More Bode Questions, riddle me this?

[ScotsSkier]

Why? He is building a brand. There is a ton more potential money to be made with his equity position in Bomber. Sure, he is taking a big financial risk given the guaranteed endorsement money he gave up. If he didn't take risks Bode wouldn't be Bode.
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That would be my thoughts Q. So, who is going to be first to identify the binding/plate combo on these skis.....looks like List to me. PP??

 

[Muleski]

Why? He is building a brand. There is a ton more potential money to be made with his equity position in Bomber. Sure, he is taking a big financial risk given the guaranteed endorsement money he gave up. If he didn't take risks Bode wouldn't be Bode.
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That is certainly one school of thought, and I'm of the opinion that it was absolutely Bode's thinking 18 months or so ago. He was eager to trade off what sounds like a potentially very big deal with Head {and who really knows?} for the excitement of being one of the guys to make Bomber a success.

One question mark is just what "taking an equity stake in Bomber" consists of. I know people who I think would know, and either they don't or they are not saying. As in how big is his piece, and did he actually put money into the company? Was he given a small piece in return for his work. MG is reputed to be a pretty savvy early stage investor. Did he invest? His actual situation might be driving his action plan.

I don't know what to make of the current state of Bomber. They might have great "stuff" on the runway. All of what they talked about in the summer of 2015. Remember the whole story about Bode wanting to make top quality race skis available to up and coming American racers, with an American company. Because they get shut out by the Euro's?

It's a great pitch. Perfect as Bode was on an American K2 when he was an up and comer. Fact is that all of his age group peers were on top stock of Euro companies. This inability to get Americans on top product is simply BS. The best are on the very best produced, anywhere. There are coaches sourcing the best product for US kids in Euro race rooms.
But...I can see Bode really buying into that plan. Like kids will be all over it.

So here we are a year plus later? I have no idea what to make of Bomber. Do they have race skis available? Where? Does anybody know of an athlete on the product? I know a number of people deep in that game, and I have heard nothing. So the pitch might have some legs, but what do they have to sell?

I have spoken to some people who have skied on the skis. Not the race skis. These were skis available to demo at a couple of charity events. Good skiers. So what was their verdict. Skis were "OK", "Nothing great", "Not what I expected." The things are expensive. They should blow you away. I know that they were trying to sell them in Aspen and Vail. I have friends there, and have asked. They see them on the wall in one very high end shop. See very few on the hill. Don't know anybody who has bought them. The friend in Aspen laughed that unless they outski Kastle and Stockli, they have no chance there. Forget the other custom builders.

I don't know what to think. Bode seems to be lining things up to try to sell some Bomber skis. To a lot of people it looks like an uphill battle. To make his equity stake look like what he passed up {allegedly}, might take a ton of work and luck. I hope he didn't sink much into this. Of course this thing could explode in value, and Bode will look like a genius.

Who knows? I am more convinced than ever that there is ZERO chance of seeing Bode on a WC course on a Bomber ski. He's not even close to focused on that program. Baby on the way, moving into a new house, pushing Aztec

The boot thing? Who knows. If it was about really trying to ski well, and minimize the Head battle, I think he'd be in a Doberman. Has a lot of miles in the boot. And he would not be looking for a paycheck. All the rest of this circus with Full Tilt, who knows.

If I had to guess, his Bomber crowd might be thinking that Full Tilt is an opportunity for them? That of course assumes a LOT.

The start of the season keeps getting closer. The US speed guys are in PC for their last pre season conditioning block. Bode? Has anybody seen or heard a thing about the lawsuit? My hunch is that we'll see Bode at BOP, making a bunch of appearances, trying to promote Bomber and Aztech. And not racing. And not stating that he's retired.

The boot thing? I have heard so many ideas.....All I believe is that the combo of the FT Boot and the Bomber SG skis was "not so good", as ScotsSkier noted. Was it the boots, the skis, the setup? Dunno. Just that no way in hell could they be racer.

And I won't let up on this. He's an old 39. Even if he hates to listen to advice, he's not a fool. If he wanted a real comeback, every single piece of this scenario would look different, IMO.

Best of luck to him. I'll just stay tuned!