End of an era at Bianchi

Today is Sky Yaeger's last day at Bianchi. To many outside the industry this means nothing. To anyone in the industry this is the end of an era. Sky Yaeger was unique in many ways. For starters, she's one of the few women in the bike industry and one of the only product managers. In recent years Bianchi even boasted of this by adorning their bikes with stickers proclaiming "100% Chick Designed". Almost all the Bianchi bikes sold in the USA were designed by Sky. Her 17 years at Bianchi saw the company go from being simply an importer of Italian road bikes to being one of the most innovative and risk taking major companies in the industry. I challenge anyone to name a major bike company that created more unique bikes in recent years than Bianchi USA. Here's a short list:
1) Project series. These were the original 29" MTBs back before anyone called them 29" MTBs. The flagship model came with top end SunTour parts and a custom suspension fork. The bikes were a full decade ahead of Gary Fisher's push for 29" wheels.
2) xxSS series. The first single speed MTB offered by a major company. It start with the orange BOSS and continued for a decade. The current Bianchi range includes two single speed models (MUSS & WUSS) and a frameset (PUSS).
3) Pista series. Bianchi was off the front in bringing fixed gear fun to the masses. In recent years the line has expanded to include a high-end, superlight alloy model that would fit in nicely at the Worlds.
4) The Axis. Again leading the way in trends, this time in cyclocross.
5) San Jose. Proving no niche is too small, Sky gave us the San Jose in 2006. Here's a bike that combines two great things into one: 'cross and single speed. Sort of like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! Mmmmm......
6) Milano. One of the first of the modern "cafe racers". Not a terribly original concept - Europeans have been all over this style of bike for decades. Still, it took some vision to introduce them to the US market.
7) Veloce. A steel frame with Campy parts - no big deal, right? Well, 15-20 years ago you'd be correct. Sadly, these days steel frames have all but disappeared from production road bikes and Campy owns just a small sliver of the OEM market. Sky knows when not to meddle with a good thing and the Veloce has changed little in the past few years. It's a refreshing change from companies that feel the need to "innovate" year after year (you have to wonder if they'll ever get it right!!)

All of these bikes are fairly exceptional. Few are truly unique and many of the concepts were pioneered by custom builders and shop mechanics. What makes Sky so special is that she was able to convince the corporate masters at Bianchi to let her fly her freak flag and actually put these bikes into production. As many in the industry can attest, it's easy to spec a unique and novel bike - the hard part is convincing the bean counters to let you produce it. In this respect Sky has few peers. Perhaps the last product manager given such a high degree of freedom was Grant Petersen at Bridgestone USA. Most product managers are lucky if they get to put even one oddball, category breaking model into production.

It sounds like Sky is leaving the bike business to pursue other interests. It's a terrible loss for the industry and I hope she will come back to the industry in some capacity in the future. As someone who sold and rode bikes which she designed I wish her all the best.