That Rover started out as a bicycle company! And now Ford is selling Rover to Tata Motors, the company that wants to bring India the $2,500 Nano. Their portfolio would then include the least expensive production automobile, along with $80k+ SUVs. (Bear with me now, while I weave this back into a bicycle-related post)
I’m sure this is not what Starley & Sutton had in mind back in 1885, when they teamed together to bring us what is considered the “modern” bicycle design, with two roughly equal sized wheels and chain drive replacing the less practical penny farthing. Today’s bicycle is instantly recognizable as a descendant of the original “Safety Bicycle”, albeit with one or two advances in materials and technology.
To bring this bicycle history lesson full circle, I need to acknowledge the passing of Dick Burke on March 10th of this year. As the founder of Trek Bicycle Corporation, he built what is today America’s largest bicycle company from rather humble beginnings in a barn nearly 32 years ago. If you visit the Trek site and read about him, you’ll quickly realize that he was the kind of person that embodies the best our industry has to offer.
Let’s hope that his legacy continues, and that Trek doesn’t end up owned by same car company 100 years down the road.