One-wheel wonder is on a roll
Firm’s owner organizes the building, shipping of self-designed mountain unicycles from his kitchen table
Wency Leung, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, January 09, 2006
Kris Holm’s mountain unicycle company caters to a niche market within an already small pool of unicycle enthusiasts around the globe.
But Holm, who is considered a pioneer of the sport of mountain unicycling, has managed to keep his expenses low and has created a successful side business out of his Vancouver apartment by outsourcing the production and assembly of his high-end unicycles to Taiwan.
“My operating costs are incredibly small,” said Holm, who also works as a geologist. He pointed to his company “office,” a single laptop computer set up at his kitchen table.
His company Kris Holm Unicycles (www.krisholm.com) emerged out of Holm’s own desire for a unicycle that suited his unusual hobby of maneuvering over boulders, across creeks, and down rugged mountainsides.
“Originally, it was custom-made stuff for myself,” he said, adding that traditional unicycles weren’t designed for punishing off-road rides.
Holm’s unicycles look like a simplified version of a regular cross-country mountain bike, but they lack gears and have a lever under the seat for braking.
From home, he draws up designs and specifications for his products, and sends the blueprints to Taiwan. Finished prototypes are shipped back so he can test them out. Then, the final product is manufactured, assembled and shipped directly from Taiwan to various parts of the world.
Unicycles are made according to retailers’ orders so Holm does not have to gamble on sales. And shipments are made quarterly in containers shared with various other Taiwan-made unicycle products to save costs.
“There’s not container load after container load of my product,” Holm said, adding that his sales last year totalled about $250,000, with each unicycle retailing between $450 to $550.
Holm became interested in unicycling at the age of 11, after watching a street performer in Victoria. His parents gave him his first unicycle when he turned 12. An outdoor sports buff, he soon began learning tricks and seeking new challenges once he mastered how to ride.
“It’s as easy as riding a bike,” he said. “People tend to over-estimate how hard it is to ride a unicycle.”
What began as a childhood past-time has since led Holm on unicycling adventures along the Great Wall of China, and on the summit of Guatemala’s Tajumulco, the highest volcano in Central America. Holm is credited with founding the competitive Unicycle Trials and has won several international championships in the little-known sport. He remains one of very few designers worldwide who make high-end mountain unicycles.
Holm initially went to a local machine-making shop with his designs. But when he began creating unicycles for retail sale, it made more sense to produce them overseas, he said. “It cost a lot of money to make it locally.”
Holm decided to do business in Taiwan since the island is known for producing high-quality bicycles and for providing a high level of customer service, he said.
The aspiration to create a socially ethical and responsible company also weighed in on Holm’s decision. Unlike in other bicycle-exporting countries like mainland China, Cambodia, and Vietnam, laborers in Taiwan enjoy a better standard of living, Holm said.
That means production costs might be higher, he said. But he added: “I don’t want my unicycles to be made in a sweat shop.”
Still, Holm said he can set the retail price significantly lower than the $1,300 per unicycle he would have to charge if they were manufactured in North America.
Robert Hsiao, director of the Taiwan Trade Center in Vancouver, estimated that the cost to hire one laborer in Taiwan is equivalent to the cost of hiring five laborers in mainland China. But, he said, businesses often find that Taiwanese manufacturers offer a great degree of loyalty, and more consistent quality.
“If you go to mainland China, the quality will be much different,” Hsiao said.
Currently, however, few B.C. companies operate in Taiwan since the province does not have a large manufacturing industry, Hsiao said.
Holm said he relies on an agent in Taiwan to communicate his design requirements to a number of factories that manufacture his unicycle parts. The agent also inspects the finished products and handles all other practical aspects of the business there. “Having that contact is essential,” he said.
Holm is now perfecting a gear box, and is aiming to put the world’s first geared mountain unicycle on the market in the near future.
