BOULDER, CO (BRAIN) — An article about a pair of Colorado cyclists who video recorded a driver allegedly harassing them was the most viewed story on BicycleRetailer.com in 2012.
One of the riders was an industry insider — former pro racer Dirk Friel co-founded Peaksware, the maker of the TrainingPeaks training software. BRAIN ran into Friel at Interbike when the story broke.
But the story likely received much of its viewership from curious cyclists, not necessarily those who make their living in the bike industry. (A few links from our friends in the consumer media gave it a modest viral boost.)
But not all of the most viewed stories were of interest to civilians. Several were related to distribution challenges, lawsuits and the growth of online retailing. You have to be a bit of a bike industry nerd to be interested in some of this stuff, and that's the way we like it.
By the way, at last count Friel's video had received 475,000 views on YouTube. In November the driver pleaded not guilty to charges related to the incident; a trial is pending.
Here's a list of the year's top 10 most viewed stories:
- TrainingPeaks founder's video nabs driver
- Specialized calls on dealers to drop other brands
- Fitness giant sues app developers
- Choi found liable; Specialized awarded $1
- Cannondale shuts distributor over Costco sales
- Weagle sues Trek in patent dispute
- BRAIN names Top 100 dealers
- QBP wages web war at Frostbike
- The 650b freight train
- Garmin revenues up but power meter delayed
