Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles Helps the Cancer Community With an Offering Through Project Pink and Finds Powerful Friends in the Process.

Ramona, CA, March 27, 2007—Long known for innovation in design, Ellsworth has taken a step in another direction—cancer research funding. Without much fanfare, Ellsworth started offering its entire line of ICT mountain bikes in a satin pink anodized finish and will donate $50 to breast and ovarian cancer research and clinical trials per bike sold.

“While Pink marketing projects seem to be everywhere right now, this one started for me five years ago as I watched my wife’s mom die over what was the worst year of our lives. She had ovarian cancer which is the deadliest of the women’s cancers because it is usually detected so late. This was followed with her ’Grandmothers death only six months later from the very same thing. In that same time period I had two very close friends somehow pull out of stage 3+ breast cancer, mostly thanks to clinical trials.” says Dave Wisenteiner Vice President of Ellsworth. “The two things I wanted to accomplish with this project were to specifically fund research and clinical trials rather than awareness, and second, I wanted the contribution to be substantial. So many companies in the US have jumped on “cause marketing” and their contribution is almost an afterthought. We are a small company so our direct impact is small but the ripple effect is becoming huge.” Wisenteiner adds.

Indeed the ripple effect might be very big. When riders on the Ellsworth/Maxxis pro downhill team caught wind of Project Pink, they decided to dedicate their season to the effort. In fact April Lawyer will race the pink bikes this year for a little extra punch. April and Maxxis have created some dramatic fundraising opportunities for the project, which may culminate in a music and mt. biking festival in several locations around the country.

“I could not be happier that we are getting all of this support. This is a deeply personal thing for me and I am just glad to see it grow wings. The bikes themselves are beautiful, although we had no idea how hard they would be to make. It takes about three attempts before we get a perfect pink specimen. So they are special and rare in more ways than one.” Says Wisenteiner

Ellsworth will be making their first distribution and announcing the beneficiaries in the coming weeks.

Ramona, CA, March 27, 2007—Long known for innovation in design, Ellsworth has taken a step in another direction—cancer research funding. Without much fanfare, Ellsworth started offering its entire line of ICT mountain bikes in a satin pink anodized finish and will donate $50 to breast and ovarian cancer research and clinical trials per bike sold.