Rick Vosper
@rickvosper.bsky.social
Bike industry geek. 40 years bicycle industry, 15 years bicycle industry consultant. 12 years featured editorialist for Bicycle Retailer. Ad biz copywriter & creative director. Recovering vegetarian.
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...
See what you think.
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
Vosper: In search of authenticity, part 2
Authenticity in the cycling industry is all around us. Just not where we've been looking.
www.bicycleretailer.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:28 PM
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...
See what you think.
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
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...
Read the whole thing here:
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
October 13, 2025 at 10:52 PM
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...
Read the whole thing here:
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
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/wiki/List_of...
List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
September 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
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/wiki/List_of...
Reposted by Rick Vosper
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."
ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."
September 22, 2025 at 9:14 PM
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."
ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."
"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.
Sometimes the punchlines just write themselves.
September 22, 2025 at 10:27 PM
"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.
Sometimes the punchlines just write themselves.
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.
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.
September 12, 2025 at 9:38 PM
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.
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.
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...
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
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.
www.bicycleretailer.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:41 PM
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...
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
Reposted by Rick Vosper
Image caring more about stopping a memorial for people killed in a mass shooting than stopping mass shootings. #Priorities
The Free State of Florida is now trying to ban *sidewalk chalking*
August 30, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Image caring more about stopping a memorial for people killed in a mass shooting than stopping mass shootings. #Priorities
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!
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!
August 30, 2025 at 11:08 PM
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!
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!
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/tech-policy/...
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:48 PM
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/tech-policy/...
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.
Please govern yourselves accordingly.
August 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
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.
Please govern yourselves accordingly.
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.
August 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
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.
"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.
—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.
August 13, 2025 at 7:50 PM
"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.
—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.
My latest Bicycle Retailer piece is "Another Fine Mess We've Gotten Ourselves Into, Part Two."
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
Vosper: Another fine mess, part two
What happened at SRAM and Shimano in the oversupply debacle, plus the root causes that brought us to the current impasse
www.bicycleretailer.com
August 12, 2025 at 4:21 PM
My latest Bicycle Retailer piece is "Another Fine Mess We've Gotten Ourselves Into, Part Two."
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-anal...
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.
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.
August 9, 2025 at 2:06 PM
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.
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.
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.
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.
August 8, 2025 at 11:27 PM
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.
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.
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")
“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")
August 8, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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")
“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")
Microsoft adding its Copilot AI to Word and Excel is exactly like bringing back Clippy. Only not as cute.
August 2, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Microsoft adding its Copilot AI to Word and Excel is exactly like bringing back Clippy. Only not as cute.
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
If there's a more All-American sport than Competitive Binge Eating, I'd surely like to know what it is.
Image: NYT
July 4, 2025 at 8:29 PM
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
If there's a more All-American sport than Competitive Binge Eating, I'd surely like to know what it is.
Image: NYT
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.
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.
July 4, 2025 at 6:14 PM
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.
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.
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.
Get the full story at the link.
Vosper: Another fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, part one
Some more thoughts concerning our never-ending oversupply crisis
www.bicycleretailer.com
July 2, 2025 at 10:13 PM
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.
Get the full story at the link.
“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
—Dorothy Parker, of course
July 2, 2025 at 8:46 PM
“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
—Dorothy Parker, of course
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)
"Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth."
Lucy Parsons, African-American Labor Organizer
(c. 1853-1942)
June 30, 2025 at 12:25 AM
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)
"Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth."
Lucy Parsons, African-American Labor Organizer
(c. 1853-1942)
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/...
And I thought 64%? They're Canadians. They're so nice, they like EVERYBODY!
Except us now.
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...
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.
www.pewresearch.org
June 14, 2025 at 7:06 PM
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/...
And I thought 64%? They're Canadians. They're so nice, they like EVERYBODY!
Except us now.
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...