Rene Cormier - ROCK SHOX

How long has ROCK SHOX been coming to Interbike?

Ever since day one.

What is your focus for the show this year?

We have three major things that we want to talk about for this year's show. We have a new cross country platform called Duke, that we want to make sure people know what it's about........ We have new technology in the Psylo platform which is called U-Turn..... which just won the bicycle retailer industry news award last night for best product at Interbike which we are ecstatic about. U-Turn is an external travel adjustment on the Psylo platform.......The last thing we want to talk about is the SID Race Carbon (from BlackBox development program) which won three GOLD Medals at the Vail Worlds two weeks ago.

This is the largest gathering of cycling industry representatives from all over the world. What is your take on the general attitude for 2002?

I think people are excited but ready to get back to selling...... ready to get back to being profitable and running their businesses smart. We've all seen the GT and SCHWINN scenarios (editor's note: Schwinn/GT Corp. sold its cycle business out of bankruptcy to Wisconsin-based Pacific Cycle for $86 million in September - courtesy Forbes.com (Tread Ware - Russell Flannery 10/29/01 Forbes)... people are ready to put that behind us and as mentioned...... get back to being profitable and running their businesses smart and having fun with it. A lot of things that we are hearing from people..... with U-Turn especially....... they're getting people back on their bikes..... riding...... and having fun! We've heard a lot of focus on that from the retail side of things...... I've been talking to retailers..... and they're back to riding their bikes more which is very encouraging to me.

Will the Sept. 11th attacks on America and its effect on the economy change any of your business plans for 2002?

No.

Are you happy with this year's show?

We would always like to have more people out....... because we put a lot of energy and effort into the booth...... last year we won an award for our exhibit........ so the more people we get to the booth..... it's better for us...... we're ecstatic with the outcome we have had so far...... the one thing it has let us do is....... everyone that has come into the booth....... we've had a lot more time to spend with them which is great because we have a lot of things to talk about....... we do a morning presentation from 8am to 9am.......and we always run over........we're talking about all of the new products....... U-Turn, SID Carbon, etc........ and where the market is...... and how to sell product....... selling tips, tuning tips, racing tips........ that really helps the selling experience for the customer..... not only is it explaining how the fork travels...... but it's...... hey....... did you know that Brian Lopes - World Champ rode this race with this setting, that setting...... this kind of information is what we're talking about this year......... we're very happy with this year's show.