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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
Wired has a nice article about how non-sport bikes are hot sellers again:
http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...ke_urbanbikers This proves what can happen when fresh, smart people like Ms. Yeager are put in charge of marketing, and allowed to try something different than the same tired old formulas (More carbon! Even fewer spokes!). This summer I spent 2.5 weeks in southern CA, where beach cruisers are back with a vengeance. Everyone is riding, and teenagers are again using bikes as their preferred mode of transportation. There seem to be 3x as many bike shops as 5 years ago, most of them selling beach cruisers and a few town/city bikes. Text of the article is below, for the Usenet archives, in case Wired eventually makes it unavailable. Matt O. *** "City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show --LAS VEGAS -- Some people believe that, right now, a quiet revolution is taking place. In cities like London, San Francisco, Boston and New York, the ranks of bicycle riders are swelling with the rise of a new breed: the urban biker. Traffic snarls, soaring gas prices and worries about global warming have prompted a big boost in cycling, affecting even places like Los Angeles -- America's freeway capital -- that have traditionally given bicycles the cold shoulder. "What's really happened in the past year is a cultural shift," says Monica Howe, 31-year-old outreach coordinator for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. At Interbike 2007, the bicycle industry's giant annual trade show, the shift toward the urban rider is loudly evident. Fancy road and mountain bikes are clearly no longer king of the roost -- or road. It's the scads of fixed-gear, town, single-speed and other urban bicycles that are drawing the crowds. The rise of the urban biker is reflected in Specialized's 2008 catalog, which lists 34 different models of city bike to choose from. The company is even rolling out six different versions of its ultrapopular single-speed, fixed-gear Langster. Each model is named after a city that's on the urban biker radar: the four cities named above, plus Chicago and Seattle. The New York Langster has narrow handlebars for speeding through ranks of slow-moving cars, while the Seattle model is equipped with fenders. "People really gravitated toward bikes with that urban feel," says Travis Widder, an associate production manager at Specialized. "We wanted to give nods toward cities where that bike sold well, where people really embraced that category." Interbike 2007 is a lot less sporty than years past. Clothing manufacturers have more messenger bags on show. Jerseys and shorts are more urban, less multi-colored lycra. Swobo, the trendy clothing maker, recently launched its first line of three city bikes, and is just one of several companies showing new urban rides. If anyone gave birth to the urban biker movement, it's probably Sky Yaeger, Swobo's managing director. Yaeger was responsible for designing a slew of bikes during her time as production manager at famed Italian manufacturer Bianchi. Some of her designs, like the fixed-gear Pista, have been elevated to cult status. Thanks to the bike's simplicity, it became the favored transport of urbanites like skaters and surfers. "What happened is we crossed over the bike culture into skate, surf," she says. "The kids that are doing it now wouldn't have bought a bike five years ago. That's a huge delight to me -- because they're on bikes." In L.A., the bike revolution is helped by shops like the grassroots Bicycle Kitchen. "It makes it easy for anyone to put together a bike cheap," says Howe. "And it made it hip, which can't hurt." Volunteers at the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective, a nonprofit that provides tools and training for riders to maintain their bikes, have experienced a huge bump in visitors. "It's gotten out of hand," says Michael Wise, the collective's treasurer. "We don't have enough volunteers to help the people coming in looking." San Francisco's trendy Mission District is a hotbed of bicycle activity. A bicycle lane running the length of Valencia Street is a major artery, as hipsters in hoodies and precisely rolled, tight-fitting jeans flow along the street. At Valencia Cyclery, which is often proclaimed the city's best bike store, sales associate Babs Brockaway says she's seen the number of customers leaving with shiny new fixed-gear ("fixie") and single-speed bikes skyrocket. The store stocks five or six choices, up from a single model two years ago. The simplicity appeals to neophyte riders overwhelmed by too much technology. "It's simple: You just pedal," she says. "This is shocking, but there are people who buy bikes with gears, who don't shift gears." Just across from Valencia Cyclery is Ritual Coffee Roasters, a popular coffeehouse often stuffed full of young hipsters glued to their MacBooks. It's also a favorite haunt of the urban biker. Outside, Matt McDonald, a 24-year-old photographer from Boston, talks about his fixie. "My friends in Boston were getting into these bikes, and it was just sort of appealing to me. It's like there's nothing to worry about, and they're just a blast to ride." *** |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:08:39 -0400, Matt O'Toole
quoted, in part: If anyone gave birth to the urban biker movement, it's probably Sky Yaeger, Swobo's managing director. Bulldadda. Urban cycling has been with us for over 130 years We can look forward to scooping some nice equipment at garage sales after these trend following fixey clones get their knee replacement surgeries. If anyone is responsible for cyclists regaining their senses it was you, me and freds the world over who never knew transportation/utility/commuting cycling was ever out of "fashion". Our "beaters" are the real progenitors of this new bicycle breed. Ms. Yeager just happened to pick up on the meme at a time when cities are becoming untenable for occupants of those stinking lesser vehicles that we've been brainwashed to accept as normal. -- zk |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
I'm betting on burlap, knobbies and 3 speeds. |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
"datakoll" wrote in message ps.com... I'm betting on burlap, knobbies and 3 speeds. Trikes. |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
In article
, Zoot Katz wrote: On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:08:39 -0400, Matt O'Toole quoted, in part: If anyone gave birth to the urban biker movement, it's probably Sky Yaeger, Swobo's managing director. Bulldadda. Urban cycling has been with us for over 130 years We can look forward to scooping some nice equipment at garage sales after these trend following fixey clones get their knee replacement surgeries. If anyone is responsible for cyclists regaining their senses it was you, me and freds the world over who never knew transportation/utility/commuting cycling was ever out of "fashion". It _was_ out of fashion. Dag nabbed fashion is always trying to catch up with me. They'll never make it though. I've got more where that came from. Our "beaters" are the real progenitors of this new bicycle breed. [...] -- Michael Press |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message news Wired has a nice article about how non-sport bikes are hot sellers again: http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...ke_urbanbikers "City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show Oh no! My commuter/touring bike and I might become hip! What else will I need to do to become a hipster? Dye my hair green (after some Grecian formula as well)? Wear my old, out of style (I'm not very good at determing this) clothes rather than taking them to the Salvation Army? Get rid of my Rohloff hub and get a fixie hub (it will be easy to put it back on when the fad dies out)? Are my fenders and lights now cool? BobT |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
"BobT" wrote in message . .. "Matt O'Toole" wrote in message news Wired has a nice article about how non-sport bikes are hot sellers again: http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...ke_urbanbikers "City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show Oh no! My commuter/touring bike and I might become hip! What else will I need to do to become a hipster? Dye my hair green (after some Grecian formula as well)? Wear my old, out of style (I'm not very good at determing this) clothes rather than taking them to the Salvation Army? Get rid of my Rohloff hub and get a fixie hub (it will be easy to put it back on when the fad dies out)? Are my fenders and lights now cool? BobT After reading my own post, I realized I made a mistake. I should have asked: Are my fenders and lights now really deck? BobT |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
In rec.bicycles.misc BobT wrote:
"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message news Wired has a nice article about how non-sport bikes are hot sellers again: http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...ke_urbanbikers "City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show Oh no! My commuter/touring bike and I might become hip! What else will I need to do to become a hipster? Dye my hair green (after some Grecian formula as well)? Nononono, Chromium *red* is the new green. Keep up in the back there. Wear my old, out of style (I'm not very good at determing this) clothes rather than taking them to the Salvation Army? That should work nicely! Get rid of my Rohloff hub and get a fixie hub (it will be easy to put it back on when the fad dies out)? Probably for the best, you don't really need gears for trackstand competitions and hanging at the coffee shop. Are my fenders and lights now cool? Fenders, you might be able to squeak by with the really terrible clip-on ones. Lights - Bah! Hipsters are practically the new ninjas! Weaving silently through the darkness, invisible, silent (no brake squeals!), deadly (more to themselves than others though). -- Dane Buson - A Difficulty for Every Solution. -- Motto of the Federal Civil Service |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
In article ,
"BobT" writes: "Matt O'Toole" wrote in message news Wired has a nice article about how non-sport bikes are hot sellers again: http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...ke_urbanbikers "City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show Oh no! My commuter/touring bike and I might become hip! Not if you're over a certain age and your bike is under a certain age. Actually, I doubt touring bikes will ever become hip. But then, ya never know. cheers, Tom -- Nothing is safe from me. I'm really at: tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca |
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"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show
"Matt O'Toole" wrote:
Wired has a nice article about how non-sport bikes are hot sellers again: http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels...ke_urbanbikers "City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show BobT" writes: Oh no! My commuter/touring bike and I might become hip! Tom Keats wrote: Not if you're over a certain age and your bike is under a certain age. Actually, I doubt touring bikes will ever become hip. But then, ya never know. You missed it! That was so 1978. Another bike shop manager marvelled at the 'touring' fad at the time and commented to me "We could sell dog turds in plastic bags if they were marked 'touring'". -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
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