MEC Ghost Bikes

Call me crazy, but don't you think the makers of "Ghost" bicycles and their Canadian reseller, MEC, might want to do a little re-branding? I mean, would you buy a Ghost brand bike? I'm not normally superstitious, but I suspect that there is a certain amount of "punitive irony" in the cosmos with my name on it.

 

Buying a Ghost bike seems like a surefire way to test that belief. Not gonna do it. Uh uh. Just sayin'.

 

Of course, most consumers of bicycles don't feed on a steady diet of bike stuff off the Internet and elsewhere and thus would not know that the white-painted memorials to fallen cyclists are also called "ghost bikes".

 

I did a little googlifying and it would seem MEC is fully aware of the unfortunate name but has to live with it or drop this supplier of what they consider good stuff from Germany, which they aren't planning on.

 

Article with MECs "response" here.

 

They say the brand has not been affected in Europe, but still, who's to know? The company's web site didn't say when they were founded, but I wikipediafied that the company was founded in 1993, which I am pretty sure pre-dates the "ghost bike" memorial movement. It would seem they are the victims of chance on this one. I'll bet they're none too happy, but don't want to abandon the brand recognition they have achieved.

 

Damn it, I started this post wanting to poke fun at the unfortunate name, but instead what has happened is that now I'm feeling sorry for the company and jonesing for a nice modern mountain bike. I haven't owned one in a long time and the bikes I just saw have me all worked up. Damn Ghosts! Get out of my mind!

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K
 

London Ontario's Mountain Equipment Co-op: Location and Jobs

While perusing my web stats, I noticed that quite a few people who landed on my recent post about MEC were looking for the store's planned location. It is in "Wellington Commons", which means, in localese, "near the PetSmart and Pizza Hut down on Wellington near Exeter". Being a slightly Obsessive and Curious sort, that much info wasn't cutting it for me. So I called up MEC and they were kind enough to give me the exact location, which information I transformed into the handy map below:

Since I am a member of the mec co-op, I also received an email from them about hiring people for the store:

MEC is looking for a Store Manager, Team Leaders, and Front-line Staff for our new London location. Know some excellent people for these roles?

As a member and part owner of MEC, you have a say in how the business operates. If you know someone (why not you?) that would love to surround themselves with good people and great outdoor gear, encourage them to apply today.

The way I see it, if you live in London Ontario and are reading this blog, you are "excellent people". If you, in addition, would love to surround yourself with good people (and who except anthrophobes wouldn't?) and great outdoor gear (and who except hylophobes wouldn't?) I am hereby encouraging you to apply today by providing this link to MEC's current job opportunities. When I followed the link myself (being the Curious type mentioned above), I was greeted with this:

New Bike? Wah? Needless to say, this image interested me beyond easing my mind about where the missing half of the woman from my email's face had gone. It turns out that MEC offers its Full and Part-Time employees (sorry, no joy casual workers) "Interest-free computer, bike, or boat loans". My mental image of new employees being issued new bikes was dashed. Still pretty cool though, if you ask me.

Well, that's it. Hopefully I can now move on to addressing something else, like my self-diagnosed Porphyrophobia. I know I have this fear, because one time about fifteen years ago Mrs. Rantwick was awakened by me banging around in our bedroom closet, sleep walking. She turned on the light and apparently there I was in the closet with a wire hanger in my hand. When discovered thus, I said "this will help in the battle against Oprah." Pretty weird, I know. True story though, and it obviously means I once suffered from porphyrophobia and probably still do, right? Right.

Diagnosis: Pal.

R A N T W I C K

PS - Don't go down to that planned MEC location and expect to find anything. I've been by and there's no sign of activity at all yet.

Good News Bad News - Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) Coming to London Ontario

The good news: I am very happy. MEC is opening a store here in London Ontario. Mountain Equipment Co-op is a store very much like REI in the United States. I just read a snippet about it in the London Free Press here. Some of the comments about the article questioned why MEC would open here since we have a very good outfitters called Novack's downtown. I like Novack's too, but they don't do bikes. Which leads to the bad news...

I fear that the wide variety and lower prices on bicycle accessories offered by MEC could be bad news for my favourite local bike shops. Quality isn't always as high, but they do sell some good brands like Planet Bike that are harder to find in Canada, and their cheap house brands of cycling clothing are pretty popular too. I have no idea how much of a lbs's profits come from clothing and accessories like fenders, racks, lights, etc. but this can't be good. MEC expanded into selling bicycles as well a couple of years ago which is also troubling.

I'm torn. Selfish me is happy. Unselfish me is a little worried for the local shops. Time will tell, I guess.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - Thanks to lots of people ending up on this looking for London MEC info, I have collected everything I have written or learned about it here.