Dream Bike 2015: Your Product Purchase Program at Work
By Rob Collett, EMSCI #263, Poudre Valley (CO) Hospital EMS, IPMBA Industry Relations Committee
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2015. It is hard to believe another year has flown by. If you are like many other people you have been trying to stick to your resolutions. Maybe this will be the year that you drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day, or maybe you will start that exercise program you’ve been putting off. People make all kinds of resolutions to make the New Year better than their last. If you are bike-focused like me, then perhaps you’ve made a bicycle- or bike patrol-related resolution. The IPMBA Product Purchase Program is here to help you achieve your goal of achieving cycling bliss!
The IPMBA Product Purchase Program (PPP) is a robust and ever-changing discount program for various bike- and bike duty-related products. It is offered to all current IPMBA members and can be found in the Membership section of the IPMBA website. The Industry Relations Committee members, among others, are constantly striving to improve and expand this program. If you are seeking to outfit yourself, your bike, or your whole patrol team, the PPP is an excellent place to start.
There are two major ways to maximizing the discounts available to you. The Product Purchase Program webpage lists several manufacturers and vendors individually with their respective contacts and discounts offered. Also on the PPP webpage is information about ProMotive.com, which is an entire website featuring a large collection of companies offering discounts on their equipment to outdoor industry professionals.
I’d like to start by sharing my idea of the highlights of the PPP webpage. January in Colorado is snowy and cold, but definitely lends itself to jumping on the snow-biking bandwagon. I love riding my bike on a packed, snow covered trail; it serene and fairly isolated most days, which provides a great escape for a couple of hours. I have discovered that my hands don’t love the cold as much as I do, even when wearing gloves. Regular mountain bike gloves aren’t warm enough or wind proof, and winter cycling gloves are bulky and more tailored to road cycling. Coming to the rescue is one of the newest members of the Product Purchase Program, Bar Mitts. This company makes neoprene handlebar-mounted hand-warmers to fit any style of bike. I was fortunate enough to win a pair of Bar Mitts at the 2014 IPMBA Conference Silent Auction and have been thoroughly impressed by how warm they keep my hands. You truly don’t even need gloves when using these! Bar Mitts are easy to use, warm, and they offer a 20% discount to IPMBA members. Bar Mitts will be attending the 2015 IPMBA Conference and have generously contributed two pair for the Silent Auction.
Winter cycling enhances the need to be prepared for the mechanical failures and equipped to get home safely. Hero Kit “saves the day” for both mountain bikers and road cyclists by offering compact repair kits that are meant to be easily portable, and are even small enough to fit in a jersey pocket. A Hero Kit includes tire levers, a multi-tool, repair guide, patch kit, and the always important duct tape (along with a few other tid-bits that may come in handy). Hero Kit offers a 25% discount to IPMBA members.
The IPMBA PPP also has you covered if you’re looking for eyewear or cycling clothing. With partners like Zoic Clothing offering a 40% discount, Rudy Project USA offering 50% off or more for their helmets and eyewear, and Tifosi Optics offering 40% off, you should be able to stay comfortable, stylish, and protected from the elements in almost any condition. One of the more recent additions that will appeal to those oriented towards body armor and big, squishy suspension is Five Ten. They make high quality, sport-specific footwear and have recently begun to produce shoes compatible with clip-less pedals. They offer IPMBA members a 40% discount!
Now for the main course, upgrading our beloved bikes! Is your rubber a little worn out? Duro Tire can help you with that, and at a 40% discount! Considering the early sunsets and late sunrises I’m sure you’re contemplating an upgrade to your riding lights. Corporate Member Cygolite offers a generous 35% discount to IPMBA, and they’ve recently begun producing an emergency response light set! Cygolite was on hand to display their lights at the 2014 IPMBA conference in Tampa and received significant praise throughout the week.
What good are all of the countless miles you have undoubtedly ridden without some way to track them electronically and have proof of your rides? Well, my friends, Cateye Bicycle Electronics is ready to record your ride length, map it, keep track of your speed, cadence and heart rate throughout your ride and ultimately push you to become a fitter, better rider with their cycling computers and electronics. Cateye offers IPMBA members wholesale pricing and are very easy to talk to when arranging your purchase. Last, but certainly not least, Fox Racing Shox offers special pricing for first responders on many of their latest and greatest suspension forks, rear shocks and dropper seat posts.
Still haven’t found exactly what you’re looking for yet? As an IPMBA member, you are eligible to join a team on ProMotive.com and gain access to dozens of outdoor brands. ProMotive.com is a members-only program with discounts ranging anywhere from 25%-50% off products. Many of these brands are not cycling specific, but great deals nonetheless! I won’t take away from the fun of signing up and exploring the options ProMotive offers, but here is a brief rundown of the cycling brands that can be found with this website: Kenda USA, Sony, One Industries, Diamondback Bikes, Fox head apparel and protective gear, Pearl Izumi, Crank Brothers, Light and Motion, POC Sports, Syncros, Burley Trailers, WTB, CamelBak, Gaerne Cycling, Manitou Suspension, Ortlieb, Xpedo pedals, Answer, Sun Ringle, SmartWool, Clif Bar, and Timbuk2 bags. This is just a brief list of discount partners available and half the fun is joining various teams to find new discounts. Police and Security cyclists can start by applying to the “Law Enforcement” team, while EMS cyclists can begin by applying to “Fire and Rescue” team. I’ve also had good luck with the “Professional Bike Coaches and Athletes” team.
The final industry incentive that IPMBA offers its members is an open doorway to develop a relationship with SRAM through their grassroots savings program. SRAM describes their industry discount program to be “as easy as 1-2-3”.
1. Select a local bike shop that is willing to work with, and support, your bike team. This is VITAL because SRAM will ship product to this shop and communicate through them as well.
2. Have the bike team unit leader contact the SRAM dealer services line at 800-346-2928.
3. Explain that you are with IPMBA and tell the service representative that you would like to connect with your state’s SRAM representative.
SRAM is an industry leader with an intense desire to building a better cycling world. The focus of their program is to support the shops supporting them and to help you build relationships within your cycling communities.
I hope that you have found this overview to be helpful and inspiring to complete whatever bike project you may have unfinished. The best way to find out how the Product Purchase Program can help you is to dig in and check out the website (http://ipmba.org/membership/product-purchase-program). Although this article lists many vendors, there are a plethora of others that weren’t even mentioned.
IPMBA appreciates all of our partners, and we hope that you will too. Good luck and have fun putting your wish lists to bed with all of these great savings!
Rob Collett is a division captain and IPMBA EMS Cyclist instructor with Poudre Valley Hospital EMS in Fort Collins, CO, a part of the University of Colorado Health System. He is an avid cyclist in Colorado who dabbles in mountain bike racing and is a self-proclaimed “bike nerd”. Rob has utilized bikes in EMS for four years and became an IPMBA instructor in 2012. He joined the IPMBA Industry Relations Committee in 2014 and is looking forward to visiting Chandler, AZ for the 2015 IPMBA conference.
(c) IPMBA. This article appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of IPMBA News.