Dave Lawrence - SHIMANO

How long has SHIMANO been coming to Interbike?

Since the inception of Interbike which has been 20 years this year.

What is your focus for the show this year?

Actually we have a pretty wide product offering. We've expanded into wheels....... so we have a pretty good selection of wheels available now. Components are always kind of our foundation....... we're built on components....... but we also offer footwear and pedals so I'd have to say our wheels, our pedals, our shoes and disc brakes..... another new area for us.

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 may not be the best person to ask...... I'm new...... returning to the industry. I haven't been to the show in about nine years..... but from what I've heard from other people...... talking to retailers....... they seem very positive........ there is still some uncertainty about some of the mergers and acquisitions and things like that within the industry....... They're still trying to see where that's going to work out........ but the people we have talked to have been very positive. The attendance according to the folks at Interbike is almost the same as it was last year for the first day. I think they were off by only 100 people is what they told us. People I talked to said they felt the attendance felt the same as last year. We as a company are very positive. It was a challenging year for a lot of people......... it was a challenging year for us as a company........ but it's kind of forced us to rethink how we do our business and how to move forward so we're very positive about this show and moving forward.

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

So far no....... we are evaluating it...... it did change our travel plans...... we all drove here to Las Vegas...... we're close enough that we could drive but we had all planned on flying. We will also evaluate future travel plans....... we've put in process an emergency plan as far as how we run our business........ making sure we can account for our people wherever they are..... we have a plan for Interbike...... if something were to happen at Interbike........ we have an emergency plan for that now...... so we just have to think about how we run our business and how we interact as a company........ as far as marketing and promotion...... we will continue to be aggressive but I think our plans will be less long term......... I think we will have more short term programs that will allow for us to react to any changes in the market.

Are you happy with this year's show?

Having not been to the show in nine years....... I'm ecstatic...... our booth has worked well for us as a company for the focuses that we did have....... it's worked very well. We were able to showcase the things that we really wanted to talk about......... we've had great traffic in the booth.......... our retail traffic has been phenomenal....... according to what I have seen so far...... our salespeople have been very happy with the results of this show. We're actually thinking about expanding booth space next year.