What we're seeing here is a bit of a socially-fueled culture clash.
If anything, I think NF is suffering a bit from their blinding early success with product, which has been echoed by their social media presence and the fact that some of the athletes they're supporting have garnered a lot of attention in a short amount of time, at least in certain circles like Instagram. This kind of attention usually attracts a backlash, whether fueled by jealousy, envy, or other. And I'm not proud to say that the sea-to-sky MTB community can be pretty fickle and sets upon its own rather quickly.
Further, those athletes happen to be hard-charging riders that are young, male, and project a bit of a macho vibe. The ones I've met or interacted with are universally friendly - no surprise since I've also met Travis and Ying and the rest of the crew and know that they're friendly people doing their best to keep up with unrelenting demand for their product while building a business in uncertain times in the middle of a city with exorbitant lease costs. On top of this, their website is much better put together than you'd normally see for a company so small and young. Altogether it projects an image of being far more established and larger than NF actually is at this point, and that brings expectations, whether altogether fair or not.
On the other hand, while Reed and trumpstiny and others have opinions that must be respected, they're also a product of our current culture, which sees a lot of people react to things they see based on an ethos of criticism first, and a lack of desire or ability to evoke much in the way of benefit of the doubt, which is, in my opinion, one of the key tenets to mutually respectful relationships whether it's a marriage, friendship, or in business.
Are their criticisms fair? Through a certain lens, yes, I guess they are. Are they well-informed? No, I would say they are not. But I've been lucky enough to meet the players and of course, our readers all haven't - so perhaps some of that falls on us as the ones bringing the story. continued...
March 9, 2020, 9:29 a.m. - Pete Roggeman
What we're seeing here is a bit of a socially-fueled culture clash. If anything, I think NF is suffering a bit from their blinding early success with product, which has been echoed by their social media presence and the fact that some of the athletes they're supporting have garnered a lot of attention in a short amount of time, at least in certain circles like Instagram. This kind of attention usually attracts a backlash, whether fueled by jealousy, envy, or other. And I'm not proud to say that the sea-to-sky MTB community can be pretty fickle and sets upon its own rather quickly. Further, those athletes happen to be hard-charging riders that are young, male, and project a bit of a macho vibe. The ones I've met or interacted with are universally friendly - no surprise since I've also met Travis and Ying and the rest of the crew and know that they're friendly people doing their best to keep up with unrelenting demand for their product while building a business in uncertain times in the middle of a city with exorbitant lease costs. On top of this, their website is much better put together than you'd normally see for a company so small and young. Altogether it projects an image of being far more established and larger than NF actually is at this point, and that brings expectations, whether altogether fair or not. On the other hand, while Reed and trumpstiny and others have opinions that must be respected, they're also a product of our current culture, which sees a lot of people react to things they see based on an ethos of criticism first, and a lack of desire or ability to evoke much in the way of benefit of the doubt, which is, in my opinion, one of the key tenets to mutually respectful relationships whether it's a marriage, friendship, or in business. Are their criticisms fair? Through a certain lens, yes, I guess they are. Are they well-informed? No, I would say they are not. But I've been lucky enough to meet the players and of course, our readers all haven't - so perhaps some of that falls on us as the ones bringing the story. continued...