Superba Give-Away Recipient! ...and On Give-Aways in General

I would like to announce that the special edition Bella Ciao "Superba" bicycle that has been kindly donated for me to give away, will go to Julia D. - a reader from State College, PA. The picture above is one that I took earlier, and which she then marked up with "anatomical labels" and posted on her blog. Julia, congratulations and I hope you enjoy this bicycle! I will email you details regarding its arrival and everything else you need to know.

There was a total of 45 entries for the Superba give-away. Some were eliminated, because it was clear that the applicant could afford a new bicycle. Quite a few other entries were eliminated based on the applicant's height. This still left me with many applicants to choose from, and at this point it became quite difficult to read the emails. There are so many people out there who are in financial need, and I am just not in a position to help them. It would be wonderful if someone - like a large bike manufacturer looking to promote their product - would host a give-away on a grand scale. But this give-away was for someone who specifically wanted the Superba... which eliminated all but a few applicants. Most of the emails I received were fairly general, some even asking questions about the bicycle that made it plain they did not know much about it, other than it being free. Again, I am very sorry to have to choose, but as described in the original give-away post, this bicycle was intended for someone who wanted it and not just a free bike. With the remaining applicants I chose at random, and Julia was it. I hope that this explains my selection process satisfactorily and I thank everyone who took part in the give-away. For me, this was very difficult.

As a general note on give-aways... I've been getting all sorts of emails about them since I began doing them, and so I would like to address a few points. Some readers - including industry members - have suggested to me that "I'm not doing it right," in the sense that the way I go about it does not generate publicity. I am supposed to say that you have to "follow me" in order to be eligible, to write about the give-away on your own blog, to post it on facebook, and so on. So I wanted to clarify that my not doing these things is intentional. It's not that I don't want publicity for my blog. Of course I do. Just not like that. I want my give-aways to be friendly, low key and without stipulations.

The other thing, is that I've also received emails from manufacturers offering various products for me to give away on their behalf, most of which I have politely declined. Though I am willing to do this in theory, I have two criteria: First, the product has to be of interest to me. And second, I am not comfortable with stipulations of the nature I described in the above paragraph: namely, telling readers that they have to "follow" the manufacturer in order to have a chance at getting the product. I am all for collaborating with manufacturers in giving away stuff, but I am not a free-for-all marketing vehicle. There is a line between those two things, and every blog author must decide for themselves where to draw it.

To end on a positive note, I hope to have more give-aways for you soon. The lovely touring bike project got somewhat derailed by the unexpectedly long winter (which made it impossible to test the bike in between stages), but it has now come out of hybernation and I will post about it soon. The give-away should take place some time in June. Stay tuned, and thank you for reading Lovely Bicycle!