Jun
30
The Bike Racing Community and Advocacy
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Interbike, Racing | 3 Comments
I’ve had a feeling for some time now that there is a very large wasted resource in the cycling family when it comes to bike advocacy issues. Maybe “wasted” is too harsh a word, but the fact is, though, that there is a huge group of cyclists that are as passionate about cycling as the most fervent and active advocate, but that don’t appreciate how important - and relevant to them - advocacy efforts are.
I count myself as a part of that group who has seen the light. My entry into cycling was just about riding my college roommate’s bike for fitness, but quickly evolved into cycling competitively. Cycling was a sport - a recreational activity. A very serious one, though, that I devoted an insane percentage of my waking hours thinking - no, obsessing - about, and invested too many dollars in. You may know the feeling…
Racers complain about unsafe drivers, or poor road conditions, but for the most part, our contribution to advocacy has been limited to complaining to the police officer who has pulled us over for not riding single file. Riding, most of the time, involved loading up the roof rack with your bike and driving to a training ride or race. Commuting to work on your bike was a way of getting a few more training miles in.
I’ve given passing thought on how the industry could harness the racing community or at least open their eyes to how impactful and important advocacy is to all cyclists. I remember getting mail from the League of American Wheelmen (the old name of the League of American Bicyclists) back in the day and actually thinking that it had nothing to do with me. That was for those wacky bike nuts. It just never clicked until much later. Advocacy was for those wacky bike nuts. There was and still is a big disconnect between the passion of the typical racer and that of the advocate for cycling rights, access issues and cycling friendly legislation.
So about a week ago, a friend of mine at LeMond Fitness, Eric Stobin, forwarded me a link to an interesting article on VeloNews.com that struck a chord. Rick Crawford, who wrote the article (Circles: Wasting energy in an energy challenged world), expressed a similar train of thought in his piece.
With gas prices so high, I’m looking at the bike quite differently these days. For 32 years now, I have viewed the bike as my sporting medium; my racing tool and speed fix. Rarely have I viewed it as the extremely viable form of transportation that it really is. Now that regular unleaded is more than four bucks a gallon, I don’t take the car for granted. From sheer necessity, the bike has become my primary form of transportation.
Rick goes off on a different tangent from me at this point here about harnessing the power generated by cyclists on exercise bikes and trainers as a new source of renewable energy (sort of like Lance Armstrong in that old ESPN Sports Center ad), but his initial comment on how a bike racer views the purpose of his bike is spot on. So, too, his description of the epiphany that has happened with so many casual or sport cyclists recently. I have to say that many of the new commuters that I notice on the roads are cyclists on road bikes wearing racing outfits. I guess that’s somewhat logical as a cyclist would be more naturally inclined to switch to his bike as a mode of transportation before a non-biker. He also already owns a bike - an important detail if you plan on riding one to work.
I’m not sure of the latest membership numbers for USACycling (the governing boady of racing in the US), but I’m sure that it’s in the multiple tens of thousands. Wouldn’t it be great to get them all involved?
Jun
27
Spotted: BR&IN Publisher on a Bike
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Photos, Rides | 1 Comment
Look who I spotted today on my lunch time walk to get a burrito:
That’s Marc Sani, the publisher of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News out for a ride at lunch on a Friday. He said he was feverishly trying to catch back up to Jason of BR&IN who had dropped him a little earlier. (Note: you’re not supposed to drop the boss, guys).
Always nice to see an industry insider on a bike. Also like the uber-insider “A-Team” jersey he’s wearing.
Jun
26
Viva Las Vegas
Filed Under Attendee News, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike | 2 Comments
In case you haven’t seen the news yet:
Interbike International Bicycle Expo and OutDoor Demo to Remain in Las Vegas
Host city research and industry feedback confirms Las Vegas is the best return on investment for exhibitors and attendees of North America’s largest cycling trade show
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. – June 26, 2008 – After two years of collecting potential host city data and retailer, manufacturer and industry partner feedback, Interbike management today announced the trade show will remain in Las Vegas, and is currently finalizing an agreement with the Sands Expo and Convention Center to host the industry’s show for a minimum of three more years, beginning with the 2010 show.
“The decision to keep the Interbike show in Vegas comes after years of research and communication with our retailer attendees, exhibiting manufacturers and important industry partners,” said Lance Camisasca, Interbike’s industry consultant. “The data and communication we have collected, along with industry recommendations from organizations like the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA) and Bikes Belong, confirm our decision to keep the show in Las Vegas.”
Keeping Las Vegas as the host city for the Interbike trade show came into question two years ago when the time came to renew the show’s contract with the Sands Convention Center, which expires with the 2009 show. Among other things, members of the industry were interested in seeing the show support a more cycling–friendly city, while maintaining the best return on investment for exhibitors and retail buyers.
The Decision Process
In identifying possible locations for the show, Interbike selected key market criteria it considered mandatory for a host venue. Interbike’s top venue requirements include: Read more
Jun
25
Wired Mag: Bikes as Geek Tech
Filed Under Exhibitor News, Gear, Industry News, Interbike | 3 Comments
I love Wired Magazine. Love the tech, the science, the design, the snarkiness and the utter geek-coolness that permeates each issue. And Wired seems to love bikes, too. They do an inordinate amount of bike-related stories for a techie magazine and attend Interbike each year. I did a search for ‘bike‘ at their website and got over 4800 links to articles. Love that bikes fit right in with iPhones, Drobos, Star Wars fanboy movie reviews, geoengineering solutions to climate change and Wii’s.
In the spirit of the magazine’s review style, here’s the July 2008 issue of Wired that just arrived in the mail:
Wired: They dedicate two whole pages to bikes: the first to Specialized’s Tarmac SL2 (’Olympic Gear’), and the second to a test of four cyclo-cross bikes: the Moots Psychlo-X, Cannondale’s XTJ, the Specialized S-Works Tricross and Redline’s Conquest Pro. Are you guys planning to be at Cross Vegas his year?
Tired: They get the colors of the world champion rainbow stripes flowing through the article right, but they get the order wrong. Nice gesture guys, but it’s blue - red - black - yellow - green. I stand corrected: Mark from Wired commented (below) that the colors are actually intended to represent the Olympic ring colors which are the same but in the printed order. Sorry!
The feature doesn’t seem to be online yet since the issue’s still fresh, so pick up a copy at your newsstand.
Jun
25
Here’s a little something from one of the other industries whose tradeshow I work on. The ASR (Action Sports Retailer) show serves the surf, skate, moto, swim and related lifestyle industries. Think Quiksilver, Billabong, Volcom, Reef, Vans and you’ll have a good idea of the companies represented. VERY different vibe from Interbike, I gotta tell you. It’s 2 times a year in San Diego for the Spring/Summer and Winter seasons, being a very fashion and apparel oriented industry.
So every year the skateboard industry association promotes “Go Skateboarding Day” - this year it was last Saturday the 21st of June. It’s supposed to be a day to celebrate skateboarding and just plain get out and skate for the day. Around the country there are tons of events planned and it’s a big deal in the industry.
One of my fellow bike/train commuters is the publisher of one of the big skateboarding magazines and I was asking him this morning how Go Skateboarding Day went across the country. He told me about this:
Call it ballsy, call it stupid - it’s pretty amazing how he managed to stop traffic like that on one of the major freeways in Southern California with just him on his skateboard. It’s almost like critical mass, but with just one person. I have a suspicion that if he were on a bike instead of a skateboard, cars would have been flying by him honking their horns and shaking their fists at him. Sort of like the study that showed how helmetless riders get more room from passing cars, maybe they saw this guy as more vulnerable and gave him space to do his…thing. Or maybe, being SoCal, many of the drivers were skaters ( or parents of skaters), too.
Now, what did this achieve for the image of skating among the general public? Well… that’s debatable, to put it mildly - much like the critical mass argument in the bike world. How about the effect of this ride among the core target audience that the employer of the skater markets to? That was probably a marketing home run. Reminds me of the Specialized video from a few months back - except their’s was faked.
Just a taste of something from outside the bike industry.
Jun
20
Surprised to see a photo of a bike commuter on a a train on the cover of this morning’s North County section of San Diego’s Union Tribune newspaper. “That’s great!” I thought at first. Then I read the headline: “Cutting back on bikes onboard - Officials cite safety in limiting number to 4 per car on train” Just what I was afraid of with the huge growth in bike/train commuting recently.
Photo by CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
The story deals with the recently inaugurated Sprinter light rail line launched earlier this year in northern San Diego County. I haven’t had a chance to ride it yet, though I suppose I could take it to my current Metrolink train in Oceanside. There’s been criticism that the line is a “train to nowhere” from Escondido to Oceanside, California. As a result, apparently many more than expected (upwards of 12 per car, according to the article) are bringing their bikes on board to complete their journeys at either end.
“We have really been overwhelmed with bikes so far – more than we expected,” district spokesman Tom Kelleher said. “It’s a pleasant dilemma.”
I agree - this is a “pleasant dilemma” to have, right? This is a great sign and takes the mission of a light rail system one step further: people leave their cars behind even to get to and from the train. With the encouragement of this great participation by cyclists, all that’s needed is a creative and “pleasant” solution. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with government bureaucrats here. Their answer to so many bikes on the trains: limit them to 4 citing safety reasons. The transit district is also proposing that bikers just use the 278 bike lockers installed at the stations along the route. Yeah, no need for your bike at the other end of the line in a suburban setting…
The limit is planned to go into effect on July 1st.
“On July 1 there are a lot of people who just won’t ride the Sprinter anymore, which is just going to be unfortunate,” Keehan said. “It’s not good for the transit rider or the transit district to not accommodate those riders.”
The commenter “Left Coast” summed up the situation best and provided the best solution:
so let’s see, right at one of the MOST significant times in public transit history, where they have the greatest opportunity to increase ridership, and help the environment, what do these dummies do?!
ENCOURAGE people to bring bikes… many, many bikes. make one of the cars one big bike rack. think you idiots, THINK! stop being bureaucrats for once in your lives.
I just hope Metrolink doesn’t get any ideas from their peers to the south and try something like this. I really like the idea of making one of the cars “one big bike rack.” I chat with a fellow bike commuter on the platform, but when the train comes we have to split up so that we won’t compete for the limited bike racks. Would be great if we could ride on the train with the other bikers.
To end this post, I’ll leave you with one final comment to help frame the situation with a bit of humor:
Pack the train with bikes and people! It is not about comfort it is about saving fuel!
In 3rd world countries you could be setting next to a box of chickens or a pig head.
Jun
19
Is More Bike Culture the Answer?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Interbike | 11 Comments
I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the last couple of posts here that dealt with the rise of bike commuting have generated so much interest and feedback. I guess this isn’t surprising considering the attention to commuting by bike that I’m increasingly seeing in all areas of the media (and the huge increase in bike commuters I see on the roads).
One particular comment from Justyna on this recent post made some great points about where she sees the problem with getting more people to commute by bike - and it’s “not about the stuff”, as she puts it. She linked to a post she wrote following her trip to Interbike last year where she caught an interview we did on our “Good Morning Interbike” show from the Media Center with Tim Parr and Sky Yeager of Swobo. (Here’s a link to the video - you’ll have to sit through Ned Overend and John Tomac, Lennard Zinn and Jonathan Vaughters…lots of enthusiast candy in there).
This discussion of what it is that is keeping more Americans from cycling is complicated and very interesting at the same time. Same goes for the issue of why people do cycle already. I don’t want to go through the whole Coasting thing again, but Shimano has spent a lot of time and effort trying figure this out (yes, so they can sell these people more stuff, I know…) and, among many insightful observations from their research, determined that the culture and environment of bike shops is off-putting and intimidating to many non-cyclists.
Justyna wrote that what is needed is more of a “bike culture” here in the States. While more awareness and acceptance of cycling and cyclists by society is always welcome (and what I guess she really means), I would hazard to guess that the nature of the existing bike culture (that most shops are great at nurturing) is one of the reasons that many don’t currently ride. As a commenter on blogger BikeSnobNYC’s great post today, “Get Over It: Surmounting Obstacles to Cycling”, mentions:
No “culture” is as inclusive as it thinks it is. It’s only a few individuals that make it inclusive.
It could be the fear of looking silly in lycra, of complicated bikes, of fixie hipster attitudes, of riding in traffic, of small hard bike seats, of confrontational critical mass’ers, of the arrogant racer shop clerk, of expensive bikes, of not being accepted by experienced cyclists - all these are bike culture components whether real or perceived. What needs to happen is a lessening of some of these cultural components from the general image of cycling held by society at large. As the Snob himself writes:
If I’m hard on the fashionistas and the gear whores, it’s because I think one of the greatest obstacles to new cyclists is the uniform and equipment it seems necessary to own in order to join in the fun. From the outside you’d think you can’t own a fixed-gear bike without having full sleeves and a HED tri-spoke, and that you can’t own a road bike without having an SRM and a pair of wheels that costs over $1,000.
As the Coasting project determined, we (as an industry) have done such a great job of framing cycling as a sport or fitness endevour, that people who just want to ride feel intimidated, or worse, don’t even give cycling a moments consideration. My point (and Bicycle Retailer’s in the article I discussed in my post) on the question of whether bike shops are selling the right bikes, is that (most) bike shops are set up to service the enthusiasts (think the “Lance Effect”, etc.) very well and cater to that culture and as a side effect, turn off many of the non-cyclists who aren’t part of the clique. To these people, a skate shop, fashion boutique a friendly website or even (gasp!) a Wal-Mart or Target could provide a more welcoming environment to take the plunge into cycling. They just want to buy a bike and ride, right?
A final note: I know there are many great shops out there doing a wonderful job at encouraging new cyclists. In my work in the industry, I calculated once that I’ve visited about 350 of the best shops around the country, and have seen many awesome shops and met many passionate cyclists. By no means is this an indictment on all bike shops, but a critical look at ways in which we as an industry can take feedback from a group of outsiders newly interested in being “one of us” and ways we can encourage them.
Enjoy the ride!
Jun
16
27″ Tire Sales Are Up - 10 Speeds Brought Back to Life?
Filed Under Attendee News, Industry News | 7 Comments
I had the pleasure of having lunch today with a group that included Fred Clements, the head of the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA). On the walk over to the restaurant here in San Juan Capistrano, I was picking his brain for feedback on what he’s been hearing from his constituents about the price of gas and it’s effect on their businesses. He said that it’s been mostly positive with strong interest in hybrids and cruisers. Then he added that he’d heard a curious thing from one of the biggest bicycle parts distributors in the US: sales of 27″ tires are through the roof this year. That can only mean one thing, in my opinion: people are pulling their old 10-speed bikes from the 70’s and 80’s down from the rafters of their garages or out of their basements and trying to get them back into riding shape - 27″ being the dominant wheel size for those bikes.
It’s been a while since I worked in a shop, but I believe that the 27″ inch size is just a bit larger in diameter than the 700c that is the current road bike standard. I’m sure the quality of 27″ tires is much better now, but it seems like all the 27″ tires I remember replacing at the shop ages ago had sidewalls made of cheap gum rubber that had totally dry rotted.
Any bike retailers out there reading this seeing many older bikes that haven’t seen action for awhile coming in for rejuvenation treatments to become commuters?
Jun
13
Are Bike Shops Selling the Bikes New Bikers Want?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Gear, Green Efforts, Interbike | 13 Comments
Great new article (actually, a “Special Report”) in the latest BRAIN that came in a couple of days ago. Matt Wiebe’s story is titled “Alternative Retail Channels Cater to New Cyclists.” It’s a very well written article that brings up some great points for retailers - and manufacturers - some things to chew on. Make sure you read it when it arrives in the mail - it doesn’t seem to exist on BRAIN’s website.
Matt begins with an observation that is probably a very widely held assumption across the industry and biking community currently:
A perfect storm is building of people who cannot afford gas, who realize they have to change their lifestyle to save the planet and believe bikes are the answer.
We’ve all witnessed it: the train in the morning is overflowing with bikes, buses are turning bikers away because the Sportworks on the front is full, and retailers are seeing more people dusting off old bikes and bringing them in for service to start riding to work. More and more politicians and celebrities are being photographed on their bikes and Barack Obama just granted a private meeting with bike industry leaders last night. These are new riders from the proverbial 161 million non-riders we’ve all been trying to reach, right?
As Matt goes on to write, though, the “storm wind should be blowing these new consumers into the nation’s bike shops … but it’s not happening.”
Tim Parr of Swobo supports that statement early in the article by saying, “these new customers cannot find the product they want because it’s not an enthusiast’s bike.” Bicycle dealers are great at serving the needs of enthusiasts but not so much the needs of these new bikers.
I think we can all agree with Matt’s line that “the enthusiast market is not where the growth and excitement is now.”
In addition, alternative retailers and retail channels have sprung up to serve this new, market. These include surf and skate shops, apparel boutiques and - brace yourself - internet direct sales. That last one is a taste of a topic for a whole other post: how retailers are still not fully embracing the internet to grow their businesses and how certain manufacturers are “holding back” retailers from taking advantage of the internet. Talk about a hot button issue…
So what are these bikes that these “neo-bikers” are looking for? How about the urban fixie trend? We’ve all read enough BikeSnobNYC posts and have seen fixies turn up under suburban teens farther and farther away from the city centers where the category was born to know that these are huge. While a few manufacturers have stepped up with models to serve this market (and their dealers with product), for the most part, consumers are forced to look to alternative channels to get what they want. The fixie trend is also bringing with it an opportunity that the bike industry has longed for for eons: a lifestyle market, the likes of which the surf and skate industries have enjoyed since the dawn of their sports. Non-enthusiasts are not going to - or even thinking about - bike shops for this.
Another type of bike that the neo-biker is not finding is a $300-$500 “just-a-bike” bike. Many bike shops have been profiting from $8,000 custom road bike sales over the last 10 years or so and can’t serve the needs of the neo-biker. I can remember my dad balking at paying the $800 for a mountain bike that the shop salesperson proposed years ago when I convinced him to try cycling. He told me that $300 was about what he wanted to pay for a bike to ride around town. We enthusiasts and industry members would consider $800 about right for an entry-level bike. How many people are turned away by the higher than expected prices for bikes.
I don’t want to give away the whole article before you have a chance to read it, but I tend to agree with Matt on so many of these aspects that contribute to the challenge that bike shops apparently are facing in addressing this surge of new riders. From manufacturers increasingly encouraging dealers to make larger commitments to their brands that in turn causes the dealers to lose the ability to change quickly with the market place to non-cycling brands like RVCA (and here from a non-bike blog) and Paul Frank making inroads into the bike market through their networks of non-traditional bike retailers, there are some great points to think about.
What I have seen in my limited exposure to this market is that on the train every day that I commute, I see alot of inappropriate bikes being used. Obviously, they’re all bikes and it’s great that they are being ridden, but I think we can do better for these neo-bikers.
I don’t know, am I wrong?
Jun
5
Kinetic Koffee Video From Sea Otter
Filed Under Exhibitor News, Industry News, Video | 2 Comments
Catching up here on a few videos that I shot at the Sea Otter Classic this April. I know I’ve said this before, but I gotta tell you, video takes a lot more time to edit than just writing a blog post. What makes it harder is when your art department (who own the MacBook Pro I do my video work on) took back their machine. My PC desktop just doesn’t cut it for anything other than Excel and Word and I was left high and dry until I was able to get the Mac back yesterday and start plugging away at the remaining clips I filmed.
The first one up is an interview with Mark Ritz of Kinetic Koffee. Actually, it’s more of a demo of his latest offering, the AeroPress traveling coffee maker. I was doubtful that you could make a better cup of coffee than what I had already tasted using KK’s beans, but Mark showed me otherwise. And you can take your Kinetic Koffee with you now when you travel!
Mark is a great guy, a passionate cyclist (20 bikes in the garage you said?) and roasts a mean bag of coffee beans. Remember, caffeine is a cyclist’s best friend…
Update: Mark just emailed to tell me that I used the wrong url in the end credits for this video. To visit their website, go to www.kinetic-koffee.com (note the dash). Sorry, Mark!