Dec
16
Here’s a video that was posted recently showing some fun footage of BikeHugger’s Mobile Social ride down the Strip in Vegas during this year’s show. Love the guy on the John Deere bike, by the way.
Dec
9
Bonnie Tu: A Giant leap for women in the Times Online
Filed Under Cycling, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike | Comments Off
Industry consultant Rick Vosper Twittered about this article that ran in the UK’s Times Online on Monday featuring Giant Bicycles’ Bonnie Tu. Their “Monday Manifesto” is titled “A Giant leap for women on the move. Taiwan’s godmother of the bicycle wants to end a male-dominated world” and is definitely worth a read.
Ms. Tu is the chief financial offer for Giant, the “godmother of bicycles” and a founder investor in the company along with chairman, King Liu. She has strong opinions about bikes, their role in society and specifically about bikes for women. Here’s a quote:
“To get more women on the road, we have to get them to think of these things as accessories,” she says. “Natural, everyday accessories, like handbags. All major brands claim they design specifically for women, but it’s not true. It means something when I say I’m the godmother — nobody should doubt that our women’s bikes are designed for women by women.”
Dec
2
Urban Cycle Fashion & the Cult of Transportation
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Arrggghh! Can’t seem to get away from the urban cycling culture coverage in the media! Actually, this one hit me way back in May and, aside from bookmarking it and making a mental note to post about it, it’s just sat around gathering dust. It’s still no less relevant and intertesting to those of us in the biz, though, so here it is, finally.
Label Networks is a site that focuses on “youth culture intelligence and news” and is fairly well known in the more fashion-centric industries like those served by Interbike’s sister trade show, ASR. With that said, the bike industry’s young (in both tenure and demographic) fixie/urban category appears on their trend-spotting radar screens unlike our traditional “technical” bike apparel. Like my recent post on outdoor retailers and cycling, this is an interesting view into how this category is being exposed and explained to the non-endemic fashion community.
It’s a tad old, but still worth a read: The Urban Cycle Fashion Movement and the Cult of Transportation. The piece mentions cycling inspired apparel from Adidas, New Era and Outlier among others.
Note: Just noticed a more recent and updated version of the article from this Aug: Urban Cycling and How Fixies Are Transforming the Cult of Transportation Into a Lifestyle
As any strong movement grows, so too does a new industry, including of course the growth of bike shops in urban centers, and events such as Midnight Rides in various cities, plus art shows showcasing the creative energy of the of movement, and self-made videos and documentaries as seen during the touring Bicycle Film Festival.
Dec
1
CrossVegas Piece on KCLV TV Channel 2
Filed Under Cycling, Interbike, Racing, Video | Comments Off
Saw a bunch of retweets a few days back about this CrossVegas piece that ran on Las Vegas’ KCLV TV station (channel 2). For those handful of you who are not on Twitter yet (you know who you are…) and haven’t seen it, it’s been uploaded to YouTube. It’s a nicely done video “essay” on the event by Eric Sorenson and it features a few well known friends who raced that evening like Carlton Reid and Brian Hodes.