Allen Bike Racks Launches Newly Redesigned Website

Allen Racks, manufacturer of car bicycle carriers and bike storage racks, announced the launch of their newly redesigned website on February, 28 2005. The new Allen Racks website provides the full line of 2005 product offerings, including detailed descriptions, images, installation and instruction manuals and a fit guide for visitors to verify compatibility of each bicycle carrier with vehicle models.

Yakima Car Racks Announces the Hiring of Amy Buckalter

Yakima Racks and its parent company, Watermark, have announced the hiring of Amy Buckalter as senior vice president of global sales and marketing. Prior to this position she was an executive at Nike, Inc. and Burton Snowboards. Buckalter brings to the company more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in the sporting goods and outdoor gear sectors.

She has worked with WaterMark and Yakima Racks as a consultant since August 2004. Her new position involves the oversight of all sales and customer service functions, as well as all trade and consumer marketing. Buckalter's most recent post was with Burton Snowboards as vice president of global sales.

WaterMark CEO, Jim Clark, stated "Amy is one of the best sales minds in the outdoor industry - period. With the addition of Amy and Steve Rodden, our new product development vice president, we are well on the way to rounding out the powerful leadership team that will move our products, sales and company to ever higher levels of performance." Steve Rodden, a product designer with over fifteen years of experience, joined Yakima Car Racks and Watermark earlier this year. He was previously with Fiori Research and Design located in Portland, Oregon, a design firm that he co-founded with partner Steve Brown in 1998.

Thule Racks Hires New VP of Sales and Western Region Sales Manager

The world leading manufacturer of sport racks and car carrying solutions, Thule Racks, recently announced the appointment of Tripp Wyckoff as its VP of sales and service and Larry Hewett as the new U.S. western region sales manager. Mr. Wyckoff will have the responsibility of overseeing all sales and customer service activities for Thule Inc. All sales and customer marketing managers, including Mr. Hewett, will be reporting to him.

"Tripp and Larry will be great additions to our team," President of Thule, Inc. Fred Clark stated. "Tripp is a long time Thule user and his understanding of our dealers and our business will be integral to our support and continued growth of the rack category in the United States." Most recently Wyckoff was the Managing Director/General Manager of Pedro's USA, a division of Swix Sports, where he led the Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, Product Development, and Purchasing. Prior to joining Pedro's, Wyckoff worked for 9 years with Kryptonite, where he departed as the Director of Global Action Sports Channels, which included Snow, Powersport, Bike and OEM channels.

"While at Kryptonite, I had the pleasure of working with Fred Clark and his team, and have always felt that Thule would be a great place for me one day," stated Wyckoff. "Thule is an incredible brand, and I'm excited about Thule's prospects for the coming years." Wyckoff will be based out of Thule Inc.'s corporate headquarters in Seymour, Connecticut, where he and his family will be relocating.

Proclaimed a "sales wizard" by SNEWS, Hewett spent over eighteen years with Yakima Racks and WaterMark where he most recently held the position of western director of sales. Hewett is the second former WaterMark employee to join Thule Racks this year, as Chris Dannewitz joined Thule as the vice president of business development in January of 2005. "There are few who know the rack category and western territory better than Larry," explained Clark. "We are excited to have him on our side after so many years competing with him. For so long my mission in life has been to throw flies into the Thule Racks ointment," Hewett joked. "Now that I am on the A-Team, I can direct that energy with laser focus on maximizing command drivers for Thule - stay tuned." Hewett will be working from his home in the Arcata, California region.

Thule Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary within the Thule Group. It is the leading U.S. manufacturer of car rack products, with production sites in Chicago, IL and Seymour, CT. The Thule Rack product line includes multi-purpose roof racks, roof top cargo boxes, rear hitch and trunk mount bike racks, and accessories for outdoor gear including ski, snowboard, bike, kayak, surfboard and canoe equipment.

Yakima Racks Begins Moving into Beaverton, Oregon Headquarters

Yakima Car Racks stated that it has begun moving into a Beaverton, Oregon 59,000-square-foot facility in Woodside Business Park. The company was previously based in Arcata, California. Company CEO, Jim Clark, said it required easier U.S. and overseas travel links to accommodate its growing business. Mr. Clark added that Beaverton and the surrounding area should make a nice proving ground for the company's trunk, hitch and roof racks for bicycles, skis, snowboards, kayaks and canoes, roof baskets and cargo boxes. Approximately 65% of all Yakima Racks are manufactured in a Tijuana, Mexico plant that employs 250 workers, with the remainder produced in other countries.

The company is a division of Watermark, which is solely owned by Atlanta-based Crescent Capital Investments, described by its Web site as a private equity arm of First Islamic Investment Bank of Bahrain. The Crescent Capital Investments website states "Crescent acquires controlling interests in companies with transaction values between $30 million and $300 million." Besides WaterMark, the website lists controlling interests in Cirrus Design, a Duluth, Minnesota manufacturer of single-engine airplanes; American Pad & Paper of Plano, Texas; Lee Industries, a North Carolina maker of road-paving equipment; DVT, a Georgia maker of assembly-line sensors used in manufacturing controls; Caribou Coffee of Minneapolis; and Transportation Safety Technologies, which has developed exterior obstacle-detectors for truck and bus drivers.

Besides Yakima Car Racks, the Watermark line includes Dagger and Perception Kayaks. Also located in Beaverton, Oregon are Nike, Columbia Sportswear and other outdoor gear and apparel makers.

Thule Car Racks Sponsors National River Cleanup Week

Thule Car Racks announced it will be partnering up with America Outdoors as a sponsor of National River Cleanup Week, May 14-22. National River Cleanup Week is a non-profit organization that works to raise public awareness of the magnitude of trash and waste that accumulates in U.S. waterways. Founded by America Outdoors in 1992, National River Cleanup Week now includes over 430,000 volunteers that have participated in 4,180 cleanups covering over 88,000 miles of waterways. In 2004, 47,706 volunteers that represented 340 registered groups collected an estimated 1,200 tons of trash and debris.

Chairman of National River Cleanup Week, David Brown, stated "Educating people about the sources of litter and pollution in our rivers is the first step in cleaning up our waterways. In just a couple of hours a dozen volunteers can collect a mountain of litter from one mile of shoreline. It's a great lesson in the role of individual responsibility in keeping our rivers free of trash and debris."

Thule will be providing kayak rack and canoe rack systems to enable volunteers to transport boats that will assist them in clean up efforts. Besides Thule Racks, the 2005 sponsor list includes Old Town Canoe & Kayaks, Extrasport, Wilderness Systems, Lotus kayak gear, Watermark, Hooked on the Outdoors, Canoe & Kayak magazine, Paddler magazine, the Shimoda Group, America Outdoors, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation, W.L. Gore & Associates, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and the Trull Foundation.

Sportworks Bike Racks Opens New Warehouse

Sportworks Bike Racks announced that it has opened a warehouse facility in Louisville, Kentucky. The company's other warehouse is located in Woodinville, Washington. Company spokesmen stated that the new facility would provide retailers east of the Rocky mountains the same quick shipping times and rates as Sportworks' western dealers, adding that shipments to the Southeast, Midwest and New England corridors will be reduced from 5-6 days to 1-3 days. The company expects freight costs will improve between 35% - 62% as well.

Sportworks VP of TranSport Products, Julie Gregg, stated "Through direct dealer feedback we know just-in-time ordering is very important. With the opening of our second warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, we can now supply all our dealers Sportworks product with quick delivery times and competitive rates.”

Dartz Luggage & Cargo Boxes to be Launched by Plastic Products During Spring 2005

Plastic Products of Coventry, England announced that it plans to introduce during the spring of 2005 a line of car roof cargo and luggage boxes. Plastic Products explained that it will be marketed under the Dartz label.

Chris Collyer, managing director, stated "We see it as a growth market, and one which fits in nicely with our need to have products of our own to help counter fluctuations in our traditional markets. Most luggage & cargo roof boxes open along one edge so that you can only load from one side. The gull-wing will open along its centre and allow loading from either side."

Sportworks Racks Releases New TranSport T2 Bicycle Rack

Bike rack maker, Sportworks, of Woodinville, Washington recently announced the release of the new TranSport T2 bicycle carrier. The company stated the Sportworks TranSport T2 accomodates a wide range of bicycle designs and sizes, eliminating bike interference with tray-to-tray adjustability, adding that the carrier includes Sportworks' Quick Load concept for the quickest loading time in the industry.

The new 4-bar linkage design transports bikes that weigh up to 60 pounds per tray and can safely be used on heavy duty pickup trucks as well. Sportworks announced at Interbike 2004, which took place in Las Vegas the first week of October, they planned to release and ship to dealers the new TranSport T2 on March 1, 2005. The company stated that they were proud to have meet the delivery deadline.

Sportworks VP of TranSport Products, Julie Gregg, stated "We are a company that thrives on dealer and customer feedback. We listen to customer comments and read customer e-mails to ensure that we create products people want. The TranSport T2 is a prime example of how dealers and consumers directly influence the design and manufacturing of a Sportworks bike rack. We are really excited with the outcome of the T2.”

Ski Roof Rack Saves Cat During Highway Ride

When recently driving along Interstate 15 in Idaho, Torri Hutchison noticed a fellow motorist trying to get her attention and pointing to her car roof rack. She stated that she thought possibly her ski rack was coming loose. She then pulled over to the side of the highway. The motorist pulled up behind her car and Hutchinson rolled down her window and heard the man shouting, "Your cat! Your cat!" He reached for the roof of her car and handed the shocked Hutchinson her cat Cuddle Bug, an orange tabby, who had been holding onto the ski rack as the vehicle travelled at speeds reaching 75 mph.

She had driven approximately 10 miles with the cat on top of the car. Additionally, Hutchinson had previously stopped for fuel, not noticing the cat at the time either. Hutchinson stated the cat had climbed into the back of her car as she was preparing to leave her house, and she took him out of the car but he then must've leaped onto the car roof rack when she wasn't looking.

Thule Racks Hires Ben 'Benny' Cruickshank as Western Envoy

Thule Racks, the world's leading manufacturer of sports rack and car rack carrying solutions, announced the hiring of Ben 'Benny' Cruickshank as the new Western Technical Representative and a member of the Thule Envoy program. Cruickshank will be responsible for attending and assisting Thule dealer in-store training sessions, retailer sales events, and outdoor related consumer events. Cruickshank will be based from his home in Boulder, Colorado.

Steve Doviak, Thule Inc. Marketing Manager, stated "We are excited to have Benny behind the wheel of the Thule Envoy van. His experience at retail and in the car rack industry with Rocky Mounts Bike Racks will be a great asset to us and a great resource for our dealers and consumers." Cruickshank comes to Thule with years of experience in the cycling and outdoor industries, previously holding customer service positions at Rocky Mounts, MontBell, and Inside Communications, the publisher of Ski Racing, VeloNews, and Inside Triathlon magazines.

Cruickshank stated "While at RockyMounts I had the opportunity to wear many hats, from manufacturing, distribution, and retail, and this experience will help me to best understand and serve Thule's retailers. I'm very excited about this opportunity and look forward to a great season."

A native of Michigan, Cruickshank grew up racing mountain bikes, afterwards taking up road bike racing while attending Michigan State University, where he studied merchandising management. Cruickshank is also an avid cross country and alpine skier and has a great appreciation for the arts and culture. A complete schedule of the events and locations that the Western and Southeastern Thule Envoy will be attending is available at Thule.com.

Thule Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary within the Thule Group. The company is the leading U.S. manufacturer of car rack products, with production sites in Seymour, Connecticut and Chicago, Illinois. Thule's product line features multi-purpose roof racks, roof baskets and cargo boxes, rear mount trunk and hitch racks and accessories for outdoor equipment including surfboards, snowboards, skis, canoes, kayaks and bikes.

Allen Bike Racks Develops Folding Bike Storage Rack

Allen Bike Racks, maker of bike car racks, has engineered and released a transportable folding bike storage rack. The Allen Racks folding bike rack has telescoping uprights, allowing it to pack and store into a fraction of its size. The folding bike rack is available in multiple versions for storing two, four or six bikes at a time. Size ranges of the Allen storage bike racks range from 12 inches to 36 inches long and are fully assembled. Allen Racks states that they are finished in a black powder coat for protection from the elements and include a lifetime guarantee.

Roof Racks in Jamaica Charged Additional Fees at Tolls

Drivers of regular sized cars are currently being charged higher rates at the Jamaican Vineyards toll plaza due to roof racks, which authorities say push their vehicles into a higher toll category. Toll operators stated that roof racks are not an extension but instead a core part of the vehicle. Jamaican toll plaza charge rates according to a car's size, but some vehicles such as the 2004 Suzuki Vitara cross over into two categories and if the Suzuki Vitara has a roof rack then that vehicle pays a higher toll than a Vitara without the roof rack.

Transportation authorities explained the matter in a release, outlining how toll collectors should be allowed to exercise discretion with regards to such issues, and that the public is not educated on the effect that the roof rack or other exterior accessories on the cars can have on the rates charged by the toll collectors. "This is in the context of no discretionary powers being granted to the collectors at the toll booths," authorities stated. Adding that "It is important that the public be educated about such technicalities, so users of the highway could better understand how the system works and how best to protect their interests in traversing the toll road."

A $200 fee is applied to class two cars that are more than 1.7 meters high but less than 5.5 meters long. There is a $400 fee charged for class three vehicles, which are more than 1.7 meters high and more than 5.5 meters long.