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SRAM CEO Ken Lousberg on the Future of Drivetrains, Supply Chain Issues, Innovation & More.. Ep. 138 [Podcast]
Today on the podcast, special guest SRAM CEO Ken Lousberg joins Jeff for an exclusive interview to talk all things MTB and more. From the perceived innovation plateau to supply chain issues and the future of bicycle drivetrains, no topic is off limits. Tune in!
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Submit any and all questions to podcast@worldwidecyclery.com
If you are one strange human that would like to read a transcript of the podcast above, continue reading below!
hello mountain bikers of the world sorry you don't hear Jared's olive oil voice classic ladies and gentlemen intro
because today on the MTB podcast it is just me and me interviewing the CEO of
SRAM Ken luberg which is a pretty high level guest I would say for the MTB
podcast it was amazing that he took the time out of his day and and had the willingness to come on the podcast and I
hit him with some hard questions some soft questions some funny questions and it was yeah again just just amazing to
have him on the podcast and hear his perspective and uh get get to know him and uh yeah without further Ado let's
jump right into it here is Ken luberg the CEO of SRAM all right Ken massive
thank you for hopping on the MTB podcast uh it's it's a it's an honor to have you on you're you're quite the highlevel
guest for us so uh yeah thanks thanks again appreciate it yeah you bet it it's
really it's fun to be here and I enjoy what you're doing and glad to be here
yeah cool thank you well I'll I'll jump right into it I think I've got a nice little deck of questions for you some
some soft balls and some hard balls um nothing that I think will phase you but uh yeah one of the one of the first ones
that I had off the top of my head is how does one actually become the CEO of SRAM
just out of curiosity for myself and the listeners what was sort of your career trajectory and and what do you do on a
daily basis now that's that's fun the uh what you do
is you you win the job Lottery um when you win the job Lottery you get to pick
your job I chose stram um that I mean really you know what what
happened I I came from outside of the industry um I was really fortunate in my
career at at the company I was at before um but I knew I was going to leave but I
and I had I had all these chances at that company to do different things um
you know I started out in product design engineering um moved into
manufacturing um you know because I loved people and then that led to you
know working with customers more ended up getting a general manager job and you
know I I had worked for some people that kind of always were ment and bosses at the same time and got asked if I would
move to Germany um and lead a team over there so I you know moved to Europe with
my family and and had a a really cool job thought I was going to be there for
about a year and a half ended up living there for five years and from there I
thought I was going to move back to the US but that same boss asked me if I would move to China instead and Lead You
Know lead all of China um for for the you know for the whole company um that
was really cool you know learned a bunch of new cultures um and from there I got
asked to take on the the global crane business um out of Switzerland so then
moved my family to Switzerland and uh I was I was on a
mountain bike ride in Switzerland with my wife when I when a recruiter called
me and uh asked me if if I would be interested in talking to samp um I was
on on my mountain bike at the time and that that was a pretty easy yes to say
sure I'd love to talk to S wow interesting so what was what was
that exact role that the recruiter was calling you about you know it samam is a pretty
special place it's it's a you know was founded by five friends and and you know
they they'd been with the business forever St day was the CEO um he knew he
was going to retire and so he was looking for somebody to you
know to replace him as CEO um but I came in as coo so that I could get to know
the business get to know the team kind of without the I don't know the pressure
or whatever of of being CEO um he and I just both agreed hey we'll know when
it's the right time um we didn't have a Time timeline at all um of when I would
actually switch jobs um but I think it was about a year and a half later um
that that I went from being coo to CEO yeah wow very cool so so from what was
remind me what was the industry you said you were in before it was it was construction
equipment crane a lot like giant cranes yeah yeah we we made every kind of crane
you can imagine um and in some ways exactly the opposite of the bike
industry and nearly every way you know low volume you know one crane could cost
over $25 million you know it was some of them were just massive um but like for
me I I was a cyclist you know even though I worked in the crane industry um
and uh so saram was really appealing to me yeah wow that that is that is pretty
interesting so you know what do what do you think from a personal standpoint what was what were some of those just
characteristics you had at that Crane company that allowed you to obviously get all those opportunities climb the
ladder and do so well that a recruiter is going to call you up for the COO position at
saram gosh you know I don't know
um you must know you're just being humble no I mean I I I I I actually fit a lot
of the things that samam was looking for I suppose you know I my bachelor's um is
in mechanical engineering and so you know I I just love product I love hard
problems um you know but having a having an engineering degree in a product
Innovation company is is really helpful right it's probably the you know other
than assembler the second you know most common job at samam would be
engineer um and so you know I hope I have credibility with our Engineers um
you know that I I really respect and admire what they do um so I think that
helps um you know I like I said I I really attracted to working with people
not just computer screens and so you know I had a pretty deep manufacturing
continuous Improvement background as well spent a lot of time in Japan I'm learning from you know the some of the
people that invented the Toyota production system at Toyota um then you know we we're we're
very Global you know we have team members all over the world and so me having that experience of of really
living in and experiencing Europe you know for a long time and then really living in and experiencing Asia for a
long time you know was really helpful you know as well for for stand to
understand that I I knew you know how to operate in different cultures and in
different countries um and I you know I I had managed a a pretty big p&l um at that
company it was you know had responsibility for you know close to $2 billion and so knew he wanted the
company to grow and somebody who had had that level of of experience was really important to him as well and so you know
I kind of covered a lot of the things that that they were looking for and I
think like most people at stram when when you get interviewed at stram for a
job your your education your experience really your capability gets the
interview that's how you get to be interviewed and then if you're a culture
ad you know if you really if you're a good culture fit and somebody who can add to our culture um really aligned
with our values that's how you get the job that's how you get selected and I
you know I went through the exact same process anybody else would go through in that regard yeah wow what do you think I
mean I I think it's an interesting topic at least for me these days is you know say uh you've got a young 20 something
uh that's you know working in the industry that does want to climb the ladder um with within the industry and
also try and balance Life Style you know I think that's that's a little bit of a holding two opposing things here
sometimes in the bike industry is you're in the industry because it's fun and you love it and it's enjoyable but you're
you know you want to succeed in it but there's this Balancing Act of in order to succeed you have to work pretty hard
maybe be a little exceptional in order to exceptionally climb the ladder it's a little bit of a balancing act what kind
of advice would you have for for someone in that boat it's a it's a great question I have
I have three boys and they you know two of them at least at this stage would
would kind of be asking similar questions but the the truthful answer
would be it's not going to be balanced um it may be balanced over all and
that's kind of what I would strive for um but there's going to be times when if
you're the leader you know that the the the problem doesn't care that now is the
time you were going to go ride your bike yeah um and so you know it it's not
perfectly balanced it's it just isn't um over time I think you can balance things
but there's going to be es and flows where you know you can you can take some time off that you didn't expect to take
off um and there's going to be times you know I've I've flown back from vacations
before um really really hard to do and and I would highly you know recommend
not doing that um but there if if you're in a key leadership position there's
going to be times that you just you just have to um and so you know I do think
that should go into the decision-making process of of you know what what job do
you want um you know some people are just smarter than I am they don't want
to be the CEO and they know they don't want to be the CEO I totally respect that um and so but I I I personally I do
try to have a good work life balance for sure um I just don't expect it to be
5050 every day yeah cool I like it what what what do you do could you sum up
like what do you actually tangibly do on a daily weekly monthly annual basis now
I mean I'm sure you're holistically overseeing so many pieces of the puzzle at such a large company but how could
you sum up like what what do you do these days yeah um
I you know one of the key things would be I try not to slow our team down um
with you know if I can remove any bureaucracy or you know nonv value added
meetings or whatever so that they can they can really focus on what's important you know that's really
important to me you know I'm not going to design the next really cool product I'm not going to sell the next really
cool product I'm not going to come up with the promotion idea um you know our
our team is really good at that and the more time they have available to do that
the better um for sure I think a you know a CEO has got to be focused on
where are we going three years from now five years from now and and painting a picture of what that looks like and so I
definitely try to spend my time there but on a more data day basis I would say
I spend my time just making sure we're all on the same page you know we can get pretty excited about oh my gosh you know
that that's the coolest product ever we're GNA Do It um but that doesn't mean we all know what our role is and and how
we really effectively all pull in the same direction um and so I think that's
a big part of my job or any Leader's job is just to make sure you know the alignment of of what we're doing the fit
of our activities is is as buttoned up as it can be um but also you know still
room leave room for having fun and and enjoying what we're doing while we're
doing it yeah nice I like it well what um I I had a another one question I'll
skip because I want to go to the one I think this leads into better is what segment of Ram is is most exciting to
you these days is it you know dealing with the supply chain problems or testing out flight
attendant um it's definitely not supply chain problems um you know we had a few
of those during the pandemic but but uh that doesn't float my boat you know I I
do love de developing relationships with our suppliers and making sure that they're you know really aligned to what
we're trying to do as well they're really important partner um but I I would say for me the the two
areas that I love are are product innovation without a doubt like you know
thinking about and watching us come up with you know something that's going to go through one of your your you know
your stores are online you know five years from now um getting to see that
today is pretty fun um or the you know the concepts of it um and then just
being with the you know the development teams through that process and you know
what can you do to help um that type of stuff definitely charges my
batteries um the other one and I would say it's like an equal balance scale is
is the people side of our business you know the team member development and and
you know really working with our partners whether that's OE Partners or or you know bike shops Riders whatever
it may be but just really connecting on the people's side um and trying to
figure out what we can do better to kind of help all of us be more successful yeah I really like that cool well it's I
mean if you like that it sounds like you're in the you're in the right job role I I feel I feel pretty lucky and
and I know I'm happy so yeah it's it's good yeah out out of curiosity are you
are you more of a mount biker or a roie where would you classify yourself you know in my role that's a
little bit like asking me which of my three boys I like the best um exactly
good answer we're pretty heavy on on both but you know the I mean the truth
is I didn't ride a a road bike until I came to stram I had never had tight
clothes on until I came to suram oh even better answer for the mountain bike podcast
yeah I mean I I grew up in Colorado and so you know mountain biking and Road biking are both you know really popular
there I think mountain biking gets more of the you know the coverage but they're both really popular um but for me it was
I loved riding in the mountains but I thought the best way to climb a hill in the mountains was on a chairlift and you
know take a you know a mountain bike down that was my favorite favorite by
far r fting um and then you know and then I joined
samam and and we do make a lot of drop bar you know bikes or components for
bikes and you know I can honestly say now well one I live in Chicago there's
not a lot of mountains still love to ride bikes and so probably 80% of the
time now is on a drop bar bike um either on gravel or or on a road but I
I still love mountain biking yeah so I I think I can honestly say I I really
really enjoy boat yeah cool I like it good good answer very cool to know um
the next question I had for you are what are what are some things about SRAM that you feel are often missed or lesser
known that are that are still pretty important to you and the company that's a really good question
the I I'll I'll answer it you know in the form of my interview right so I I
told you I got called by a recruiter you know I I start talking to Sham I was I
was you know instantly interested in SRAM because I was a mountain biker like
I was literally on a mountain bike ride when I when I got called the first time um and so as I went through the
interview process you know that's when I found out how much samam cares about
people you know that it's not just a product company it's a people company too and Way Beyond the people within
Shams four walls and so you know as I'm as I'm going through this you know I
found out that samam you know established the samam cycling fund where
they put in millions of dollars for trail development for protected Lanes
you know or one of the key supporters of people for bikes so that that operation can you know help with legisl in the US
they helped form you know cycling Industries Europe to do kind of the same thing in Europe and and really help the
industry um come together um and then the the one that really flipped it for
me was you know so I'm going through the interview process I'm finding all this stuff out I'm thinking oh my gosh you
know this is kind of amazing and then I find out about wbr which is World
bicycle relief that spawned out of SRAM when when the the tsunami hit southeast
Asia FK day and his wife were like we have to do something FK day being one of
the founders um and so wbr got started
and what wbr does is they provide bikes to impoverished areas um particularly to
girls who wouldn't get a high school education unless they can get to school very quickly and back home quickly like
to be able to help do chores um then healthcare workers you know in
in like Africa a healthare worker can see three people if they you know go by
foot they can see 10 to 15 if they go by bike and so bikes go to them um and then
you know just creating economic engines for families so that they can get out of you know just out of this this cycle of
of disadvantage and so when I found out about that I'm like who does that you
know like you know and and and and you don't tell anybody that you do it you
know you're just doing it because it's the right thing to do so when I when I found out about that it was I knew I was
going to go to work for suround um and and frankly you know stand day is the
key founder right the primary and like at the you know during the interview
process I was like why why don't you tell anybody you I'm like this is
amazing and and you know if you know Stan it's like I'm not comfortable with
that you know like it's just n we don't toot our own horn that's you know we just it's the right thing to do and you
know I I was just I was blown away by that um and I told him you know you may not be able to tell your story but I can
yeah and and you know I don't think we do a great job of of telling that story
really um but it's I I think very very you people probably know that side of
ofam yeah that's that's true I mean I think it's it's funny to say that because one of the reasons that I've
always really respected and admired samam was you know at first you know getting into the industry as a teenager
it was like oh the products the brands it was like very you know the the innovation in the technical product was
impressive and then it was working in the industry and going oh wow they're support retailers they they support the
sport there was just all these good things that I that I ran into that various competitors of your don't do and
and then as I got even further into into the industry I was like I found out about world bicycle relief and all these
other various things and the advocacy and I was like wow samam is a pretty interesting company that has a lot of
layers that um I didn't notice at first you know at first it was just like wow this you know this drivetrain is sweet
yeah that's exactly how I was exactly yeah wow very cool well to to lead in on
on the on the product side something that we talk about on on our podcast here and there and something that's just
been interesting for me to watch um I'm 34 now and I've been riding mountain bikes since I was 12 and in the last I
don't know let's say five years or so I feel as if the industry especially on
the product side has hit a little bit of product Innovation plateau and and what I mean by that is you know the the stuff
gets better each year it gets refined but how much better is it significant or
is it negligible and you know what I just kind of am curious to hear your your outlook on that right because when
I look back um at how driv trains worked you know 15 years ago they were you know
very very much so mediocre compared to how they are now but if I compare let's say uh you know just just mechanical xx1
12-speed access or sorry just Eagle 12-speed Eagle to the latest and greatest transmission it's definitely
better but like how much better is it I don't know so I'm just I'm just curious like product Innovation Plateau you know
I've obviously seen the industry create products that were so significant to the ride experience it it really made
consumers I got to have that I'm pulling out my wallet um where do you see that going in the next few
decades yeah it's a it's a it's a good good fair question um um you know I
think I think the bicycle was invented around 206 or seven years ago right um and I I
was just up at qbp yesterday um and they they are storing a collection of of
bikes for a a historic collector to go into a museum and so you know we're all
looking at them and and it's pretty amazing some of the innovation that was
invented you know 100 100 plus years ago that really hasn't even made it to a
bike in mass production today um and so there are a lot of ideas that are out
there that haven't made it to bikes because that say the materials aren't strong enough or or whatever um the and
so I I would say there's there's just been you know 200 years of iteration the
one thing that is very Noti is today's bike is way better than the
bike from 20 years ago 100 years ago or 200 years ago right and so I I
personally think there has been pretty pretty intense almost
subtle Innovation that's happened that you know some people notice it maybe and
some don't um but I I personally think it's going to keep
you know we're just going to keep innovating it's going to keep getting better and sometimes there'll be a you
know a a ladder of improvement and sometimes there'll be step change
Improvement um and so you know the the flip side of that I would say you know
you you have a lot of bikes you're you know you're in a really good position to have a lot of bikes and so go dig out
some of your bikes from five years ago 10 years ago and ride them yeah and then
i' challenge you and don't ride your new yeti with flight attendant on it right
um and so yeah I I think it just keeps getting better and better and better um
and I think it's going to continue to the I mean can you imagine riding a a
rim break bike in trussle right now yeah right would you even do that no way I
won't even ride without a dropper post so yeah and then ride flight attendant
you know like it's it's it's pretty massive change um and I I agree it's still you
know it's it's just a full suspension bike um but it's it's very very
different um it's not for everybody but it's you know a lot of the Innovation is
is kind of gamechanging even though it may seem a bit subtle yeah subtle and
iterative but you know in in aggregate over the course of several years it is it is pretty gamechanging how do you
feel what what is kind of your thoughts and focuses on you know you can you can make things that are pretty Innovative
that are also quite expensive like flight attendant um how much focus is is
on that side as opposed to also figuring out how do we get um you know this level
of drivetrain performance at at a much lower price point so more bikes can H you know you know have and enjoy uh you
know like the the amazingness of a transmission drivetrain so I guess you could look at innovation in two ways you
could look at it performance trickling down to be less expensive and then also performance leveling up in a way that's
kind of exponentially more expensive yep yeah you know I mean we we
do we really start our focus with you know the best of the best that's what we
aim for um and then we do our very best to to figure out how can we take cost
out of that but still deliver the same right experience for the writer right
and so we try really hard to bring that down as low as we can but there does get
to be a point where it it's no longer the same right experience if you you
know if you do X Y or z um and so you know we're we're always trying to do
that but we also you know there there are others who who can do that better than we can you know at certain price
points I guess and so that's you know that's their strength we have ours um
but our our model is pretty consistent you know starting at you know what does
n Nino shooter need to win the World Championship let's do that and then you
know take it take it down from there and and actually like that just off the top of my head I think that's a really good
example of you know is it iterative change or gamechanging change when I
don't know if you remember when Nino you know what was it his 34th no it was the
world championship he you know he was in the race he skid it out like with maybe
two laps to go do you remember that and just bounced on his on his derailer on the drive side everyone thought it was
over because they thought he was on you know a normal a normal bike with a
derailer hanger and he was on new transmission so he got up like got up
caught back up and ended up winning the World Championship which he never would have he just wouldn't have been able to
if he had you know the previous generation of a rear derailer yeah so
it's kind of kind of fun to keep trying to figure out how do you do that
yeah that's cool well well Nino is now not worried about you know washing out
on his Drive side which is which is a good sign um what what are you worried about what are some of your biggest
worries and challenges I I I guess ideally some specific ones um and then some maybe more broad ones regarding the
whole the whole bike industry that's a that's good
the I don't I mean if if I start with the industry you know probably the thing that I think about a
lot would be you know we the pandemic was was bad
for sure for for the world but it was incredible for the bike industry um and
you know millions and millions of New Riders joined you know the bike you know the world of biking um I think some you
know some people on your favorite Trail maybe were frustrated because there were more people on the trail um but I I do
think we forget that you know we need to keep keep them in you know we need to
keep them biking because they vote um they they talk to their local government
about more Trails about more you know safe space for cycling um and so I worry partially
because it's just you know the the pandemic's over and we're thinking about different things um but I worry that
neighbors don't go down to the neighbor who started writing during the pandemic and they don't ask them to go riding you
know anymore when they don't keep them in the in the game if you will and you
know as the industry that we're not doing enough to to do that you know from our positions whether it's a bike shop
or a manufacturer like us um because millions of New Riders is great for for
everybody um and so I I do worry about that um from a you know kind of more
immediate you know I the the pandemic you know it it clearly went through a it
created a bull whip effect you know in our industry um where you know demand
was just normal you know for 15 years and all of a sudden it it
spiked um and you know what happens in a bull whip effect is is very
predictable um and so now you know a lot of a lot of key players you know have
too much inventory and discounting is very heavy um and so that you know that just isn't good good um for for an
industry it's hard to run a bike shop when you know you don't you don't have profit coming in to to keep paying
people um and so weathering that is is clearly a concern as well
um I think you know we can see the light at the end of the tunnel for that um but
we're not through it completely um so you know we all have to keep keep having
faith that this is a bull effect it's not you know that what what feels like pain today is just an inventory issue
our industry ridership all of that is positive um and it'll it'll be really
positive in a couple years again yeah yeah I like to say it's it's a well-deserved
hangover because because it was quite a good party yeah and and hopefully you know
people saved some of the benefit and can weather the storm um or the The Hangover I I like that
that is a lot what it that's a really good description thanks well it's it
kind of leads into my next question here which is I just kind of wanted to put forward a thesis and this is this is
very much the world that I live in you know on a daily basis um I kind of feel you know when I when I look at business
models and how they go through phases and and I feel as if the the Heyday of brick and mortar bike shops I feel like
that was you know maybe the the '90s to 2010 then it became sort of the Heyday
for you know e-commerce online multi-channel retailers like ourselves like worldwide Cyclery um and then you
know post post covid now now we're in this different era quite a bit's changed
when I when I look back 10 years and some of the main changes are you know a lot of the brands we sell whether that
it's it's bike brands or component brands of any kind um almost all of them
uh have gone consumer direct and and more importantly Gotten Good at it like are are competing with us on the
advertising space and AD auctions um while simultaneously the the margin that
retailers have to to survive on has just gotten squeezed and squeezed and squeezed um also simultaneously
operating expenses for shops have gone through the roof like they have for everyone um it's it's just become you
know that it feels like both heydays are gone the Heyday of brick and mortar's gone the Heyday of multi- Channel shops
has has has gone and passed and it's not to say they're obsolete by any means but it just it makes them a lot less
attractive businesses and and I say less of a good business and by good I mean
relatively easy to operate um you know reasonable profits to the bottom line on a annual basis they're they're just less
attractive businesses um all of that adds up like seems it's going to be hard
to recruit new people to the sport and keep people to the sport because the ramifications of just the way things
have evolved kind of feels like there'll be less shops and less good ones um I
don't know maybe some consolidation what are what are your thoughts on all that um yeah there well I definitely
think things have changed um I fundamentally though you know I I
think ridership is up and will only stay
up um so I think there's more bike riders which is ultimately that's
critical um regardless of of how things get to to that
writer I do think you know mo most
writers at least from our perspective you know aren't super comfortable taking
you know real deep care of their bike they're not comfortable doing their 200 hour service on their rock Shots and and
you know getting their derailers set up just right um you know a lot of people
aren't comfortable with it some are YouTube helps that for sure um so what I
what I really think is I think the really good shops will change their
model and they'll get better and the the shops that don't change will suffer um
because they're going to they're going to keep trying to to solve a problem in the problems changed right and so you
know what I what I would really ask myself is what you know what is the writers you know what's the opportunity
with the riter and am I providing that um and so you know I could imagine a you
know a more heavily focused service and some kind of value added Approach at the
bike shop Brick and mor um in this case um is is going to be more important in
the future than like the PNA business or the parts and accessories business was before because it's just too easy the
pandemic taught so many people man if I want you know a blank that I can easily
mount on my bike myself or put the you know in my pocket just by now it's there
um it's you know that that's that just happened right like it was happening
before like you said starting whenever in 2010 but it really got Accel accelerated in the pandemic um and so I
think the model has to change but I do think the really good ones will will get
even better because they're like they're thinking about the rider they're like what does the rider need and am I
providing that you think there'll be less of them just like less shops in
general yeah probably um although you
know in the US I think before the before the pandemic there were 5,500 to 6,000
bike shops um and today there's somewhere between 5,500 and 6,000 bike
shops I'll bet if we have an anniversary call in a year there'll be around 5,500
to 6,000 bike shops um that doesn't mean you know there's probably 500 that stop
and 500 that start um every year too um but I I do think that you know
the the really well-run writer Centric ones will do quite well and I think the
same thing applies for the online businesses as well you know there's
there's been bankruptcies in online businesses too you know so it's not just
one or the other absolutely absolutely so you know I I think you know our our
prediction during the pandemic was that the good would get better and the bad bad would go away um and I I still think
that's true yeah nice what would be I mean if if you were uh you know running a bike
shop yourself these days what what would be your sort of core Focus to make sure you're staying you know r or focused and
and leaning in the direction that's necessary that's a that's a really good question and you're you are way more
qualified to answer that than me um because you have experience I
don't um but I I would lean towards like
why do why does the cyclist want to come to my shop and start there yeah um and is it
compelling right that that you know whether that's you know a social aspect
a service aspect um but it it's not to to buy a
chain right because they might do that somewhere else um and so I that's where
I would start that's kind of how we do things at samam right like really start with you know what is either the problem
we're trying to solve or the opportunity that we're trying to create um and I I
think the cyclist the rider is the most important you know thing to a pike shop
yeah totally yeah You' mentioned ridership is up I'm I'm curious what what data points you look at personally
to to track that I know people for bikes has some information on it but it it is tricky when you when you Niche down
because General cycling commuters bike riding casually versus Enthusiast
mountain bikers versus Enthusiast Road cyclists what what data points are you looking at to try and understand the
participation in the industry in the different segments yeah I mean you you kind of
nailed a lot of what we look at um for sure we look at the the people for bikes
information MH um but I agree with you that that doesn't necessarily tell you
how busy is the bike park or you know the the trail that you ride um so we you
know we pay attention to that it turns out we have a ton of ceramis that ride
bikes right I mean I if I had to guess like 95% of
cames you know ride a bike and so you know we have that like how busy are our
l local Trails kind of all over the world um we also support a lot of events
um and we know that those you know they they they sell out in minutes um anymore
and so more and more people want to do that like I um Stan you know our founder
and and I just participated in the tracka 100 in in Jona um and it was was
I mean was crazy um like try to try to go to Steamboat gravel this year um and
so event participation is way up um and then we you know like our field guides
when they go out and they go to a trail or whatever they're counting you know how many how many cars are in the
parking lot you know compared to um you know a time before whatever so there
there is no you can't Google it um but
uh there are you know quite a few data points and then we you know we also are
belong to something similar to people for byes in Europe they do a fairly good job of of of counts as well um so it's
an aggregation of imperfect science yep totally that's many many things are in
business um cool well let's let's finish with a few rapid fire ones from from the
the audience um you know feel free to Riff on any of these that you'd like um what does a bicycle drivetrain look like
in 2050 I don't know I'm I'm pretty sure
it'll be cooler and lighter than it is today yeah um there'll be something
about it that's pretty exciting I just don't know what it is yeah the I should
should have put this question next it's a couple down but I'm just going to say it now um and you don't have to answer it but gearbox
that's the question like yeah like when when when will a gearbox be yeah all of
it you think you guys will ever make one are you interested in are you intrigued or is there a no
comment ah I mean I'm intrigued by like a lot of
things I think I think we all are I think the reality a gearbox you know the maintenance of a gearbox would be pretty
cool um and so when we can come up with a way to make a gearbox lighter and more
efficient than a drivetrain that would be the time to do it yeah um I just
think those things are they're they're a bit in conflict with each other yeah yeah totally out of curiosity have you
have you ridden a a gearbox mountain bike like a zerod I have no I haven't ridden a zerod
no yeah you should try one out it is it is interesting um drivetrain not nearly
as good but the to me was interesting on a gearbox bike was just the weight like the weight distribution feels actually
more reminiscent of an ebike in a way like having all the weight low and centered so I don't know pretty cool
obviously you guys have got plenty of things in in the bank I I actually went out to the San facility in Germany um
this was back in early 2020 back when you could still travel that year and uh it was it was amazing to see the the
drivetrain engineering and testing in that facility I was I was bewildered with what was going on there oh that's
awesome yeah it's one of my favorite I mean 20 250 German Engineers yeah um
it's awesome yeah totally um next question is you know what what
percentage split between revenue is coming from OE versus aftermarket yeah you know it it kind of
es and flows um but it's you know in general 75 7 to 75% would be you know OE
and 25 to 30% would be aftermarket yeah typically and afterm Market is kind of a
mix of I need to repair my bike or you know replace something and and then
there's the build build a bike from scratch or oh I want to do that upgrade yeah you know all of that's in that side
totally nice what does what does Shram actually stand for is it an
acronym yeah it's an acronym that you know it's a tough one to follow um
but so you know there's five founders of sham and so the S stands for Scott um
Scott King the ra is you know Stan Ray
day the r out of Ray not sure how that one you know came up um and then the m
is the m in Sam Who is the the you know the design
the the designer who kind of came up with the concept of the original grip shift um and so like why we picked the m
and Sam and not the m and Mike Mike Mercury another founder I don't know um
but that's what it stands for got it um I'm sure since you've joined samam
you've heard some various different ways it's it's said and and so have we over the years does does everyone mutually
agree it's Ram or does some people go with the SRAM or the scram or Shram yeah it it's actually part of our
new higher orientation nice like how do you say it um and it's the way we teach
it is Sri Lanka samam um it's the same
Sr um so but yeah it's been everything like in the first the first trade show
that saram was at they got we got listed as yeah um and so that one's stuck with us
a little bit I I think a couple of our German Engineers made some bumper stickers that say said
scram it's scram of course nice well that's that's
all I had for you I again cannot thank you enough for for coming on the Pod we' we'd love to have you again if if
possible at any given point um any any final words of of wisdom for the you
know probably roughly 20,000 mountain bikers that are going to hear this this you know not really just just keep
riding you know like and uh we love your feedback um love to hear what you love
love to hear what you don't love um you know we're really really just trying to
make mountain biking more fun and you know make you faster um whatever
whatever it is the definition of fun that's what we're going after so yeah let us
know awesome cool well thanks again Ken much appreciated yeah you bet thank you if you have made
it this far in the podcast thank you thank you very much we genuinely appreciate it and your support it would
mean the world to us if you would share this episode with your mountain biker friends tell them about the MTB podcast
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