Bike fleets at plants are plagued by time and wear, presenting safety and other hazards. But Vince Denais saw a better way, so he started a revolution. BIC Magazine recently visited with Denais, founder/president of RuggedCycles, to learn more about the “Bike Share Revolution.”
Q: What led you to start RuggedCycles?
A: As an engineered equipment salesman in refineries/petrochem plants for 20 years, one day in 2005, I took notice of the bikes in a refinery and was astonished at their lack of safety, reliability and durability. I immediately set out to build a truly industrial-grade bike, ultimately inventing the world’s first airless, chainless, stainless bicycle.
Q: What is the biggest news at RuggedCycles right now?
A: We’ve now invented a turnkey, fully automated RuggedSmartFleet management system that can control all aspects of a bike fleet as well as any keyed vehicle or asset. This is an absolute game changer for plants that truly want to take bikes seriously. Bikes provide the most efficient transportation value but are neglected and abused without any accountability, and tracking users/assets/maintenance is almost impossible, until now. They say you can’t engineer out “stupid,” but we think we just did with serious bikes and smart solutions.
Q: What was your biggest start-up hardship?
A: By far the biggest difficulty was getting the bike manufacturing industry to understand and appreciate the definition of “rugged” and build components to our industrial standards. That industry builds exclusively consumer-grade bikes (which plants currently use) that are no match for the industrial environment. We’ve even had to re-engineer the bike around that fact, but after years of “wandering through the wilderness,” we now have a rock solid supply chain with a “rugged-minded” German engineer at the helm.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote?
A: Over 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt may have left his greatest legacy with these now famous words: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” It’s my favorite because you only live once, and I want to be counted as a man who had the passion to live life “in the arena.”
Q: Who is your mentor?
A: My mentor is Michael Johnson, my business partner, who grew up dirt poor on a Louisiana state park in the 1950s and ultimately became a prominent and very successful oil/gas entrepreneur in Texas. Michael is a true officer and gentleman, honest as the day is long with astonishing business acumen. He has won and lost big, and when he wins, everyone wins, and when he loses, he assumes full responsibility. Most importantly, despite his incredible success, he has never lost sight of his roots or his faith, humbly treating others with utmost respect. Michael Johnson is the quintessential “man in the arena.”
For more information, visit www.RuggedCycles.com or call (979) 822-BIKE (2453).
