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?

Happy Father's Day!

We wish all of you dads a wonderful Father's Day filled with everything you like to do!

And to the Team Kryptonite dads.....Joe, Don, Rob, Roby, Gustavo, Ross, Craig, Bob and Dave....enjoy your day with your great kids!

Craig's Theories 101

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager

Donna seems to have posted a lot about the NASCAR race, but not the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes.

After leaving the track on Friday, and visiting the Bass Pro Shop in Concord, we picked up Nicole and headed out to Dick’s to get a cooler for the next day and apparently, Donna wanted some candy and ended up with Hot Balls.

Then we went to dinner where I had to explain my broccoli theory to Roby, Nicole and Donna. My theory is that every restaurant uses broccoli as the filler vegetable. It’s the cheapest vegetable to buy so they offer it with everything. Have you noticed that restaurants offer it with steak, fish, chicken…whatever. They will throw it on every plate, unless you ask for something different. Why is that? Because the restaurant makes the most money from broccoli. I love broccoli, but I refuse to get it at a restaurant. I always ask for a different vegetable or side.

We even explained this to our waiter who then arrived at the table with a birthday treat for Roby because I told them it was his birthday at the beginning of the evening. The treat? It was a little dessert dish with a candle in a middle of 2 pieces of broccoli. Roby didn’t know exactly what to make if it all since it really wasn’t his birthday, it was a prank.

Roby, Nicole and me at the tent

The next day at the races, I decided to mix the Hot Balls with my beer. Why? Because the Hot Balls are hot and the beer was nice and cold. Donna didn’t seem to get that logic.

Got my first piece of NASCAR apparel, which was a Dale Jr. hat. Makes me enjoy my Mountain Dew that I drink every day! It made me part of Dale Junior’s crew/posse/fan base. Since I’ve spent so much money on Mountain Dew over the years I must have one little, tiny piece of the quarter panel of his car. Do you know that in convenience stores, Mountain Dew is the number 1 pop seller? At least it is at the corner store near my house.

And there you have it. We all had a great time.

And The Winner Is.....

The big day has arrived! While we were at Lowe's Motor Speedway this past weekend, people signed up to win a very cool raffle prize from Kryptonite - a New York Fahgettaboudit chain, a KryptoLok series 2 Mini, an Evolution series 4 Disc Lock, a Superman padlock and an Ingersoll Rand Thunder Gun!

One of our category managers, Don Warren, is a huge Tony Stewart fan, but wasn't able to make it to the race with us. So I asked Don to draw the winning name when we got back yesterday....are you ready race fans?? Are you feeling lucky?

And the winner of the Kryptonite lock package and the Thunder Gun is........
JIMMY HUNSUCKER from North Carolina

Woo-hooo! Congratulations Jimmy! We appreciate you stopping by and will be calling you soon about your prize.

Below are some more photos from our day at the track. Enjoy!

You have no idea how happy I was to see our banners at a NASCAR track!!! You can ask Craig and Roby, but I believe I squealed in delight when I saw this for the first time.

I was equally as thrilled to have our tent up so close to the track we could touch it! What a great location! Craig's doing a good job of holding down the grass don't you think?

As soon as we got the table set up people were right there. This is about 10am.

Before you knew it, there was hardly space to walk by the tent because so many people were lined up to see us. This was about noon-ish.

Nicole signed about 300 posters and posed for tons of photos with fans.

This was around the time Nicole was in the tent. This was around 2-ish. It was like this all day!

How clever was this? Not only were there Kryptonite banners in the motorcycle parking area, but John had each pole stickered! He just ROCKS!!

This is a Dale Earnhardt Junior motorcycle done by OCC. No, it wasn't in the parking area, it was under very watchful eyes.

This was a section of one of the infield motorcycle parking areas. Notice the cool Club Car in the photo, too. Yup, that was our 'baby' for the day. Thanks, Club Car!

Motorcycles in the Kryptonite Motorcycle Parking area at the front of the track.

There were motorcycles for as far as you could see!

The National Guard was protecting Dale Earnhardt Junior's Citizen Soldier car sponsored by our friends at 3 Doors Down. The band also did a pre-race concert for the fans inside the track.

That's the crowd about a half hour before the green flag trying to get to the track. It was an amazing sight!

The view as the sun went down from our seats in turn 2. Time to go racing!

What a great day for Kryptonite!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and congratulations to Kasey Kahne and Jimmy Hunsucker on their big wins!

NASCAR, Birthdays and Full House

I'm back from the weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. We had a great time, met some wonderful folks and then watched a good race (congrats to Kasey Kahne on a great win!). I'm pooped, but wanted to post just a few photos before I'm done in for the evening. Don't worry - many more coming...and, on Tuesday, we'll announce the winner of the prize package right here!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our tent. Roby, Nicole, Craig and I enjoyed meeting you all!

The tent was packed all day! We never felt lonely once.

Nicole joined us for half the day and signed autographs, including for the lady on the right. It was her birthday! I am so sorry, but I'm not sure I got her name, or if I did, I don't recall after such a busy day, but, sincerely.....Happy Birthday!

We met so many people who had Harley shirts, Sturgis shirts and even Myrtle Beach 2008 shirts. We talked about motorcycles with people from Connecticut, North Carolina and just about every other Eastern US state. We felt right at home! Here's one of the parking areas for motorcycles in the infield.

Checkin' Out Lowe's Motor Speedway

Craig, Roby and I went over to Lowe's Motor Speedway today - you know, the track where we are the official motorcycle parking area? Yea, that track. One of my very favorite places EVER!

I'll blog more after the All-Star Race tomorrow, but here are a couple of photos.....

The guys checking out the special All-Star car showcased in front of the Speedway's offices

Our sister company, Club Car, hooked us up with one of their cool, brand new vehicles. The guys LOVE this! I'm sure there will be stories about them driving this around...

Yes, this is a Kryptonite banner in the infield of Lowe's Motor Speedway!!! This gate was open today, but is going to be closed tomorrow so the banner will stand out a lot better. There are a ton outside the track, too! And stickers everywhere. The track did a great, great job for us.

More photos later in the weekend, but if you are coming out to Lowe's Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race, please come by the Kryptonite tent - we are right in the front of the track - near the Toyota demonstration and next to the Crocs tent. You can't miss us. We look forward to meeting you all!

Go Hendrick Motorsports!

Lowe's Motor Speedway Here We Come!

Ok, this is a huge week here at Kryptonite. Seems like just about every member of our team is out and about. Dave Perewitz is down at Myrtle Beach Bike Week with his new cool '66 Shovelhead. I talked with him the other day and he's pretty excited about it.

Eric is off to Bike to Work Day in Washington, DC. We've been a proud supporter of this event for years and year. This will be Eric's first time and he's looking forward to it. If you are going, please see him under the yellow Kryptonite tent and say "hi".

But, I think I have the best end of the deal. As a friend said to me this week, "Talk about combining work and pleasure ... it's your dream trip!" She's known me a long time so she's right.

Don't get me wrong, we all love what we do here at Kryptonite. I don't think we could do our jobs as passionately as we do if we didn't. But, my friend is right....guess where I'm going? Guess...Ok, the title of the post gives it away. I'm like a small child right before Christmas.

Roby, Craig, Nicole and I are going to be at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend for the NASCAR All-Star Race! We are the official motorcycle parking area for the speedway this year and we are all stoked about that.

Our ad in the Fan Guide

If you are going to the track on Saturday night c'mon down on your motorcycle. There's plenty of room to park and the Kryptonite Krew will have a yellow tent near there (you can't miss us) so come by and say "hi".

On Saturday afternoon from 1-3pm Nicole Hoffman Roesch will be signing autographs. All day we'll be taking entries for a cool prize pack, too. A Kryptonite security package that includes a New York Fahgettaboudit chain, Evolution series 4 Disc Lock, a KryptoLok series 2 Mini and a Superman padlock. On top of that.....we've also got a Street Legal Thunder Gun! I'm not kidding....ok, it hasn't arrived yet so I might only have a photo at the tent...but it's on order and I have my fingers crossed...but, regardless, whoever wins will get it next week. Winner announced right here on Tuesday!

We'll also have lanyards and stickers and one of the new cool Club Cars to display (and ride around in....beep, beep).

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself!!! Do come by and say "hey" to this fellow NASCAR fan...and let me know who you think is going to win the All-Star Race. I already know who (hint below) but you can weigh in, too.

Ride safe and see you at the track!

Look for this ad in the Lowe's Motor Speedway program!

#24

The life of the traveling salesman

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager


The four weeks. The whole month. It’s just about over and I’ve been gone all month.

Week 1 – Minneapolis/St. Paul. After the fine experience of my first tattoo, Don Shipman and myself traveled with the Tucker Rocky reps in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We went to both motorcycle and bicycle shops, sharing our experiences and fine tuning each other.

Week 2 – I drove down to Chicago, IL and Roby Holland, might I say, our National Sales Manager, came out and traveled with me that Monday and Tuesday. He was showing me the city of Chicago through his eyes. We also did a Lexco open house (one of our distributors) that Tuesday night while we were there.

Week 3 – I was in Portland, Oregon to meet with a potential new customer. We’ll be excited to bring them on board! Flew to Charlotte, NC to attend Ingersoll Rand’s internal school – IRU. I was sharpening up my skills to be a better salesman.

Now I’m home; it’s 80 degrees out but I’ve got emails to read and mail to go through. I can’t wait for next week. I’m on vacation! I’m turning my cell phone and everything else off. I’ll be working on my custom motorcycle.

See you in May – I’ll be back in Charlotte, NC for the May 17th race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway where we are the official motorcycle parking area of the speedway.

Craig's First Tattoo

Thanks to our friend Tim Remus of Wolfgang Publications, we have a couple of photos to share with you of Craig getting his first tattoo. Can you believe it is only his first?

I'll let him tell you the story, but here are a few photos for a sneak peek....

Happy Birthday Little Blog

So...a year ago today we set up this blog. Nearly 280 posts later, here we are. Like the very first post, I struggled this morning to be prolific (and giggled at myself trying). Instead, I decided to look back at that first post and see what I had planned for the blog and see how far we've come, or not.

We haven't done nearly all of the things I thought we would with this blog. Time got in the way, in some cases - there just never seems to be enough time to do all of the things you want to do. So, while we had some great Unbreakable Bond stories, we didn't have as many as I'd want. The ones we did were great stories. If you missed some of them, please go back and read them. I want to do more of them in year 2. Look for more soon.

I also wanted you to get to know more about the people here at Kryptonite - not just me, but the passionate folks who work here. Did we succeed there? I don't know - you tell me. Somewhat, I think, but a struggle I've had, until recently, was getting some other folks here to blog. It took longer than I thought (surprisingly, they are shy, which I never would have imagined...ever!), but now they are participating more and more and, if truth be told, I think they are actually having some fun doing it. Shhhh...don't tell them that, though. While that took longer than I'd like, I think we are up and running there now and you'll hear from more than just me more often than ever before. C'mon, y'all have to be bored with me sometimes, right?!

Passion. We promised passion and we delivered. Whether it was Bobke talking about the Tour Day France, Dave Perewitz talking about protecting his motorcycles after breaking down, Craig building his motorcycle or me ranting about cycling (me, rant? nah...)...you got passion. There is no shortage of passion here.

The responses I've gotten, for the most part, have been very positive about this blog. Not everyone agrees with everything we post, but that's the point! But, what I want to know now is...what do you want to know? What do you want to see in year 2?

Do you love hearing about Rob's snowmobiling? Eric's hiking? Want to know where the Bobber project is at? Do you want me to rant away about the state of cycling ('cause, don't kid yourself, I can...for days, just ask my Spokesmen cohorts!). What do you want to know more about? Let me know - either here in the comments or via email
donna(underscore)tocci(at)irco(dot)com

Until then...thank you for giving us a chance. Thanks for the encouragement and the new friends I've made along the way. Thanks for having a different opinion and expressing it. Mostly, thanks for coming back and continuing to read.

We will all work hard to make sure that we give you multiple reasons to keep coming back to our little blog. Until then...maybe I should go look for a cake.....yummmm.....happy birthday little blog....

Craig's Bobber Project - Part 2

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager


I’ve been working on my house so much throughout the cold winter that I haven’t been working on the motorcycle as much as I’d like. I’ve been painting and carpeting the inside of my house this winter.

But here are some updated photos of the Bobber Project. As you can see, I switched the motor and transmission to all ready polished Altima 113” motor and polished 6-speed transmission instead of an 80 cu inch Satin Harley Davidson motor. So now I have more performance in that little bike. I’ll peel the tires off of it. I just sold the other motor.

I just put the rims and tires on this last week. They are from Roland Sands and Metzler white wall tires. I mounted them last Friday after work.

I’m switching out the gas tank because it looks too tiny on that bike. I’m going to get a Sportster tank when I get back from my next 2-week trip. Drill some holes, take it apart and send it off to be painted this time…really.

My goal is to have it done by May.

Daytona Bike Week

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager


I worked out at the Daytona Speedway at the Broward Motorsports' tent. Eric worked at Daytona Fun Machines and then we’d switch every other day so we each worked both places. I saw less attendees than ever before – maybe even by thousands. It wasn’t like it has been in years past.

The weather was great – it rained only twice – Tuesday it was yucky and Friday it was really terrible. It poured so much water was running through the tent. It was a monsoon all day – it was unreal.

The people that did attend Bike Week looked at product, but there weren’t a lot of spenders. Jennifer from Broward Motorsports mentioned that they weren’t selling anywhere near what they’d done in the past across lines, including helmets. Overall, attendance was really down.

Destination Daytona had a lot of vendors and looked like the place to be all week.

One night I took Eric to three casual spots that more of the locals frequent. I’ve been going to Bike Week since 1986 and have found these places throughout the years. We went to the Lighthouse, a place I call Sharky’s (I don’t really know it’s name, but there is a big shark out front) and the Ocean Deck. The Ocean Deck is a great place for live entertainment – I’m talking about bands now. We listened to bands all one night; that was fun.

We went to Main Street and walked around one night down there, too. The best thing I saw on Main Street, though, was the women serving the beer.

There you have it. That was our trip to Daytona.

Dealer Expo - Day 1

We're still in Indy for the Dealer Expo show. Day 1 is down and in the books. Sorry I didn't post yesterday or this morning, but it's been pretty hectic.

I didn't tell you yesterday that every time I was in the lobby on Thursday I saw Jason Britton every time I passed through the lobby. Saw him yesterday morning, too. Haven't seen him since. I'll bet he's been swamped at the show. It's fun to see the folks you see on TV all the time here at the show walking around - I've seen Rick Smits, too. He's hard to miss since he's so dang tall! He's here every year.

Since it's late and we just got back from dinner, I'm going to do a little pictorial for you. Enjoy!

Set up continues....

Nicole's new racing bike was waiting for us in the booth on Friday morning!

Soon Nicole, Steve and Shane came to change some decals on the bike and move it around the booth for us. There was no way I was going to move her bike or even have one of our guys do it.

Do you ever notice that when you clean your house or room that it always seems to get worse before it gets better? Same thing applies with setting up a booth. It looks like a wreck while it's being set up. But, don't worry, Don and Roby had a method to their madness.

Craig worked hard setting displays.

The night before every show opens we have a booth meeting. It's a time when we can make sure everyone is in town and on the same page for the next day. Here Don talks about some of the new products to Ross, Craig, Eric, Gustavo, Roby and Tim.

SHOW TIME! DAY 1

Nicole's motorcycle in its rightful place at the corner of the booth where everyone can see it.

Look! The product actually made it to the walls! I told you there was a method to the madness.

Karen and Nicole visit for a bit before the show really gets crankin'

Nicole and Dave must have hand cramps tonight. They signed so many posters today!

Last year Dave introduced us to Matt Hotch who is so nice! It was good to see him back again this year for a visit.

Jody, Nicole and I had a special treat today. We had a civilized lunch for a change. That doesn't happen often at trade shows! We met up with Mary from Dealernews and had a lovely lunch. She enjoyed hearing about the Women's Riding Essentials classes that Jody and Nicole are going to be doing that she sent a photographer over to take some shots of them in the booth.

Tim was the photographer's assistant during the gal's photo shoot. He did a great job...at least I think he did, I haven't seen the photos yet.

Had a nice chat with Ryan at CycleWorld today. He introduced me to Roland Sands and showed me this motorcycle that he customized for the Ride for Kids. They were selling raffle tickets, which they've been doing for awhile now, for a chance to win the motorcycle. All the proceeds go to the Ride for Kids. Yup, I got my tix.

Here's the Perewitz motorcycle we have in the booth. Tim and Eric find a lull in the crowd to check it out themselves. You want to talk draw to your booth? This is it! Crazy amounts of people have been around this motorcycle all day.

Ok, that's it for the pictures for now....off to get some sleep before I need to be up again early tomorrow morning to be to the show by 8ish. More tomorrow night after Jeff Gordon wins the Daytona 500!

V-Twin Show 2008

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager


I would have gone to the VTwin Show anyway, but it’s nice that it’s only 11 miles from my house. I went to the show all day on Saturday. It seemed to be as busy as in past years, but some of the booth spaces seemed to be smaller. There didn’t seem to be any booths upstairs, unless I missed something, so the whole show was on the main floor. There were some companies I couldn’t find, too. This all may have to do with the lull in the industry. We’ve seen a little hiccup in the industry, but it will come back soon.

Here’s Dave Perewitz and myself in the PPG booth. We stood and talked for a little bit, but he was busy.

He was there to do what he does – talk to dealers about motorcycles and paint.

I left Dave’s booth with a dealer friend of mine. We walked by the Ness booth and saw people taking photos. I told Rod that I wanted to get my photo with Arlen and Cory Ness so we stopped in their booth.

Then I spent time in Ed’s booth from Cycle Sounds which builds the immobilizers. It’s always good to check out what other people in the industry are doing. I know Ed from way back when I was at LeMans.

The motorcycle dealers are true believers in their industry to take the time out of their shops and money to get to the show. It shows me that they are still invested in the industry. The people who have been in the industry for years and years (like myself) were still there supporting the industry, too.

I’m sure I’ll feel the same way about the Dealer Expo when we get there in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to going to that show and seeing people that I haven’t seen in awhile because I haven’t been to that show in 4-5 years because I was more involved with the VTwin side of the business which isn’t as well represented at the powersports show.

See you all there!

I Spy....

At the end of last week we had a full team meeting where most of the guys who work out of the office were in. It was like old home week - and lots of fun.

Since you hear about the gang here often, I thought I'd snap a few pictures and post them. I'll preface this with saying that none were too happy about my being a shutterbug, but hey...it's all in good fun.

Don Shipman and Craig Glab came in and went right to work in the cube across from me.

Gustavo and Roger saw each other for the first time in 5 years! How is that possible? Roger is our Director of Sales for our residential & commercial sales based here in New England. Gustavo was head of action sport sales in Europe until the end of the year. He's now in the States again, working to develop some different areas for us. We have a new, fantastic guy, Paul, in Europe. You'll be meeting him here soon....

I tried to sneak up on Neil McDaid and Craig, thinking they were working hard. Turns out Neil was practicing for the Kryptonite beauty pageant and Craig was giving him pointers. Hmmm...maybe one pointer would have been to decide which NASCAR driver he's going to be a fan of...he's a little confused (Stewart or Montoya?). But, as an aside, congrats to Juan Pablo Montoya for his win in the Rolex 24 Hour this weekend!

Sandy, Donna, Joe, Eric and the jokesters gather for a meeting. Let me just tell you, if the jokesters on the right are ever in a meeting you are conducting...beware...heckling will ensue. But, it's all in good fun.

It was good to have the gang in the office. It was kind of festive and fun. Come back again soon, gang.

Newest "Shop" in Texas

by Craig Glab, central regional manager

Holy smokes! The newest bicycle repair shop is in Wal-Mart. I went into this brand new Texas store, which happens to be in my region, last week and ran into some folks that looked like they were scouting the new store, too. I think they might have been from a big, red competitor.

The whole store was only open for a week when I went in. The bikes ranged from kids bikes at $65 to $1,800 for adult’s bikes. It was a clean, bright store and bike shop. The bike shop was in the back corner and the signage was pretty good.

During my scouting, I snapped a couple of photos.