Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Lance and a Bunch of Fixies

Check out the new nike add. www.nike.com/wearyellow/seelanceride/main.html

HEY!! That's in SF!!! (i think)

very emotional. very nice.

It looked like Seattle to me but it's been awhile.

Lance rocks, too bad the US Postal won't sponsor anymore, how stupid is that? Of all the government money that was some of the BEST spent! As for Nike, they can kiss my ass, I won't buy any products that exploit their workers like that.

It looked like Seattle to me but it's been awhile.
Born in Seattle
lived in S.F. For 35 Years

It's S.F. Trust me. They don't have cable cars in Seattle.
Fixedgearhead

did you see the cadence those fixies had trying to keep up?

The fixies were a nice touch, but I really liked the end where the football-helmet-wearing-bmx-kid is sucking Lance's wheel.

The fixies were a nice touch, but I really liked the end where the football-helmet-wearing-bmx-kid is sucking Lance's wheel.

I liked that part too. I have been seeing the commercial aire here on various channels now. I wonder how much of the general public understand the subtlety of that last scene. Hmmm... or any of them for that matter.

Yeah -

I think the kid on the BMX takes the prize. The real question is what is that bulging out of Lance's jersey pocket in the last shots - his endorsement check?

Probably none. It was what I liked too... thought maybe all those miles riding meant that the kid was finally able to keep up.

Does Nike even make bike shoes? I thought it was all about basketball.

Nike has a whole cycling line, including way over priced italian shoes. I don't even think they make that much money [ed. comparatively speaking] off of B-ball these days. Instead, it's all about Tiger.

Lance rocks, too bad the US Postal won't sponsor anymore, how stupid is that? Of all the government money that was some of the BEST spent! As for Nike, they can kiss my ass, I won't buy any products that exploit their workers like that.

Whats this all abooot?

Born in Seattle
lived in S.F. For 35 Years

It's S.F. Trust me. They don't have cable cars in Seattle.
Fixedgearhead

Yup. That S.F. A few runs through and I could tell.

Is that Lucklust or ephermalskin in the pack? I bet they made loads off it.

Whats this all abooot?

http://spot.colorado.edu/~shortk/nike.html

http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/apr98/debunking.html

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5232/edmonton.htm

http://www.forbes.com/2001/02/22/0222disasternike.html

I could go on and on....

his helmet looks loose in that video

actually I think Nike makes most of it's money right now off of their re-vamped reissued vintage stuff...supposedly they were going ape **** because kids wanted their reissued jordans rather than their $150 hi tech new style basketball shoes.

Could be cocaine-cola too... http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/04/1678261.php

All the US companies are doing it. If you haven't been watching that new PBS show Colonial House, there was a black man that was a 'free' man - just indentured to pay off his debt on it. He realized that from where things were in the 1600's it was a really easy slide to realize that you couldn't really expect a poor person to work for almost no wages - much better to buy a person.

Now the companies that financed buying America (or their bastard children) are buying our government and using it to take over other countries where they are desperate enough to accept the wages. The problem is - a lot of the people that work in the factories know they are being ripped off, so they try to do what America did and create unions. But then they get killed by governments that the US government supports.

When I read the news I really hate this planet.

When I ride my bike I really LOVE this planet.

Is that Lucklust or ephermalskin in the pack? I bet they made loads off it.

yeah even better than cash, we all got nylon fanny packs and glossy promos signed by lance of his surgery photos where they stitched a little swoosh on his scrotum. on the back they say 'nike and cancer, together we make martyrs happen' (tm).

actually i currently live in eugene, or. home of the university of oregon and its numerous monuments to phil knights version of philanthropy. i wonder if he personally chose the horrid salmon and teal and pink marble color scheme of the knight library because i would love to give him an extra lash for that particular offense to humanity and as retribution for the daily personal suffering inflicted on me by those disgusting walls.

Could be cocaine-cola too... http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/04/1678261.php

All the US companies are doing it. If you haven't been watching that new PBS show Colonial House, there was a black man that was a 'free' man - just indentured to pay off his debt on it. He realized that from where things were in the 1600's it was a really easy slide to realize that you couldn't really expect a poor person to work for almost no wages - much better to buy a person.

Now the companies that financed buying America (or their bastard children) are buying our government and using it to take over other countries where they are desperate enough to accept the wages. The problem is - a lot of the people that work in the factories know they are being ripped off, so they try to do what America did and create unions. But then they get killed by governments that the US government supports.
Wow man. I'm glad you found the straight dope on corporate America on the internet. Those execs will be POed when they find out it is out there.

I'm not saying that corporations are perfect. Believe me, I know first hand that they aren't. I know they do a lot of stuff in other markets that they could never get away with in the U.S. But if you don't realize 85% of the stuff on those sites are just as false and agenda-driven as the "we hate child labor" stuff that corporate PR departments churn out, you should really cut back on the smoke.

One day a journalist told me he trusted the word of corporate PR person over that of almost any activist because there were real consequences for corporate PR people caught lying. Activists, he said, will usually say whatever it takes to get their cause on the 11 o'clock news.

Now leaving my soap box.

One day a journalist told me he trusted the word of corporate PR person

Those two jobs are somehow different from one another? explain.

Didn't Chiquita have a hand in overthrowing a South American government back in the 60's? The Banana War or something.

That is a cool commercial.

And I understand the knocks on Nike, et al., but lemme ask you folks this: With respect to sweat shops, what do you think those kids that work there would be doing if they weren't working there? Do you see them sitting by the pool sipping lemonade? Or do you see them working themselves to the bone to try to help their family raise crops or cattle, working similar hours under similar conditions, only outside? The truth may very well be in the middle, but still. What kind of life do you envision for those that work for American or other companies that have a reputation for exploiting cheap labor? When I think about it, I see them closer to the second example I mention.

I think that the truth is that the developing world is just stuck between a rock and a hard place. As technology has brought a greater awareness of what's out there, the demand for a labor market that will pay for labor has grown. We can lament this by saying that we should never have opened Pandora's Box and started this desire to live at a higher living standard, but that's not in any way realistic. So, the reality of the situation is that people are willing and able to work in exchange for money, which they can use to buy food or clothes or grain or some hope of what they've started to see as a better life. Obviously, the extreme examples of abuse are abhorrent, but the day to day for many of these people comes down to a decision of working themselves to death to try to feed themselves with what they may be able to grow on lands that are often not suitable for growing or have been overused or working themselves to death to try to give themselves some leverage and not be reliant on the former. It's not a good situation, but it's a part of reality for developing economies. History shows that every major economy has had more than its share of labor force exploitation. We can just hope that, like the developed economies of today, the developing world finds itself looking back at its history of exploitation one day and shaking its head.

I didn't knock Nike. Heck, I see it as my God given duty as an American to exploit the world for my gain.

Well, let's say that a worker gets paid 20 cents to make a pair of shoes. Ever price a pair of nike shoes? So is there some reason they couldnt pay the worker 50 cents to make a pair of shoes? Still be like, 50 dollars profit there. The CEO's of companies like NIKE make their profits from the flesh of their workers. It's all about standard of living. And as for the question, what would those kids and women who currently work in the sweat shops be doing if not for companies like Nike?

Well, if Nike weren't dicks they could insist on fair wages. Not hard. Don't buy their shoes, OK?

Yeah, bikes good, companies bad. :P

And Lance is a hero, if you ask me. He might be rich, he might forget his roots, hell who wouldn't, he's boffing sheryl crow! But really, i hope he wins 6.

Those two jobs are somehow different from one another? explain.
I [the later] have to explain why the things some college freshman or burned out 50 year-old is certain are true are not as they may appear to the someone [the former] who is over-worked, under-paid and looking for that big story that will get them the Tim Russert (or at least Geraldo)-sized paycheck.

Despite what you may have read, journalists are not in the pocket of large corporations, or at least not in the pocket of the corporation I work for. The reason shocking bits from teh third world don't make the news in the U.S. is not because of some corporate-media consipiracy. It's because editors don't think it's what people want to watch, read or hear. Tell me, when was the last time you heard a story about the genocide going on in Congo this spring? It probably got bumped by the coverage of American Idol.

The reason you hear about Nike all the time is 1) they do some really crappy stuff and 2) it's a really good story to make you feel bad about yourself and guilty about you affluence. People complain about Nike all the time, but do you think their sales have really dropped? Don't you think if people didn't buy the shoes, Nike would change the way it does business? That would drive change faster and more effectivly than any legislation or media coverage.

Sorry to thread jack. The post just hit a pretty raw nerve. And the commercial is very, very cool.

but lemme ask you folks this.........

it sounds like maybe you dont realize that there are a great many people over the years who have devoted their lives to thinking about these issues. instead of speculating and talking out of your ass you would do well to read the research of such theorists. in my lazy attempt to guide you to a more interesting venue i suggest: http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm
;)
in other news.... yay fixed gear. on friday i busted up my knee. they told me i should get stitches but i opted for the gnarly battle wound instead.

Well, let's say that a worker gets paid 20 cents to make a pair of shoes. Ever price a pair of nike shoes? So is there some reason they couldnt pay the worker 50 cents to make a pair of shoes? Still be like, 50 dollars profit there. The CEO's of companies like NIKE make their profits from the flesh of their workers. It's all about standard of living. And as for the question, what would those kids and women who currently work in the sweat shops be doing if not for companies like Nike?

Well, if Nike weren't dicks they could insist on fair wages. Not hard. Don't buy their shoes, OK?

Yeah, bikes good, companies bad. :P

And Lance is a hero, if you ask me. He might be rich, he might forget his roots, hell who wouldn't, he's boffing sheryl crow! But really, i hope he wins 6.


I agree completely with your first point about not paying wages that are in any way, shape or form proportional to the price of the good produces. As for CEO's making money from the flesh of their workers, that's the case with almost all for-profit entities. I think that the greater issue is that of the means that an economy puts to use to develop. Not one developed economy can look back and not see labor exploitation. You can point to the US as being close (in the past, before a global economy) but if you note that the economic history of the US is tied to that of Great Britain, you'll find that laborers have been exploited to as great an extent as just about anywhere else. The dramatic difference today is the global economy. Instead of having people within a nation exploit its workers, you have foreign companies doing it. This, to me, is more of a tragedy in some ways. Before the world was so closely tied together, the money generated by the exploitaton of labor stayed within the country to be invested in infrastructure, etc. Now, the developing world finds some increased income that can be used for such ventures, but they don't have as high of a ceiling on the labor force. In other words, there's not a CEO in Bangladesh or wherever Nike has manufacturing facilities making piles of money off of the laborers there. It's the folks here making the cash. This is the real problem that I see in the whole thing, in general.

And I really do respect a position to boycott a company. My problem is that most of the people that I've met that take such a stand do so not because they have thought about the issues involved but because they're removing something from their lives that they can live without easily while also relieving their middle class guilt, which superchivo has also mentioned. That, or they do it to feel more liberal or fight the norm or some other reason that has little to do with their stance. My apologies if I have come off as being one against a meaningful boycott of any industries.

Nothing like an election year to bring out the political activist in everyone. Not only are people debating whether or not we should pull out of Iraq, but they're debating who's the better cyclist...Kerry on his Serotta or Bush on his mountain bike. Remember, both of them did take a tumble. To vote for Kerry, dial 1-800-YAY-LANCE and press 1. To vote for Bush, dial 1-800-YAY-LANCE and press 1. Dial carefully and thanks for voting!

Anyhoo... the commercial is cool. I wanna be like Mike? Forget Mike! I wanna be like Lance! Funny how the TdF brings out the Lance in all of us, eh? I like the end where the kid is on Lance's wheel whilst his shoulder pads dangle from his handlebar. Nice. On a BMX nonetheless....with one gear....cool.

Have you purchased your Live Strong wristband yet? I'm thinking of buying a case or two or three and handing them out at the office.

journalists are not in the pocket of large corporations, or at least not in the pocket of the corporation I work for.

nice logic.

my 2cc: politics debates on the internet are usually a pointless waste of time -- as opposed to the pointed waste of time that constitutes everything else.

it sounds like maybe you dont realize that there are a great many people over the years who have devoted their lives to thinking about these issues. instead of speculating and talking out of your ass you would do well to read the research of such theorists. in my lazy attempt to guide you to a more interesting venue i suggest: http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm
;)
in other news.... yay fixed gear. on friday i busted up my knee. they told me i should get stitches but i opted for the gnarly battle wound instead.


I'm sorry that my thoughts are so petty to you. Nice to see that there are so many ready to hear different ideas. If you can point out where I claim that my ideas are the absolute truth, please do. Further, I don't see how I'm talking out of my ass any more than several others in this thread. Why not put forth a lazy attempt to help others who are in as great of a need as I am?

Or are you just one to not believe that anyone can have a take on an issue that varies from the norm?

nice logic.

my 2cc: politics debates on the internet are usually a pointless waste of time -- as opposed to the pointed waste of time that constitutes everything else.


There's no doubt that we're in agreement on that. And they usually go all to ****. I fear that this one's on its way. I think I'll leave while the boat's still slightly afloat.

With respect to sweat shops, what do you think those kids that work there would be doing if they weren't working there?

Oh I don't know - going to school? Not getting maimed in factories? Making better lives for themselves and subsequent generations?

Not likely to change quickly as things stand at the moment, but there is no good reason why this sh*t should continue. None. Period.

As for the commercial, I dig it. Woulda been better had he been on a fixie, though. :)

Oh I don't know - going to school? Not getting maimed in factories? Making better lives for themselves and subsequent generations?



Not sure #1 is much of an option in many of these places. It's not like the kids are playing hooky. And as for #2, working in the fields is not much better of a prospect. The wages sure aren't better. Bit of a lose/lose situation, I'd say, which makes #3 no more than a pipe dream.

Not a fan of slave/child labor. But kicking out Nike and Kathy Lee Gifford isn't exactly going to leave you with Valhalla.

http://spot.colorado.edu/~shortk/nike.html

http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/apr98/debunking.html

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5232/edmonton.htm

http://www.forbes.com/2001/02/22/0222disasternike.html

I could go on and on....

No no cavit, the USPS dropping l\Lance thing... I'm well aware of the controversy surrounding Nike. :)

Not likely to change quickly as things stand at the moment, but there is no good reason why this sh*t should continue. None. Period.

As for the commercial, I dig it. Woulda been better had he been on a fixie, though. :)

but, SOMEbody has to make the products for the rich americans to consume, and americans demand so much more money than the poor, uneducated boarish children of impoverished nations...

that was sarcasm.

trek does not make a track bike. they should jump on the bandwagon...i'm sure a tons of people would line up to jump off that cliff...just like the bianchi folks, and (more recently) the specialized folks, and the khs folks, and the surly folks....nothing wrong with any of those bikes of course. in fact, i'm glad more people are getting turned on to fixed riding, and riding in general. i just got tired of seeing the flat black ones everywhere i looked in boston.

TREK, not TRACK. grrr...