When it comes to long term in-the-field testing of a mountain biking product, it is hard to argue with the patented method we have devised at Nzo.
To be fair, we only just realised we had devised it, but it is real and impossible to duplicate: it takes several years and unshakeable confidence in the product.
Here is how we do it: roll the thing into a courier bag, and send it to a publisher. Wait, feeling vaguely ill, until a few months later, when it appears in their publication.
Read what they say at least four times, mentally winnowing their phrases for gems which can be repeated ad nauseam.
Repeat them, ad nauseam. Hope somebody notices.
But copy and paste, and repeat, is only a sideshow in the Nzo Long Term Acid Test.
The next step requires patience and an eagle eye.
People with successful publications have an endless supply of new stuff to use. They must wade through piles of product samples to get to their palatial offices. Testing and evaluating new products is such a massive task they even shop it out to others.
So the thing we wait for is evidence that shows our product being used in a real-world situation by one of the reviewers. The older the product, the better. Long after the product was offered up for review, there it is, selected for an adventure as the preferred tool for the task.
At the top of this newsletter is a picture of the excellent journal produced by the folks behind a website I visit almost daily for inspiration, bikepacking.com. The journal is spectacular, but the thing we spotted is that the rider on the cover is wearing the Nzo Scuffers we sent her in 2015. The location looks adventurous, and not the kind of place to take shorts you are not sure about.
Below we include a photo from the latest issue of NZ MountainBiker. It features Carl, a discerning rider who knows his stuff, wearing a pair of Dobies we sent to him so long ago I can’t find proof of when it was. I know we haven’t made any with that rust coloured stitching for about four years.
Those are reviews that are definitely worth the wait.
