*MARK MOBIUS ON A FRIDAY* Emerging Markets guru makes a sound investment in health

"Any of my staff who wants a Bike Friday can have one!"

As if prompted by an advertising cue sheet, mutual funds guru Mark Mobius is freely enthusing over his Bike Friday by email. He says he's sitting in a London diner, about to see an opera after a hard day's visiting - companies, that is. An email earlier he was in Portugal … or was it Romania?

"And here's a picture of me and my Air Glide in Chile!"

He wasn't always open to brandishing his bicycle brag book.  When I sold him his first Bike Friday in 2001, he was very cautious of being photographed with it for reasons of propriety. A prominent helmsman at Franklin Templeton Investments, his insights on emerging markets - the bullish term for investment opportunities in developing countries - are broadcast around the world on Bloomberg TV, the global business press, the blogosphere and beyond.

He's even been immortalized in a manga comic book entitled "Mark Mobius: An Illustrated Biography of the Father of Emerging Markets Funds." His shtick? Unearthing companies in remote corners of the world with "A great product, great service, and a passion for what they do."

Small wheel wonder that Bike Friday would eventually blip on his off-duty radar!

He says now that "A bike - like a Bike Friday - is the best investment you can make in your health!"

Backpedal 8 years when, fresh from my gig as an ad agency creative director in Costa Rica, I parked my little wheels in equally remote Eugene, Oregon. I was given a headset and let loose on a database of 10,000 (now close to 25,000) Bike Friday customers and serious tire-kickers. One particularly inquisitive prospect was Mark Mobius. His inquiries were triangulated with his unflappable executive assistant Zita in far-off Singapore. Or was it Hong Kong?

He wanted to know about a  Bike Friday in detail, with a full explanation of each individual component. I think I learned everything I every needed to know about Bike Friday anatomy by bugging all Production departments in order to answer his questions. In fact, page 23 of  his manga bio shows toddler Mark clutching an object and pointing, asking "What's this? How come? Why?"

The result was a lighter, leaner incarnation of Bike Friday's best selling model, the New World Tourist. Mark's "Lite Tourist" was a probable precursor to the popular Crusoe, the lighter, leaner recreational tourer.  

I'd read somewhere that he zipped about in a Gulfstream jet when it made logistical sense, and wondered why he'd want or need a Bike Friday, imagining he could slide a custom-made carbon fiber huffy through the rear door. But when you're in sales, you don't make too many assumptions - you could be completely wrong. You listen, learn, offer a solutions, and ultimately venture, "and how would you like to pay for that?"

Sometime later, I got wind that he'd not only bought an Air Glide, he'd purchased quite a number for staff if they wanted one.

"Any of my staff who wants a Bike Friday can have one!" he wrote in an email from Dubai. Or was it Turkey? "The good news is that now they are converted, some are becoming new customers of Bike Friday". Ah, that's how our little wheels go round and round ...

Crank forward to 2009, when I'm now waving a camera in movie mode and saying "and how do you like to play with that?"  - and I finally get to meet Mobius while passing through Singapore. He popped out of the elevator and led me to his third Bike Friday - a Crusoe. In his slipstream was colleague Richard Piliero, a young and dapper private equity analyst - also with a Crusoe.

Mobius is 73, but don't tell this man he's a senior - "unless there's a senior discount , then I'm a senior." In great shape due to being a 24-hour-gym junkie and biking when he can, he wears black, shaves his head, and his book "Passports to Profits" opens with imagery of a turtle-necked avenger uttering "The name's Mobius. Mark Mobius." Given that the average age of a BF customer is 55 (time and money to travel),  I was buzzed to see Richard, a mere 36, also enthusing about his Crusoe.

"You must be one very secure 36 year old to ride small wheels!" I joked, fully suspecting he has a carbon fiber Orbea hidden in his closet when Mark's not looking.

"I'm a happy, happy Bike Friday camper - try it!", he said to the camera.

I wondered why they kept the bikes locked at the foot of the Franklin Templeton office block in Suntec City, a towering mini megapolis of global business and gastronomic pleasures - squeaky-safe Singapore is food court nirvana. Here, it's practically law that you provide for your elders, so there are no homeless people in the streets. Anywhere. In fact, there was a recent news story about some parents suing their offspring for support, an uncomfortable sign of the times.

"I'd rather not risk it," said Mobius, stashing his fat cable lock on the headset tube. Perhaps also, showing up on a bike doesn't quite measure up to limo-cred in the world of high finance …

I remember locking my Air Friday in a barren concrete piazza at Suntec City for a go-see interview some 12 years ago, on my way to cycle end to end in Britain.  Two uniformed guards descended on me and told me I wasn't allowed to park it there.  Not knowing what to say, I simply told them it was expensive.

"How much?" they asked, in typical Chinese style (I say that because I'm Chinese).

"$US2500."

"Ayeeeeeee!"

Next minute I know, they're carrying my bike up to the glassy lobby of the McCann-Erickson ad agency and leaving it displayed in full view.

Would that happen in 'merica? It'd be: "Ma'am, move right along."

"Bicycling is becoming more acceptable in Singapore, with all this talk of health," said my host Kim. While Singapore has stiff laws about chewing gum and littering, I've noticed the rustiest of huffies can now be seen locked up to a pole outside the fanciest buildings. I'm not sure where they ride though - apart from a circle-island path, the shoulderless lanes are narrow, the traffic is fast, the weather is sweltering. Not ideal conditions for urban cycling. 

My steed for this trip was a princess-pink-is-the-new-black tikit. I spent several seconds showing Mark and Richard how it folds an unfolds in 5 seconds flat (on a slow day). These men spend their waking year assessing innovative products and services all over the world, so for them to eyeball the latest handiwork from the Scholz Bros' Promethean labs in Eugene, Oregon was a great opportunity.

"Amazing." (I guess that means they liked it).

I remember once asking Mark for feedback on his Lite Tourist.

"The water bottle needs changing," he wrote from Moscow. "It gives the water a plasticky taste." That was all he said.

But it made me realize two things: no matter how sweet your product is,  a) the little things count and b) the little things count. The tail can often end up wagging the dog - be careful who you get your tail from.

We took a lazy 3-hour pedal along the East Coast Bike Trail, a paved path that links all the parks around Singapore.  If you weren't allowed to ride on the sidewalk, no-one seemed to spring out of the shrubs to stop us. Mark streaked ahead on several occasions, leaving Richard and I to bond over our monotubes.

Richard, a star graduate from Brown and Oxford, has made Singapore his home for 8 years. He highly embarrassed me by conversing in fluent Mandarin at a coconut juice stand, while I spoke in indecipherable Aussie English.

"I've packed and unpacked this bike many times, takes me about 10 minutes," he said.

"Hey, you must be pretty mechanical," I said.

"Not really, just did it a few times. Practice."  One can see how he got great grades and thence hand-picked to work for a financial guru - can-do, humility, focus. Maybe there's no need for a carbon fiber Orbea in his closet after all …

We talked about inventions in general.  For fun I showed them my own little invention, my Traffic Cone Bag, in two sizes.

"Smaller one is better," said Mobius, and spoke of a wonderfully simple, Japanese bag that he takes everywhere.

"I'm frightened they'll go out of business and then I'll be stuck."

"I'll find out the supplier," said Richard.

We stopped so Mark could point out a simple seatpost-mounted rack on a mountain bike.

"That's what I need. I've got so many bags. All-well meaning gifts. None of them work quite like I want."

"Let me make a note of the brand," said Richard.

"I need a new stem for this bike, the same height as Richard's," said Mobius, stopping to raise the seat. 

"I'll organize it," I said, snapping to attention, given that Bike Friday has a fit guarantee. 

I can see how things that simply work, and work well, are apples in a venture capitalist's eyes ...

"Let's go grab some ozone," said Mark. I thought we were headed for a trendy oxygen bar or something, but no, we simply turned our little wheels onto a pier. "Aaaah, sea air on all three sides, just smell it!"

On the subject of bicycling as an emerging market: "Absolutely." See "5 Quick Questions for Mark Mobius" below.

On the subject of travel:  "Travel is an addiction because the more places you visit the more you want to return and see more.  So it is not just work. The problem with travel is the impact it has on your body if you don't take care of yourself. Jet lag is not good and the other related impact of sitting on a plane for hours on end is not good. Otherwise … travel!" Or, ride a bike, eat good food and go to the gym..."

And on the subject of social networking: "I'm gonna be on Twitter!"

What is he going to tweet? Where he's parking his Bike Friday to go take a leak?

"I'm sure I'll get plenty of 'Tweetback' when the market goes down!"

We turned around and headed back to the office - me to my laptop to write this story, and the Bike Friday Emerging Marketeers back to their life's work - and riding a Friday on a Sunday in the Lion's City.

More Singapore on a Friday www.bikefriday.com/singapore