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and development of the new<br />
products: he is obviously very<br />
knowledgeable about products<br />
from his experience and years<br />
in the sport. We show him new<br />
designs and concepts and he<br />
always has a lot of good feedback.<br />
He’s very upfront and<br />
doesn’t beat around the bush!<br />
If he doesn’t like something<br />
then he tells us, some of our<br />
guys will give some input and<br />
might suggest ways to change<br />
an item whereas he’ll just tell<br />
us it sucks and we have to alter<br />
it.<br />
I guess it is good in some<br />
ways, although it can be harsh<br />
for our designers! At the end<br />
of the day it is fun and since<br />
he has been with Answer<br />
he’s done some races but<br />
also some off-road stuff and<br />
Yamaha have given him a WR.<br />
We did a 2021 photoshoot at<br />
Beaumont with Nick Wey.<br />
Is there a difference between<br />
his role and Nick’s?<br />
Yeah, Nick is more of a tester.<br />
He speaks very well with our<br />
dealers and reps as well so<br />
we use him at some of our<br />
trade shows. It is a little bit<br />
of a different role but we still<br />
use Nick for content creation.<br />
He is our go-to test guy with<br />
anything new that comes in.<br />
He’s also been overseeing the<br />
rig for the Answer Grassroots<br />
tour at events.<br />
“I THINK RYAN WOULD<br />
AGREE THAT IT IS CRAZY TO<br />
SEE THE DEVELOPMENT OF<br />
FABRICS NOW COMPARED<br />
TO EVEN A COUPLE OF<br />
YEARS AGO.<br />
Is it tempting to get Ryan in<br />
at an earlier point and call on<br />
that elite level experience?<br />
Maybe use him at the ideas<br />
stage?<br />
Yeah. He was just here looking<br />
at some helmet designs and<br />
comps for a product that we<br />
are looking to bring out in two<br />
years time. We bring him in<br />
and he checks them out.<br />
He saw a few things on the<br />
helmet today that even we<br />
didn’t notice so it’s good to<br />
have his expertise and he is<br />
still very knowledgeable about<br />
what is going on in the market<br />
with motorcycle products.<br />
A small example?<br />
So for this helmet it was the<br />
angle of the bottom of the<br />
shell and a comment about<br />
the visor that might help with<br />
ventilation.<br />
He initially liked the midrange<br />
Elite riding gear didn’t<br />
he?<br />
Yeah, he tried a bit of everything<br />
but is now stuck with<br />
Trinity: our high-end stuff.<br />
That’s his go-to, but when<br />
he first came on-board he<br />
loved the mid-range. We stuck<br />
some Syncron on him for the<br />
photoshoot – our entry-level<br />
gear – and he liked that too.<br />
That’s our big focus: to make<br />
sure we have a good fit across<br />
the range and that it is very<br />
similar. Obviously there are<br />
different materials and fabrics<br />
involved but we want that uniform<br />
fit across the platform.<br />
Maybe it is more of a question<br />
for Ryan but riding gear<br />
must have evolved since he<br />
last pulled on a pair of race<br />
pants in anger…<br />
Right! Definitely. I think when<br />
he first pulled on the Trinity<br />
pant he wasn’t prepared for<br />
how stretchy and comfortable<br />
it would be. I think he would<br />
ANSWER, RV & JORGE PRADO
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