Aug
11
SoBi – The Social Bike System Wireless Bike Share Program
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Interbike, Video | Leave a Comment
According to an article I read today on social media news site Mashable, a new bike sharing program – the Social Bike System (SoBi for short) – is set to debut in New York City this Fall. What’s unique about this bike share program is that the system uses a wireless Android or iPhone-based mobile phone app to find and unlock the bikes. The finding part is not new, though, since I remember playing around with the app from the French Velib bike share system when I first got my iPhone almost two years ago. I always chuckled when it would inform me that the nearest available bike was located just 5,767 miles away in a neighborhood in Paris.
The wireless unlocking part – or how you access the bikes themselves – is interesting and, allegedly, cheaper and easier to manage than other existing systems.
Watch founder Ryan Rzepecki explain the system in the video below and read more about the program in the original article here. SoBi themselves can be found at www.socialbicycles.com
If you like what you see, you can vote for them in the Pepsi Refresh Competition.
The Social Bicycle System from Ryan Rzepecki on Vimeo.
May
14
NBC’s Today Show Commuter Challenge Video
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Interbike, Video | 5 Comments
I think we all know who wins all the annual “commuter challenges” put on by various media companies. Here’s NBC’s Today Show’s “Ditch the car for a healthy commute” challenge for this year with Al Roker turning the pedals (on a folding bike!), Matt Lauer taking the subway and a bus and Meredith Vieira braving the New York City streets in a car.
It’s a decent show of the common sense aspect of using a bike to get to work. They even have an “expert” on who highlighted some important stats such as how most Americans live within 5 miles of work. The focus is more on the health benefits, but I’ll take whatever positive mention of cycling the mainstream media give us.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Self Magazine, featured in the video, has a “Biking Guide” up on their site with tips and product suggestions for new cyclists.
Also interesting to note that near the beginning, Roker says it’s time to “break out the Schwinn” when referring to bikes. I wonder if “break out the Trek (or Specialized) would mean more to people under 40?
Feb
1
New York Times on the Business of Electric Bikes
Filed Under Cycling, Gear, Green Efforts, Industry News, Interbike | 8 Comments
While making breakfast for the kids in the morning and preparing their lunches to take to school, I listen to the radio. More often than not, it’s set to NPR. You know: news, weather, little tidbits on what’s going on in the world while the oatmeal cooks and the eggs are boiling. Between slicing up a banana and buttering some toast, I heard the words “electric bicycles” come from the speakers. Ears perked, I moved a bit closer, but it was only a brief mention of the growing importance of electric bicycles in China, with a passing comment that while in China there are currently 120 million ebikes cruising the streets, we bought “only” 200,000 of them last year here in the States.
“Interesting,” I thought to myself and made a mental note to use it as a reason for a post here. Later, while skimming through the most popular articles area in the New York Times app on my iPhone during lunch, I saw that a piece on ebikes was in the top 10.
“An Electric Boost for Bicyclists – Born in China, Electric Bikes Gain a Toehold in the West” is the article featured in the Global Business section of the February 1 edition of the Times. Confirming the high popularity ranking, there are already 95 comments to the piece as of this writing.
The article by J. David Goodman is worth a read and features comments from some industry notables such as consultant Jay Townley and ebike expert Ed Benjamin who is quoted as saying that ebikes are a “gift from God” for bike makers. Sure seems like the industry is treating them like they are.
Proving that there’s always something left to learn, here are a few things I learned:
- Electric bicycles are not officially permitted on the streets of New York.
- While producing far fewer emissions, a typical Chinese ebike goes through five batteries in its lifetime – each containing 20 to 30 pounds of lead (!). Ouch.
- Two distinct types of bikes are emerging as their popularity grows: the very bicycle-like pedal-assist in the US and Europe and the more scooter-like variant in China.
- Government planners are seeking to address the challenges that the increase in ebikes on the streets are causing traditional cyclists: do they belong in bike lanes/paths?
And again I ask, considering that Best Buy is taking on the category, that specialty bicycle retail has a general lack of enthusiasm toward them (described here in a previous post), and that many traditional cyclists not exactly embracing the concept (according to the article), who will own the electric bike retail channel going forward?
Aug
27
Freewheelin’ the DNC and New Advocacy Groups Springing Up
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Industry News, Interbike | Comments Off
I’ve been enjoying following the news of the Humana/Bikes Belong Freewheelin’ campaign at the Democratic National Convention this week. This is a great effort and undertaking, but I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the seeiming success of the program so far. Along with the large orchestrated rides with big names like the mayor of Denver, they’re claiming to have seen their loaner bikes already cover over 12,000 miles of Denver streets over the first two days of the program. That’s pretty impressive. Our Lance Camisasca is working with them in Denver this week and I can’t wait to hear from him how it all went.
Along with that good news, I’m constantly surprised by all the new advocacy groups that seem to keep popping up. Mattew Modine, the actor, was featured on the Freewheelin’ blog signing out a bike to use on a ride in support of the group that he works with called Bike For a Day. Here’s a brief excerpt from their website:
- A fun, open and proactive invitation designed to inspire individuals, communities, governments and corporations to take a step towards solving the current environmental issues.
- A global initiative bringing together people who choose to ride a bicycle rather than use gas-powered motor vehicles, immediately reducing their carbon footprint.
- Supports organizations that restore and protect our environment and make biking safer and more accessible for everyone.
BICYCLING CAN HELP CHANGE YOUR WORLD
The BFAD website says that they plan to launch on September 20, 2008. I wish them all the best in their efforts.
You can also follow Freewheelin happenings via Twitter.
Aug
18
Video: Freewheleein’ At the Democratic National Convention
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
Saw a link to this video from the local Denver NBC television station on Twitter this morning. Forgot that the DNC is already next week. If you hadn’t heard, Bikes Belong and health insurance company Humana (along with a few bike manufacturers) have partnered to provide 1,000 bikes on free loan to conventioneers. Republicans will also get a chance to borrow a bike at their convention in Minneapolis in early September. I’m really curious to see how the bikes end up being used – and which party will use them more. At the risk of getting too political here, I know which party I’d put my money on to ride more.
The website for the Freewheelin’ program is here and you can also follow them on Twitter under the bikesharing account name.
In the video, Avery Stonich from the BBC and Dan Oftedahl from Humana talk about the program and you get to see the wareheouse where the bikes are all being assembled. Hopefully you won’t see the pre-roll ad for a truck like I did. Gotta love contextual advertising.
Here’s the link to the original article that goes along with the video.
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
13
Are Bike Shops Selling the Bikes New Bikers Want?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Gear, Green Efforts, Interbike | 14 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?
Apr
18
Sea Otter Video – Pedro’s Chris Zigmont
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Exhibitor News, Green Efforts, Industry News, Video | 4 Comments
Man, doing the video thing is alot more work than just posting. Finally after some quality time in the Sea Otter Media Center, I’ve got something to show. I interviewed Pedro’s current GM and soon to be CEO, Chris Zigmont, about their efforts to be green and a socially responsible company. Good stuff from a passionate member of our industry. Also includes news about the management buyout of Pedro’s back from Swix. (Please excuse my noobi-ness as an on-camera interviewer…) More videos to come.
Apr
4
This is a Good Thing, Right?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Green Efforts | 1 Comment
Leaving work at the end of the day earlier this week, I snapped this photo while stopped at a light just around the corner from our offices here in San Juan Capistrano in Southern California. This particular station has always had obscenely high prices, but now premium gas is well beyond the $4 per gallon threshold. And this morning I noticed that they’ve adjusted the price up to $4.13 with super at over $4 now.
While I never buy from this station, the overall trend is now REALLY starting to play with the economics of bike and mass transit commuting options versus driving. SoCal is not exactly designed for easy mass transportation use given the infamous suburban sprawl of the region and car-centric mentality of the original urban planners (effectively the developers and politicians), but I think it will finally start to noticeably affect pocketbooks and wallets.
I’ve got to start up the bike commute again now that there’s enough daylight at the end of the day for the 14 mile bike leg of my multi-modal commute (which includes a train ride up the coast to Orange County). With my kids’ school schedules in the morning and wife’s work, I can only do it two days per week, but gas prices should now make it a financial win as well as a Wilford Brimley-esque “right thing to do”?
So the high gas prices are painful, but it’s a good thing for the bike industry, right?
Sep
21
A First: Organic Food at OutDoor Demo
Filed Under Attendee News, Green Efforts, Interbike, OutDoor Demo | 1 Comment
With the greater flexibility we have out in the desert of Boulder City, we have been able to work with our caterers and food service providers to make organic food options available for the first time at the OutDoor Demo. It’s another small move among the many that we are taking to improve on the environmental performance of the industry’s tradeshow.
If you’re out at the Demo and hungry, check out the organic options. I haven’t seen the menu, but I hear that the choices are really good. I’m looking forward to trying them and helping to encourage the organic food industry and eating healthier at the same time.
Along with the new food, the eating utensils and dishes it will be served on will be made of biodegradable materials as will the garbage bags that they will be disposed in.
Every little bit counts, right?