LIKE A BOSS

Work was lively today. FK and Leah Day (Founders of WBR, cousins) arrived in Lusaka at midday. There are in town to resolve the issue of dysfunctional coaster hubs, plaguing WBR bicycles since it switched from its old one piece coaster hub to the more highly performing KT two piece hub. FK being the SRAM founder that he is and KT being the eager business partner that it is, the hub manufacturer pulled out all the stops and sent its president. These circumstances led Stan, Abson and I to a 2 pm meeting with KT's Eric Chen in the lobby of the Taj Pamoozi, the premier hotel in lusaka (owned by Mr. Aurora, owner of WBR assembler Tata Zambia, more on him later). Ill be honest in saying that its not really much to be the premier hotel in Zambia... but it is a nice hotel. Anyways we met with Mr. Chen in the lobby and he was a pretty nice guy- we were trying to get a feel for whether or not he was going to try to cheat us on the broken hub or claim that nothing was wrong with it but he approached the issue with an open mind, even though he had pride in his product. FK came down from his room and we made our way to Tata Zambia to allow Eric to view the hubs firsthand, test them and , if need be, meet with the aforementioned Aurora. Well, we did meet with Aurora. We were ushered into his office upon entry to the compound, and after the necessary pleasantries and protocols (the term Zambians use), this guy proceeds to offer his unsolicited opinion as to why the Hub doesn't work, and why KTs hub is a POS, and finally sketches his own design on a napkin. In front of a guy who founded a huge components manufacturer and another guy who runs one. FK is just slackjawed and Eric is sort of looking at Aurora, and then back at FK, unsure whether to defend his product or aquiesce out of deference to FK, assuming that Mr. A is FK's boy. Finally, FK interrupts him in the interest of time and says "Frankly, we tested this hub using sophisticated means and it is more durable than our prior model. I dont really understand the design you have laid out here... I think we ought to go test the hubs." By this time Aurora has fielded a cell phone call in true Zambian fashion, so we leave his office immediately to attend to the real business of the day. Mr. Chen proves to be an interesting guy, willing to get his hands dirty to make sure his hubs are ready for the test, borrowing wrenches and other tools to ensure their performance. The issue appears to be that the hubs were not fully tightened when they left his plant in China, but are functional when tinkered with. This is a small problem to be fixed on his side and good to have identified it. But the test is tomorrow and we shall seeeeeeee.