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MHPVA member Frank Geyer of Brighton had two Challenge recumbents at the winter meeting, along with the news that he is now the Challenge distributor for North America. Challenge recumbents are made in the Netherlands.
For those of you who don't know Franknspeed, he's from Germany, is an engineer working for an automotive parts supplier in the Detroit area, and one of the fastest HPV racers in the Midwest and beyond. I asked him to write something about his becoming the Challenge distributor, so here it is. (No, he didn't quit his day job.) -Mike E.
My first contact with Challenge was at Northbrook, Illinois, in 2001. I raced an M5 Shock Proof at the time and was new in the U.S. scene. With my first time ever doing a standing start kilometer, I almost broke the track record and got the attention of bentrideronline editor Bryan Ball.
He gave me a Challenge Jester (which I bought from him a year later) to race for him and Challenge. So I sold the Shockproof and raced the Jester from then on.
In 2002 Paul from Challenge invited me to come to Cyclevision (in Europe) and prepared a bike for me. I got my piece of humble pie there; it's a lot more competitive than over here.
The same year I won the world's in the male stock class on the same old Jester, which was another world title for Challenge.
So when we heard that Paul was looking for a U.S. distributor in 2004, we (my wife Anja and I) thought that this could be interesting for us and said yes when he asked me if I would be interested.
Luck had it that he just had finished his new line of bikes, including the SL superlight series, so we got into the business right on time.
The SL series are selling well. The Seiran SL (high racer) and the Mistral SL are the top selling bikes.
We are supplying bikes to dealers and sell to customers direct, if desired. As our goal is to establish a solid dealership network in the U.S., we prefer selling through dealerships, as the customer gets better service than by buying direct. If someone buys direct, the bike comes partially assembled in a box, whereas a dealer sells the bike ready to ride.
Eventually we will stock the best selling models, but we need at least one full season to figure out which models to pick. Currently we deliver to dealers and customers in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
This season we will attend several bike events with our show bikes, the first being the annual recumbent rally with RBR in Pennsylvania in May. Also, we will be at the various Michigan recumbent rallies and at the Bryant Tucker 100 HPV race in Northbrook, Ill., and maybe some others, too.
If anyone has more questions please feel free to ask at info@eurdis.com. The Challenge Web site is www.challengebikes.com
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HPV RALLY
After some discussion, members decided to keep the same schedule of events and the same fee structure as last year for the June 11-12 rally at Waterford. We also decided to keep the same prize procedures and total budget, except to raise the urban transportation contest prize budget to $40. Thus the total prize allocations for this year are: $300, general prizes, about 20 items; $25 for best homebuilt (Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builder's Bonanza); $40 for urban transportation contest = $365 total.
Prize coordinator Kiehler was urged to work with the race director to avoid awarding too many prizes to the same individuals.
OFFICERS
The incumbent slate of officers and at-large board members was nominated and re-elected: President, Wally Kiehler, Grosse Pointe Woods; vice president, Rick Wianecki, Okemos (representative to HPRA); treasurer, Bill Frey, Grosse Pointe Farms; secretary, Paul Pancella, Kalamazoo; at large, Mike Eliasohn, St. Joseph, and Paul Bruneau, Portage. The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
SHOW AND TELL
Wally Kiehler showed the used Lightning F-40 he "stole" for $2,500.
Bill Frey showed his still-shiny Tour East Fold Rush.
Don Smith showed his highly modified Baron low-racer, with a claimed weight of under 19 pounds.
Paul Bruneau showed the carbon fiber Velokraft low-racer, which has made him a force to be feared [a little -PB] in his local bike club.
Rick Wianecki showed a carbon nose fairing with clear blown windscreen top which has recently come out of his workshop. He is currently checking it for fit on various platforms, to determine if a mold will be produced to make more.
John Foltz showed a less expensive front fairing solution made from 3 mm corrugated plastic. He achieves compound curves by stitching strips together with tie-wraps.
After announcements from Wolverbent organizer Bob Krzewinski, the meeting ended at about 3:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Pancella, Secretary
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