Columnist Susan Snyder: Interbike convention wheels, deals

Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 | 3:27 a.m.

Fender guitars, thong panties, men in skirts.

Evidently, it takes some pretty odd stuff to sell bicycles these days.

More than 28,000 manufacturers, retailers and bicycle industry professionals from across the globe gathered at the Sands Convention Center this past week for the annual Interbike convention to see what's new and figure out what to sell next year.

At least that's what they did when they weren't lined up at manufacturers' booths for free beer and other stuff.

"Let's see which booth has the best-looking babes," one conventioneer said to his buddy.

"Here you go. Only $25," a woman said as I stopped to look at thong panties imprinted with the logo of a bicycle grease manufacturer. "We only have two left. The men are buying them for their wives and girlfriends."

Or both. Maybe the guy wearing the black kilt could have used a pair.

This being an international conference, one might say he was simply from Scotland.

Or Mars.

This particular kilt was intended to be worn by riders after a race. The man wore his with a black T-shirt, a baseball cap, purple-and-black-striped knee-socks and sandals. The resulting look said, "Rob Roy met Liberace. And lost."

But there were a lot of surprises. For example, not all fenders on sale were designed for mud protection.

"So, on what part of the bike do you mount the pretty green one?" I asked the guy at the Fender guitars booth.

He tried to ignore me, but finally said the guitar company does well at trade shows for industries that sell lifestyles, like bicycles do.

With more than 1,000 exhibitors spread over 300,000 square feet of floor space, those socked away in the corners had to be innovative just to lure potential customers.

Elon Werner was tucked in one of these remote crannies hawking his invention called the Mud Sak -- a giant nylon bag that slips over a muddy mountain bike so it can be transported home without ruining the interior of the rider's car. (Or in Werner's case, the rider's wife's car.)

The Texas businessman pulled people to his booth with an invitation to vote for presidential candidates George W. Bush or John Kerry. Votes were cast by dropping business cards into the appropriate jars -- one emblazoned with a photo of Kerry riding his road bike, and the other of Bush atop his mountain bike.

Who better to choose between dueling cyclists than those in the bicycle industry?

"It's interesting to have two presidential candidates who are both cyclists," Werner said. "They're trying to be so different. But they both had a crash within one week of each other."

Werner's polls opened Wednesday, and he removed and counted the cards at the end of each show's three days.

"So far it's Kerry by a landslide," he said Thursday afternoon. "He had 63 percent of the vote at the end of the first day. I'm surprised. (Interbike) is all business owners."

An hour before the end of business Thursday, Werner agreed to take an early "unofficial stack test," which involved stacking the cards from each jar next to each other to see which pile was tallest. (A method Florida is studying for 2004.)

"Hmmmm," Werner said. "Looks like Kerry's easily got 15 to 20 percent more of the votes."

No word on whether either owns a post-ride kilt.