water in a bad situation only to get out because I knew how to swim and respected the water. The other day I watched my son swim for the very first time and I could not have been prouder. Mind you, we are not talking about doing laps, he is only two. He was swimming under the supervision of an ISR instructor. This is a swimming class that teaches babies, toddlers and other children how to float and swim. My family spends a lot of time near the water and the possibility of our son drowning is our biggest fear. This summer, my wife and I wanted our son to take swimming classes, and while searching on the Internet we came across this class. This class was different; not only do they teach your kids how to swim, but they teach them how to swim fully clothed! If you have ever tried to swim fully clothed you know how hard it is. All those wet clothes weigh you down and tires you out, making it difficult, if not impossible, to swim. Our concern is not when our son is in the water; it is when he is around the water and accidentally falls into the water when my wife and I are not around. We wanted to make sure he was prepared if he fell into the water without being ready. When I fell into the icy pool, it was not summer time and I was not planning to go for a swim in a large down jacket and snow mobile boots. We all know accidents happen and the more prepared we make ourselves, the better we react to these situations. I encourage all parents to look into these classes, or some similar type of swimming class and prepare your child for the water. It is the best investment you will ever make!

080808 And Counting

For those of us blog readers who couldn't be in Beijing today, tonight, depending on where in the globe you're reading from, here's a Web 2.0 version of the opening ceremony. Enjoy and come back to comment on your thoughts about the athletes we're all watching. We should also make note of the Olympian effort contributed by all Chinese people to prepare for this event.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/blogs/blog=alanabrahamsonsblog/postid=183659.html#ni+from+birds+nest

Bond Broken

Be forewarned that this is one of those stories that will really crank off many of our readers... its a story about an occurrence that's just wrong, wrong, wrong....but it does highlight the importance of being sure you're careful to use the right type of security for your bike or motorcycle, considering the value of your stuff that may need to be replaced, not to mention the vehicle when its stolen. I do have to say, these two have a much more generous attitude toward the thief than I would have had!

http://www.registerguard.com/rg/Home/story.csp?cid=126107&sid=1&fid=1

Breakable Bonds

Welcome to the BAY State! This has more meaning to New Englanders today than it did last week. In a 3-team deal six year Red Sox veteran Manny Ramirez went to the "Red Sox" of the West Coast, LA Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirate Jason Bay came to Boston. By the way, Bay’s first game at the home of the Green Monstah had him slugging a triple in the 12th inning to set up the win; second game – home run over the wall!

Manny who?

By Bashful, Joe, Melissa and Roberta
Customer Service

On to the Olympics!

Now that the X-Games are behind us (sob!), it's time for the 2008 Olympic Games to start this weekend. Pretty much first up are the cycling events with the men's road race on Saturday and the women's road race on Sunday.

There's something for everyone with the road racing, time trials, individual pursuit, Keirin, team pursuit, sprints, mountain bike and even BMX.

Full schedule is here. Enjoy!

XGames Rally Today - Watch It!

We're all about Action Sports here at Kryptonite, as you know. So, the ESPN XGames are just too much fun for us to watch. We love it!

Did you see the Big Air competition on Thursday? Danny Way is crazy! What he accomplished by winning the silver medal after his crash was amazing.

And the Step Up guys? What's that about? Cool!

The new Moto X Speed and Style was good yesterday, but I have to say, I was a little disappointed in Travis Pastrana - he was pushing just a little too hard, I think. But his freestyle tricks were spot on. He's always breathtaking to watch when he's flying through the air upside down!

Today is the Rally at the XGames. Now, while you wouldn't think that would be so Kryptonite related, it is in a very special way. A very good partner and friend of ours, Jim Haraughty of Trek, was diagnosed in 2003 with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It's a terrible, terrible disease which has hit more people I know than I like to think about.

Jim, like the other folks I know, didn't take this diagnosis as anything other than a challenge and opportunity. He went out and built an awareness campaign through racing motorcycles! He created Team MS, which has raced all over the US - you motorcycle racing enthusiasts have probably even seen them at races, the bikes adorned with "Team MS".

What does motorcycle racing have to do with the Rally at the XGames today? Well, the car of Niall McShea (2004 Production World Rally Champion) will be carrying the Team MS Logo on both doors of the car! This is national television exposure for MS awareness!

Team McShea practicing at the XGames with Team MS logo on the side

Photo by Subaru

This is a very cool thing that Niall and his team are doing to create more awareness about this terrible disease. The more people that know about it, the more chance for a cure.

The ring-leader for this great partnership is Kryptonite alum, Neil McDaid. You can read all about Jim's story, and see a photo of the car, on his website.

And, please watch the XGames this afternoon on ABC (check your local listings for times) to cheer on Team McShea as he goes against Travis Pastrana, Ken Block and Dave Mirra (yes, that Dave Mirra!). Rumor has it out of L.A. that McShea is the underdog favorite for the gold medal! Wouldn't that be great as a huge win in the fight against MS!? Go McShea!

Thanks, Jeffery Deaver!

I've decided that the great novelist Jeffery Deaver must be a cyclist and must have Kryptonite lock.

Earlier this year I was reading his novel "The Blue Nowhere" and found a Kryptonite reference. Yesterday I was on my porch reading his latest Lincoln Rhyme novel, "The Broken Window" and, again, there's Kryptonite!

On page 104 it says, "I found her bike outside - she had a Kryptonite key in her pocket and it fit."

HA! He even chose the correct lock for the location. The novel takes place in New York City and a few pages later they mention, "...her bike was chained to a lamppost outside the loft."

How cool is that?

I'm only on page 133, but it's a classic Deaver novel so far and I'm very much enjoying it. I see more reading on the porch today in my future. Go pick it up today and enjoy!

Tim Jackson Rides Again!

For all of you who worried right along with me back in the Spring when Masiguy was in a fierce racing crash...you'll be happy to know that today he took his very first ride!

Yes, on August 1st, Masiguy takes his first ride. And, nut that he is, he video taped it.

Now, I'm going to be like those commercials on TV. Don't try this at home folks. Why? Watch the video and you'll see...Masiguy was missing something critical to a safe bike ride...his helmet! Ummm...Tim....we know you were excited, but c'mon...get that helmet and ride safe.

All in all, Masiguy got to his destination and back safely and did it ON A BIKE!

WOOOO-HOOOO!

Congrats, my friend. It's been a long haul.

I'd love to see more retailers of all kinds take a page from IKEA's book...It could actually work to live in an urban location and do without a gas-powered vehicle...imagine that as a solution to combat the high cost of fuel! Check this out! http://spheretrending.blogspot.com/2008/07/ikea-in-bike-lane.html

How Not To Get Hit By Cars!

I thought that title would get your attention....so you're thinking about dusting off the bike and using it to help stem the $4.50+/gallon bleeding?? Well its probably time for a refresher course in bike safety....no, not one of those cheesy movies or videos you saw in health class in school....here's a great guide (from which I shamelessly took the title of today's post) for you to bookmark, read and pay attention to! http://bicyclesafe.com/

Thank you, Michael Bluejay.