Why
It’s been playing on my mind recently as to why we do the things we do or why we are into the causes we support. Not in some mid-life crisis sense like why am I this person or into this thing, but more just what is it that motivates us to do what we love or back the companies that we choose to follow. I guess when you start something like we have here and go through the rollercoaster that is starting a company you start to ask yourself these questions. Why we do something is more often than not more important than how or what we are doing
Growing up riding BMX I was so inspired by those who were leading the charge in our very small world. They were incredible bike riders without a doubt but more than that they were challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries. They were artists, they were punks, they were vegans before McDonalds and every other fast food joint was pushing “plant-based” foods. Their paths were being paved by their standards and no one else’s. As a young teenager who was already seeing the mundane structure of normal life that shit was magnetizing and without knowing it was feeding a craving for something different.
BMX these days is bigger than it ever has been it’s even in the Olympics. The tricks people are doing are bigger and more technical than we could have ever imagined, but it has no feeling. The riders I looked up to as a teenager were not looking to win anything they were simply doing what felt right to them and that sort of authenticity isn’t something you can create with a strategy. It comes from a deep cause within.
It was Martin Luther King Junior who said that famous line “I have a dream” but it was not him alone that drove the civil rights movement, he was simply the catalyst that inspired the thousands of people who had that same dream. People want to be a part of something it’s human nature and when they choose that thing to be a part of they need to know why. We want to follow, support, and invest in those that share our values. We are motivated by those who help us recognize our passions and beliefs and give us a channel to manifest them into reality.
It’s the core “why'“ in someone or an organization that we grab hold of and identify with, the why to their what. The trouble is that a lot of the time the why and the what split and the next thing you know said entity or person is too busy telling you what they do instead of why they are doing it.
A lot of the companies we see in this bicycle space seem to have little why to their what. It’s all about the bike and the next big innovation that is going to make you a better rider or get themselves to the imaginative finish line before the other big brand. The problem we see with that is it’s all about “what” they do. Sure some people love a bit of bike innovation but it’s not relatable to why you are out there with the people you enjoy spending time with riding bikes and forgetting about life’s challenges.
I know for myself and those I have ridden with over many years now we want to back and invest our energy in the brands that inspire us, the ones you can relate to for reasons you can’t explain. It’s like if someone asks you why you love your kid, sure you can start telling them why but as you're talking you know that isn’t exactly why you love them. You can’t explain it because it’s a feeling, a knowing that can’t be put into words for someone else to understand.
Obviously, there is no way that I’m trying to compare Rune and why we are doing this thing to the likes of MLK, or that Rune is going to give you the same feeling as to why you love your kid. But I’ll say this we are doing Rune for reasons that are deep routed in us, for reasons that are hard to explain because it is a feeling. We are doing this thing because for 30-plus years we have gotten more from bikes than we could have ever dreamt of. If in some way through Rune, we can share that experience or get someone else stoked enough to go in search of that experience then that is why we are doing this. We want to contribute something that leaves this space in a better place than when we arrived.