Candover Investments Buys Thule Car Racks From EQT for EU465 Million

Candover Investments Plc, a U.K. buyout firm, announced the purchase of Thule AB, a Swedish maker of car roof racks, truck racks, cargo roof boxes, ski, kayak, canoe and bike carriers for 465 million euros ($595 million).

Candover is buying Thule from EQT Partners AB, a Stockholm- based buyout firm backed by the billionaire Wallenberg family. Owned by EQT since 1999, Thule Racks had sales of 2.2 billion kronor ($310 million) in 2003.

"Thule holds global market-leading positions and has considerable opportunities for expansion,'' John Arney, a director at Candover, said in a statement.

Typically it is the nature of buyout firms to fund two-thirds of each takeover with loans and then seek to expand their companies before selling in a five year time frame. UBS AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc are arranging loans for the Thule Rack takeover. Deutsche Bank AG advised Candover.


news tags: thule car racks : candover investments buys thule

Yakima Racks to Move Company Headquarters to Portland, Oregon

Yakima Racks, now in Arcata, Calif., manufactures car racks and truck racks for all types of equipment including bike, ski, snowboard, canoe and kayak racks.

Outdoor car rack maker Yakima Racks announced plans Tuesday to relocate its corporate headquarters and employees from Northern California to the Portland area to join what it called a significant number of outdoor industry businesses in Oregon.

The chief operating officer, said the privately held maker of car racks is "99 percent certain" it will lease office space in either Beaverton or Hillsboro. The move will begin in mid-February and conclude by early July, he said.

Yakima would add to the Portland area's growing cluster of outdoor apparel and equipment makers, which range from giants such as Nike, Adidas America and Columbia Sportswear, to smaller firms such as softball bat maker DeMarini Sports. Bicycle-parts maker King Cycle Group moved to Portland from Shasta Lake, Calif., last year.

The Arcata, Calif., company doesn't expect tax breaks or other concessions because its Portland area work force will encompass white-collar jobs in sales, marketing, product development and finance, rather than in manufacturing.

Yakima Racks' decision to relocate represents a victory for the Portland area, which is showing mixed signs of an economic recovery. The Portland-Vancouver unemployment rate fell from 6.8 percent in August to 6.5 percent in September, the most recent available data showed, but economists had hoped for stronger job gains.

Yakima scouted 10 other sites nationwide but opted for the Portland area because of its educated labor pool, transportation infrastructure and proximity to outdoor recreation, sources said. The company expects to grow quickly and was concerned that Arcata wouldn't be big enough to support the expansion.

The company plans to keep about 65 employees in Arcata and cut about 10 to 15. Yakima plans include recruiting about 20 to 30 workers from the Portland area, the company said, because not all California employees tapped for relocation are expected to accept it.

news tags: yakima racks company : business relocation portland oregon

Springfield City Council Requires Bicycle Racks

Springfield, Missouri bicyclists can look forward to locking up their bikes near more destinations.
An ordinance passed last month by the Springfield City Council requires bicycle racks outside all new buildings — except houses, duplexes and townhouses.

Bicycle racks are also required when use of an existing building changes enough to warrant additional vehicle parking. The requirement is applied to building permits granted after Oct. 18.

The new ordinance comes as a welcome change for bicycle enthusiasts, who anticipate more people will ride bikes if they know there's a place to lock them up.

"The more facilities that exist, the more people will ride bikes, the more visibility they will have and motorists will be more aware of them," said Bruce Abid-Yazdi, a spokesman for Springbike Bicycle Club and a member of the city's Traffic Advisory Board.

"It basically creates awareness and gives people the idea, 'Oh, I could have ridden my bike.'"

Adriana Giraldo, a graduate student at Southwest Missouri State University, rides her bike out of necessity, not choice. She hopes it will help keep her from having to lock her bike to trees and benches.

"The ordinance is going to be very good for people on bikes — especially in the winter, when it's dark and you want something close to the building and safe," she said.

Those in the development community, who will be paying for these bike racks, are more reserved in their enthusiasm.

"It is something I think is good," said Geoffrey Butler, an architect with Butler Rosenbury & Partners, who helped city staff design the ordinance. "We, on the development side, have to be cautious that we don't get loaded down with requirements where it makes development infeasible."

The new ordinance grew out of an April meeting at which the city's Bicycle Policy Committee presented a number of recommendations to the City Council.

At the council's request, city staff drafted a bicycle parking proposal. The proposal was later reviewed and refined by the Development Issues Input Group, a committee including members of the development community.

"At first, they were reaching way too far," said Butler, co-chair of the committee. "There's nothing wrong with bike parking — we endorse that. But if you keep adding requirements, it just costs and costs and gets unreasonable."

Butler said the committee came around after language was added allowing reductions in parking-lot requirements.

The final ordinance states that up to 10 percent of required automobile parking may be substituted with bicycle parking, at a rate of two bicycle spaces for each automobile space. This is only applicable in parking lots with 10 or more spaces.

"Reducing parking requirements saves money," said Butler, adding that building new paved parking costs, on average, about $1,500 per space.

"A bike rack, you might spend $500 to $600," said Bulter. "... Right there, you have more than offset the cost to provide the bike racks.

"It's a pretty fair trade off — it might be more fair to the developer."

Butler said devoting less space to parking lots is also more environmentally friendly.

"It reduces impervious surface," said Butler. "You actually end up with more green space, and a better looking development. ... The more green space, the less storm drainage problems you have."

With the parking space trade-off in place, the committee endorsed the ordinance. The Springfield City Council unanimously approved the ordinance Oct. 18.

Christian Lentz, a senior planner with the city who helped draft the ordinance, said all new developments must follow the same requirements for providing bicycle racks — including retail outlets, restaurants, offices, schools, churches and apartment buildings.

"Communities find it hard to substantiate why one use would be required and another exempted," said Lentz. "Every one of those uses have tenants, employees, customers, users. All of these places, people could drive to, so it's within the realm of possibility that one would ride a bicycle."

Lentz said the city's intent in the ordinance was to help support citizens who can not or choose not to drive an automobile.

"We look at the bicycle system just like we do a pedestrian system," said Lentz. "We need to have a variety of means for people to get around, and not just put all our efforts into automobiles."

U.S. Census figures from 2000 show 8.3 percent of all Missouri households have no vehicles. In Springfield, the number climbs to 9.3 percent.

"We need to be doing something to serve them," said Lentz.

Abid-Yazdi admits the ordinance — limited to new buildings and changed uses to old buildings — is a small step toward making the city more bicycle-friendly.

"I think this is a pretty major success, mainly because it's a first step," said Abid-Yazdi. "...It promotes awareness in the community. The ultimate goal would be for businesses to see the value of having bicycle parking."

That value isn't lost of Giraldo, who has used her bike as her primary mode of transportation for three years.

"It's just the beginning, but it's a good beginning, I think. I'm very pleased, of course."


news tags: springfield missouri bike racks

Sportworks Bike-Rack-for-Buses Signs Deal with Romeo RIM

Sportworks Quick Load Bike Racks, located in Woodinville Washington, whose business includes large bicycle racks for bus transit systems, signed a deal with Romeo RIM, a manufacturer of energy absorbing bumpers for the transit industry. The partnership is expected to significantly expand Sportworks bus rack business.

"Sportworks Bike-Rack-for-Buses are chosen by more and more public transit authorities who are supporting multi-modal options. We are excited to be working with Sportworks and to put more bike racks on more buses," said John Geisler, Romeo RIM's vice-president of sales and marketing.

By integrating Sportworks brackets for its Bike-Rack-for-Buses into Romeo RIM's HELP bumpers, all transit authorities will be able to attach the bike racks without tools--thereby saving labor and money. Look for Sportworks Bike Racks and Romeo RIM to introduce a variety of enhancements and innovations to the bike rack-bumper combination over the next couple of years.

news tags: sportworks racks : sportworks bus bike racks

UK Vauxhall Astra Estate Includes Cargo Roof Carrier & More Cargo Room

Already acclaimed for its class leading stowage space and flexibility, the newly launched Vauxhall Astra Estate comes to market with a host of custom-made accessories to help owners match their daily needs with lifestyle aspirations.

All the accessories are designed to give owners more room for individuality while retaining the new model’s inherent strengths of dynamic handling, strong performance, comfort, practicality and safety protection for family and pets.

High on the practical list for many buyers of the Astra Estate will be a FlexOrganiser system to help make maximum use of the model’s generous roof luggage carrier space and internal cargo room.

There are also individual nets available to secure loose items to the front passenger seat, load compartment floor, side panels and back of the rear seats.

In the passenger compartment a special waste bag to keep the interior tidy can be fixed by Velcro to the rear of the front seats, as can a portable backpack. There is a glove compartment organiser, sun visor CD storage and a co-driver storage box for maps, newspapers or CD’s.

A lightweight multifunction box to keep food and drinks cool or warm can be securely attached to the rear or front passenger seat using the standard three-point safety belt, or a portable cool bag can be plugged into the standard 12V auxiliary power socket. Prices of all these items range from UK £85 up to UK £123 for the multifunction box.

As well as roof rack carriers to accommodate a wide variety of equipment such as bicycles, skis, surfboards and roof boxes, an interior bike carrier is available to allow up to two bikes to be transported securely inside the Astra Estate’s load compartment. This handy accessory is priced at UK £88.

For pet owners, there is a dog protection grid to separate the passenger and luggage compartments and a separator grid, which attaches to the dog grid, to divide the luggage compartment in two (£77). A safety net to span the space between the top of the rear seat and the roof lining can be fitted to protect passengers from loose objects in the rear.

Both hard or soft cargo liners tailored exactly to the internal dimensions of the luggage compartment can be fitted to protect against mud and wet walking boots, while a full width cover for the rear seat protects upholstery from animals and dirty objects.

news tags: uk vauxhall astra estate cargo roof carrier

Sportworks Announces Insta-Gater Truck Bed Bike Rack

Sportworks, a Seattle-based manufacturer of quick-loading bicycle racks is claiming it can reduce loading and unloading time of bikes in pickup truck beds to 10 seconds or less, by eliminating the need to remove the front wheel.

A Sportworks source reports the following:
"While Sportworks is not the only company to offer truck bike racks that transport "ready-to-ride" bicycles by securing the front wheel, the Insta-Gater is the only "wheel-on" rack designed for truck beds so far.

Other manufacturers, including Yakima Racks and Thule Racks, have wheel-on models but are currently limited to roof-mount systems using towers and crossbars, which would be somewhat impractical for an open bed pickup truck. And that's where the Insta-Gator shines: ease of installation and use.

The Sportworks InstaGator rack employs a base which is secured onto the bed of the truck by the closed tailgate with ratcheting anchors. An adjustable-length arm with a J-style hook swings up behind the back of the front wheel and ratchets down snugly around the tire just behind the fork crown. The front wheel rests on a cradle on the rack base, while the arm compresses the wheel against the tailgate to hold the entire bike securely. When loaded, the bike faces the tailgate (which causes an interesting reflection in your rearview mirror at night if your truck has a brake light at the top of your rear window and your bicycle is equipped with a rear reflector or taillight). The Insta-Gator bike racks can accommodate wheels from 20 to 29 inches in diameter, and tires up to three inches wide, although it's not recommended for use with bicycles that have head tube angles less than 68 degrees. Maximum bicycle weight for the rack is 50 pounds, meaning it will accommodate an upright tandem in an average long bed (7 to 8 feet). For tailgate openings of 51 inches or more, up to three InstaGater racks can be used side by side, while trucks with narrower tailgates can only support up to two racks.

The Sportworks Insta-Gator can be installed within one minute by inserting its two anchor straps into the gap between the truck bed and open tailgate, then closing the tailgate. The ratchets must then be tightened for a snug fit.

While compatible with most pick-up trucks, any pickup bed that does not fit a bicycle with both wheels attached and the tailgate closed -- such as some of the compact crew-cab trucks, Explorer SportTrac and Subaru Baja -- will unfortunately not work with this rack. For trucks with camper shells, vertical clearance will need to be measured with the InstaGator, as some bikes could be too tall when mounted. Shells taller than "cab-high" may offer enough clearance, as will deeper truck beds, depending on bike size. Also consumers will need to keep in mind that loading a bike into the Insta-Gater with a camper shell will mean climbing in and out over a closed tailgate.

Extensive testing of the Insta-Gator was performed using vehicles including Toyota Tundra and Tacoma, Dodge Dakota and Ranger, Ford f150, Nissan Titan, Chevy models as well as others."

news tags: sportworks bike racks : sportworks instagator pickup truck racks

U-Haul Announces New Car Top Carriers to Line of Rentals

U-HAUL PRESS RELEASE
U-Haul has announced additions to its line of car top carrier solutions. It has also increased its selection of equipment, designed specifically for moving household furnishings, including moving vans ranging in size from 10 feet to 26 feet - the largest in the industry; trailers ranging in size from 4-by-6 feet to 6-by-12 feet; car-top carriers and trailer rental hitches.

U-Haul is also the world's largest installer of permanent trailer hitches.

Customers also may find support items, such as furniture pads, appliance and furniture dollies and side-view mirrors.

U-Haul also offers sales items designed specifically for moving, such as heavy-duty boxes in a variety of sizes. Tape, rope, protective-wrapping materials, locks and even mattress covers are available.

Successful business relationships have been instrumental in helping U-Haul build and maintain a network of more than 14,500 independent dealers throughout the United States and Canada.

news tags: uhaul rental company : uhaul cartop rental carriers

Jeep Redesigns Roof Rack in Effort to Reduce Noise

Engineers of the new 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee have redesigned the factory roof rack with the purpose of dramatically reducing noise in the interior cabin. Results from testing have shown dramatic reduction of wind noise that roof racks normally cause.

news tags: 2005 jeep grand cherokee : jeep roof racks

Kubota Recall Notice of RTV900 with Cargo Box

Kubota Recall Notice
The front hood of the RTV900 utility vehicle can come off during operation, striking the driver or passenger and causing serious personal injury.

The following product safety recall was conducted voluntarily by the firm in cooperation with the CPSC. Consumers should stop using the product immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Kubota RTV900 Utility Vehicle
Units: About 16,000
Distributor: Kubota Tractor Corporation, Torrance, Calif.

Hazard: The front hood of the RTV900 utility vehicle can come off during operation, striking the driver or passenger and causing serious personal injury.

Incidents/Injuries: Kubota has received reports of two personal injuries to the face and/or back while people were operating the vehicles.

Description: The RTV900 Utility Vehicles are four-wheel, off-road vehicles with cargo boxes. They are designed for two people to sit side by side. "RTV900" appears on the side of the front hood. The serial number range for the affected vehicles is 10001 through 25883.

Sold at: Autthorized Kubota RTV900 Dealers nationwide

Manufactured in: U.S.A.

Remedy: Stop using the recalled vehicles and contact the nearest Kubota RTV900 Dealer to schedule an appointment to have the hood inspected and, if necessary, replaced free of charge.

news tags: kubota tractors : kubota cargo box recall