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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

My latest piece for Bicycle Retailer explores measures suppliers can take to help rebuild dealer trust. Read the whole piece here: www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Re-earning dealer trust, part two

When dealers can trust suppliers, everyone benefits.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

My latest piece for Bicycle Retailer is about the huge revenue opportunity for bike shops to repair all kinds of hub-motor ebikes, and the skills they need to be able to do so. www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Why every bike shop should be repairing (almost) every e-bike

Repairs on "e-bikes we don't sell" offers a huge revenue opportunity for specialty bicycle retailers. It's time to start taking advantage of it.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

In my latest piece for @BicycleRetailer, I explore the question of why bicycle sales have been so slow when ridership levels are at a 25-year high. www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Ridership is (still) up. So why are sales (still) down?

Remember the COVID-era bike bump? Well, those riders are still out there. They're just not buying new bikes.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

My latest piece for BicycleRetailer is out today. In it, I discuss the existential need for the US-based bicycle business to do more to reach out to entry-level Americans on bikes. This is a reality that affects every factory, every bike brand and every retailer in the nation.

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: What the industry is doing to bring new and returning customers back to riding bikes, part one

As the Big Four continue to focus on ever-more expensive models with ever-more incremental levels of improvement, there's a whole blue ocean of new riders out there

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

This is the day of the year when I point out that if we really wanted to honor our war dead, we'd stop making so many of them.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

I got so many comments from last month's piece about the top 10 selling bike brands' dealer counts, I did it again with 19 brands overall. Also, how many bike shops do Trek, Specialized and Pon/Cannondale actually own? www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Dealer counts, revisited

A new way of looking a how many dealers various brands have

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

My latest piece for Bicycle Retailer shows the top ten US bike brands by size of their dealer footprint. There's some surprises in the data, and some comments about why dealers are still critically important to the success of suppliers. www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Who’s #1 with dealers? Probably not who you think.

When it comes to dealer footprint, the “industry leaders” aren’t always the most popular brands

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

My new piece for Bicycle Retailer is up. In it, I explore the long term effects of excess inventory on suppliers, and how it just might mark a change in the supplier/retailer dynamic of the past 20-odd years. www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Is this the year suppliers finally bring inventory into line with market reality?

A ray of sunshine for the 2026 season, maybe

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Question for the day: people involved in an oligarchy are rightly referred to as oligarchs. Is it therefore correct to refer to people involved in a kakistocracy as "kakistocks?" Asking for a friend.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

This month's post for Bicycle Retailer follows up on my search for Authenticity in the cycling industry, and finds it in an unlikely place...the cream of local bike shops. See what you think. www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: In search of authenticity, part 2

Authenticity in the cycling industry is all around us. Just not where we've been looking.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

My current piece for Bicycle Retailer is all about authenticity, and why the cycling industry could use a whole lot more of it. Read the whole thing here: www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Speaking of The Rapture, Wikipedia lists almost 200 predictions about the end of the world. To date, about 165 of them never happened. The rest are for dates yet to come. Me, I'm betting on the heat-death of the universe. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

en.m.wikipedia.org

List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events - Wikipedia

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

DISNEY: "OK, we are putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. You can resubscribe now." ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

"Taiwan has been the top overseas supplier of screws to the US for more than three decades, but steel and aluminum tariffs are now forcing some factories to close." —The New York Times Sometimes the punchlines just write themselves.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Things I think About (That No One Else Ever Would): Why isn’t "anagram" an anagram? If it was, it would be an "anagramargana", which, in addition to sounding a whole lot cooler, would be far more appropriate.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Part Three of my three-part series for Bicycle Retailer on oversupply on the bicycle industry is up. In it, I tie together some of the ideas from the first two installments and suggest some changes for how we might move forward as an industry. www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Another Fine Mess, Part Three

As the industry continues its business-as-usual post-COVID death spiral, there is still an opportunity to put a stop to it.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Image caring more about stopping a memorial for people killed in a mass shooting than stopping mass shootings. #Priorities

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Just a word to the wise: the autumn equinox isn't until September 22nd, which means it's still summer for almost four weeks yet. This whole summer-ends-at-Labor-Day business is just a plot hatched by the nefarious international Pumpkin Spice Cartel. Don't fall for this scam!

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Score one for the Good Guys. AI maker Anthropic caves following its blatantly illegal use of copyrighted material from authors to train the company's LLMs. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

arstechnica.com

Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action

Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

This poster is currently up in Washington DC. We'll see how long it stays up. Because They hate it when we laugh at Them, no humor will be permitted in the coming shining city (or cities) upon a hill. Please govern yourselves accordingly.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

So now Trump has claimed 10% of Intel's revenues. As Molly Ivins put it, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." She attributes this quote to Benito Mussolini, although it's never been confirmed.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

"For grifters who prey on angry, bitter rubes, stealing from the rubes only makes them angrier and more bitter—and thus easier to fleece." —Cory Doctorow, Conservatism Considered as a Movement of Bitter Rubes, 22-July-2025 Any relevance of the above quote is left as an exercise for the reader.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

From this morning's Morning Brew newsletter: A Wall Street Journal reporter attended the wedding of two friends who were married by the Hellman’s Mayonnaise mascot, Manny Mayo. There’s nothing as beautiful as seeing two people bonded in aioli matrimony.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

An Occasion Worth Celebrating. 51 years ago today, Richard Nixon resigned. As a young man, I remember feeling an enormous sense of relief, triumph, and personal validation. Score one for the Good Guys.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Thought for the Day: “What does the AI machine eat? It eats youth, spontaneity, life beauty, and, above all, it eats creativity. It eats quality and shits quantity.” —Paraphrased from the Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs (Burroughs originally said "money")

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Microsoft adding its Copilot AI to Word and Excel is exactly like bringing back Clippy. Only not as cute.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

I note that Joey Chestnut has once again won the Fourth of July Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. If there's a more All-American sport than Competitive Binge Eating, I'd surely like to know what it is. Image: NYT

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

47 wants to host a UFC Cage Match on the White House lawn. My Modest Proposal: use members of his own cabinet. Winner sleeps in the Lincoln Bedroom plus a lifetime supply of Trump-branded merch. Loser gets a warrantless abduction by masked ICE "agents" and a 1-way ticket to Alligator Alcatraz.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

My latest piece for Bicycle Retailer is the first installation in a multipart series (3, as of now) exploring how the industry got itself into the current oversupply imbroglio, where the responsibility lies, and what we might do to prevent its recurrence. Get the full story at the link.

bicycleretailer.com

Vosper: Another fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, part one

Some more thoughts concerning our never-ending oversupply crisis

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” —Dorothy Parker, of course

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Thought For The Day: "Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth." Lucy Parsons, African-American Labor Organizer (c. 1853-1942)

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

In a Pew poll today, 64% of Canadians described their feelings about America as "Unfavorable" (or "Unfavourable," in Canadian). And I thought 64%? They're Canadians. They're so nice, they like EVERYBODY! Except us now. www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

pewresearch.org

1. Views of the United States

Across 24 nations, a 49% median view the U.S. favorably, while an identical share do not. People are also roughly split on whether U.S. democracy works well.

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Frida Ghitis @fridaghitis.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

The neighborhood is getting ready for tomorrow

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

I usually take MeidasTouch with a grain of salt, but this sums things up nicely: "It took Trump less than 150 days to destroy our alliances, destroy our economy, start a failed trade war against the world, send our military to attack Los Angeles, and now create a massive war in the Middle East."

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

From The New York Times newsletter this morning: Trump attended the opening night of “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center. “It’s a musical largely about a revolution,” Jimmy Kimmel said. “After Act 1 last night, Trump called in the National Guard and squashed the whole thing.”

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Thought for the Day: To the extent to which media is owned by corporations, that media necessarily reflects neither a liberal or conservative bias at its heart, but a corporate one.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Make no mistake. According to people who are actually there on the ground, there are no "riots" in LA, no "looting." Federalizing the National Guard and sending Marines in without being invited by the CA governor is a cynical power grab, the thin edge of a coming Police State wedge.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

I note the Federal Reserve has reinstated the swindling scum at Wells Fargo as outstanding corporate citizens. As we say here in the South, there's only one way to cure an egg-sucking dog, and it ain't by leaving the door to the chicken coop open at night.

investopedia.com

Wells Fargo No Longer Faces Federal Reserve’s 2018 Asset Cap

The Federal Reserve has lifted restrictions imposed on Wells Fargo's growth seven years ago following a series of scandals, including one where staff set up fake accounts.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Conversation between me and my wife, just now: J: I'm on my way to a stupid @#$%^& meeting that doesn't need to happen. Me: Are you bringing Snacks? J: No. I'm just bringing Attitude.

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Jooli-AHH! Boolia 👻🍂🎃 @jooliaghoulia.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

The perfect bird feeder doesn't exi--

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Bottoms up, Ladies! Wait, that doesn't sound right. How about: “We found that women who consumed moderate amounts of caffeinated coffee in midlife were more likely to age in good health.”

time.com

Drinking Coffee Linked to Healthy Aging in Middle-Aged Women

Good news for coffee lovers: A new study suggests drinking a cup each day could be linked to long-term health benefits.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Best new word for describing the state of the economy: Tariffying.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Personally, I think the mark of a good parent is that your kids end up less messed up than you are. Of course in my case I have to admit that doesn't raise the bar very high.

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Rick Vosper @rickvosper.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Saw a bluebird (Eastern) a couple days ago. We don't get many here in South Arkansas, so it's a particular treat when they do appear.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

New from me: I am a professor of public administration, and I have a radical proposal - President's should not put people with significant drug problems in charge of our government. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/presidents...

donmoynihan.substack.com

Presidents shouldn't put people with drug problems in charge of our government

Nixon didn't, Trump did

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