Business Meetings on Two Wheels

The aerostitch roadcrafter you mean?

Always fancied one of those, but i only have to go 4 miles to work, all 30s and 40s. Probably overkill.

[punyXpress]

That be the one ( expensive though! )

[ophic]

There's also this: http://www.hoodjeans.co.uk/acatalog/...cle-jeans.html
might look ok with a shirt and tie.

[yorkie_chris]

Thought about it, complete pain in the *rse.

Half the sites I go to are the sort where you go to reception and it's awkward to say "oh can I use your crapper to get changed in" then repeat 2 minutes later sometimes.

Or don't get changed, and you will sweat until your nuts fall off sat there in textiles. Or they will fall off for another reason if you are riding about in draggin jeans soon.


Depends what sort of sites you visit but if you do any engineering places then the swarf is not a good mix for waterproofing either!

[dizzyblonde]

My other half spends his time visiting clients with an awful lot of money. Most of his days are of the suit wearing variety.

What he has found is the bike is a talking point. Image in his work is quite a priority. His gear reflects that. It's no good turning up to see a client who is just about to spend 30k on his products, if he is to arrive on a tatty old rat, with manky textiles.
His bike is pristine, his gear high end, himself well groomed, as are his manners.

If you can see yourself like this, most often riding a bike for business purposes, isn't a problem.

Ps, he's never had a topbox

I've the same problem as rob, going to work is simple, I have everything I need there. Taking trousers in my bag once a week isn't a problem. I always wear a buff over the neck so don't struggle with road dirt on a shirt colar (which I wear undernesth ) anymore either.

Going to meetings be it on site or in an office, I do feel a need to offer apologies for my jeans but on the whole they don't look too bad. IF I were meeting to impress then I honestly try to get them to come to me instead. I'm assuming that's not an option for you so i also muat say sorry for not been much help and I wait to read your resolution on the issue.

[punyXpress]

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

My other half spends his time visiting clients with an awful lot of money. Most of his days are of the suit wearing variety.

What he has found is the bike is a talking point.

As would Tam's, and I suppose Chris' - in its own individual way!

[TamSV]

A few things for me to think about here.

In terms of clients, it can be a right mix; old-school engineering/manufacturing, modern techie stuff, haulage, mid to high end motor trade, construction, trendy bars/clubs, office based professionals. Customer spend is anything from £5k to £100k. Visits can be anything from a 15 minute chat to a 2 hour site survey.

Turning up in the car in a suit is the easy option that's guaranteed not to offend anyone but, thinking about it, I'm the only guy in a suit about 90% of the time.

It's been mentioned here, and in my office, that existing customers are fine but taking the bike to a new prospect is seen as a bit of a "risk". That's kind of always been my gut feeling but thinking about it now I'm not at all sure that's true. I bet any of you lot would be OK if a professional adviser of some sort turned up on a bike.

In an industry where not wearing a tie is considered a bit racy, standing out from the crowd is probably no bad thing.

I also realised recently that most of my top clients - and those I'm closest to - either ride bikes themselves or are petrol heads of some description. That's probably not a coincidence.

I think Dizzy's right - it's a talking point. Is the worst recession in living memory the time to be testing out this theory? Course it is. Need some new gear though.

Right, let's see how much of this is tax deductible. Essential safety equipment's got to be a winner.

Interesting question. I've just changed jobs but I'm hoping in the summer I might get to go visit a few clients (campsite owners) on the bike. One thing that occurs to me though is technically that is business use. Though, hard to prove given you won't be carrying much work equipment on a bike.

[L3nny]

Wear some of these under your trousers.

http://www.dragginjeans.com/ProductI...ductid=DLINERS

Then you just get a smart leather jacket. Sorted.

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