K2 Bike T:Nine Alliance

K2 Bike T:Nine pre-history – racing frames with hibiscus-themed graphics

In 2003 and 2004, K2 Bike was a proud sponsor of the Ford Women’s Cycling Team.  In addition to being strong competitors in elite mountain bike competition around the world, the women of the Ford team were gracious ambassadors of our sport at the local level, encouraging young women to follow their dreams, actively explore the outdoors and ride safely.

http://www.quickrelease.com/teamford/

In order to build anticipation for that fall's launch of the official K2 Bike T:Nine collection, the Ford team's frames for the 2005 race season were painted in a yellow/orange paint scheme with red hibiscus flowers, matching their team uniforms.  The four framesets painted and decaled in this style were:

• T:Nine Zed Team – The dependable, responsive, front-suspension mountain bike
• T:Nine Razorback – A light-weight, efficient, cross-country full-suspension design
• T:Nine Mod 5.0 – Very, very few of these road racing frames were ever produced
• T:Nine Aero – A race-proven triathlon frameset that saw limited production in 2005

While these frames certainly say “T:Nine” on their top tubes, they did not benefit from all of the women’s-specific fit, performance, and aesthetic features that are the hallmark of our T:Nine production bicycle models.

Also note that these framesets represent the first and last time that bicycles featuring the T:Nine brand name shared the same model names as comparable K2 Bike men’s bikes.  Hey, we were young, we made mistakes and we learned from them!

Where did the K2 Bike T:Nine Alliance concept come from?

Five years ago, the K2 Ski group gave birth to an idea that has changed the way that women’s sporting goods are developed.  Right from the start, K2 T:Nine products delivered on the promise of outdoor sporting goods that are:

• Designed specifically to fit women, engendering a better sense of confidence and control
• Tuned to provide more performance and comfort for female athletes, helping them build skills and progress in their sport
• Styled to excite the senses with distinctly different shapes, colors, textures and evocative names

How did they manage to achieve these goals from the start, build upon their successes in every year since, and continue to stay true to the T:Nine concept's core values even today?

They carefully selected a K2 Ski Alliance Team – five unique female personalities from a wide variety of ages, sizes, backgrounds, abilities and interests with two key traits in common: they were all women who truly love the sport of skiing.  These women both drive the product development process and help communicate the T:Nine story to the public.

In the years since, the K2 T:Nine ski collection has grown into the best-selling line of women's products in the fastest growing market segment in their industry.  Skiing enthusiasts around the world now enjoy the benefits of T:Nine skis, bindings, poles, goggles and helmets that are faithfully developed by women, for women.

Inspired by their achievements, in 2004 K2 Bike started our own T:Nine initiative to develop a completely separate line of bicycles for women outdoor enthusiasts.  We brought together our own Alliance Team to help us foster the growth of this new venture, and got right to work.

Later that year, we introduced the very first T:Nine bicycle collection, a complete and separate line of women's K2 bicycles for 2005 that honored the high standards established before us by our skiing sisters.

What does T:Nine stand for, anyway?

In 1972, the United States Congress passed Title IX legislation that mandated equal funding for women’s athletics at this country’s colleges and universities.

Inspired by the eventual Title Nine law's spirit of “equal, but different” support for female athletes, K2 Sports introduced its first T:Nine alpine ski line in 2002.  Since then, this empowering women’s outdoor sports initiative has grown to also include telemark skis, ski poles, ski helmets, ski goggles, in-line skates, and bicycles.

Across the many products offered under the K2 brand, T:Nine more specifically stands for authentic sporting goods that meet the unique needs and desires of women.  This authenticity is ensured in each category by an Alliance Team of women that not only directly guides the development of the product line, but also actively participates in bringing their message to the public.

An interesting note: the K2 Snowboarding group also relies on an Alliance Team to guide their women's product development process, but chooses not to use the T:Nine name.  Many snowboarders apparently feel that Title IX’s connection with organized team athletics runs counter to the individual spirit of their sport.

To learn more about the wide variety of K2 products built to help women better enjoy their outdoor experiences, visit the K2 Women website using the following link.

http://www.k2women.com/default.asp

Welcome to the K2 Bike T:Nine Alliance!

Since we planted the seeds for our T:Nine women’s cycling initiative over two years ago, its growth has been nothing short of amazing.  We were open to hearing all of our Alliance Team’s ideas of what women wanted in their new bikes, and trusted them enough to follow through on the unique concepts they inspired.

Now, we’re ready to begin an exciting new chapter in the life of our Alliance, and we’d like to invite you to come along and enjoy the ride.  Within our expanded T:Nine Alliance community, we’ll continue to honor the spirit of openness and trust that has been the source of our group’s successes to date.  How, you might ask?

• Openness – Until now, the development of our T:Nine program has been rather exclusive, centered around K2 Bike’s development group and our five member T:Nine Alliance Team.  We now realize that in order to more completely achieve our goals and better reflect the desires of all women cyclists, we need to listen to everyone who feels passionately about women's cycling.  So, whether you own a K2 bicycle, one from another brand, have a collection of two-wheelers that has chased the cars out of your garage, or are simply interested in making sure that your first bike is the right one for you, you’re welcome to join our Alliance.
• Trust – In my very first message to you, I confess that I am a man, not a woman.  Whew, there, I said it!
• Openness – However, I suspect that the members of our T:Nine Alliance Team would tell you that I am passionately dedicated to improving the cycling experience for women, and that I really do listen to how they feel we can accomplish that goal.  I wouldn’t be asking for your help if I didn’t intend to treat you the same way.
• Trust – We highly respect your privacy.  You can trust that we will always keep any personal information you share personal – just between us – unless we have your express permission to share it with the greater Alliance group or other trusted partners.
• Openness – We are sincerely interested in listening to and learning from our Alliance members.  Not only will we not censor or delete discussion and possible recommendation of products that compete with ours, we will consider it an opportunity for us to learn how we can improve our bikes and the entire T:Nine initiative.
• Trust – Everyone and every organization makes mistakes.  We recognize that we’re not perfect, but we are committed to making good on every promise that we make.  If you feel that we aren’t living up to what we've said, I want to hear about it from you.
• Openness – If you feel strongly enough about any issue related to our T:Nine bicycles to make time within your busy life to write me an e-mail, I will personally read it.  I can't promise a reply to every email, but your feedback will be considered as we’re charting the future course of the K2 Bike T:Nine women's cycling initiative.  My work e-mail address is tkatworldwidecyclesupplydotcom.  Just substitute the appropriate “@” and “.” characters, and as a member of our Alliance, you’ll have the direct connection you need to effect positive change.

So, consider our little place on the Internet officially open.  We trust you’ll find the information shared within our group both educational and entertaining.  Join our Alliance today, and make yourself at home!

Thank you,

T.K. Malone

3-6-06

currently in Taipei, Taiwan ROC