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?
May
13
Video: IMBA Public Lands Initiative launch at the BLC
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 3 Comments
Been working on this one a while. Gosh, the BLC took place almost a month ago at this point. But for those of you who have dabbled in video editing and posting online, it’s a few orders of magnitude more time and effort than just writing a blog post. Add in some still unresolved (and very frustrating) technical issues that prevented me from uploading this video in any format from any of three different computers at work (both Mac and Windows) and you have a video that’s a little past its prime in the timeliness category.
BUT, the content more than makes up for it. I’d heard going into the this morning session at the annual spring gathering of the bike industry’s leaders that there was going to be an announcement made by one of the advocacy groups. When I saw Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, Jenn Dice of IMBA and then the CEO’s of the two largest US bike companies, Mike Sinyard of Specialized and John Burke of Trek, walk up onto the stage, I had a feeling it would be something big. I reached for my little Sony point-and-click digital camera that also shoots video and captured the proceedings. Who knew it would be so compelling?
If you didn’t read the coverage or were not fortunate enough to be present, here’s the background. The BLC this year hosted about 200 “heads of state” of most of the major bike manufacturers and suppliers in the United States. Pretty much a who’s who of the industry including the presidents, CEO’s, general managers, owners and/or marketing directors of companies like the two listed already, plus Shimano, SRAM, Campagnolo, Raleigh, Dorel, Performance, Scott USA, Ritchey, Giant, Haro, Crank Brothers, SIDI… you get the idea. They all gather to network, improve the business climate, discuss the state of the industry and work on areas to improve conditions for cyclists and ultimately grow sales of bikes. It’s really an amazing event and, as is the case with many conferences, the time during the meals and breaks in between sessions are some of the most beneficial and gratifying. I make it a point to find a table during the meals with no one I know to force myself to make new acquaintances and contacts. With essentially everyone in the room being a client of ours in some way, you can understand the value in attending for us.
So, apparently, in the weeks leading up the BLC, Jenn Dice from IMBA had been discussing with John Burke about some serious new challenges that they were facing on access issues. John asked what IMBA needed to mount an effective defense and he in turn committed to supporting it. He also told her to reach out to “Mike over at Specialized.” With that base of initial support from the two big guns in the industry, they decided to formally announce the new Public Lands Initiative at the BLC and to take advantage of all the assembled people with enough authority to write big checks on behalf of their corporations to try to reach the funding goals for the program.
Following the introductions and speeches by Dice, Burke and Sinyard, was an amazing sign of industry solidarity, belief in the role of advocacy in growing the industry and more than a little peer pressure. While many companies committed right there on the spot, many more joined in throughout the rest of the day and the conference (after a quick call to their CFO back home, perhaps?), and the $300,000 first year goal was surpassed and approached the two-year $600,000 goal finishing up at $587,000. Pretty amazing.
The quality of the video is not great as a result of the device and the indoor lighting and sound, but the spirit is inspiring. I caught a number of companies making their on-the-spot pledges of support and tried to note them all during the video. I added the complete list of 38 companies (including us, of course!) at the end. And remember, it’s not too late to email Jenn and make a pledge if your company hasn’t already. Retailers: note in the video that your peers at Wheel & Sprocket and Performance join in with support in the video so don’t feel like this is only a supplier issue!
Here’s a link to IMBA’s official news release about the initiative.
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
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.
Nov
4
Electric Bikes Fill the Void at Tokyo Motor Show
Filed Under Cycling, Gear, Industry News, Video | 3 Comments
Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with a very knowledgeable industry expert and the topic of electric bikes came up – as it seems to more and more often lately. We chatted a bit about the opportunities in the category, and he mentioned how Yamaha had made a splash a few weeks back at the Tokyo Motor Show with their line of e-bikes. Not having been aware of the famous motorcycle (and piano, stereo and flute) maker’s e-bikes, I did a quick search for coverage. Here’s what I found.
It turns out that many car makers decided to not exhibit at this year’s big Tokyo Motor Show due to the effect the economic slowdown has had on that industry, and electric bikes helped fill the void on the show floor. Click the image to watch a brief video report from the show by CCTV. The video mentions that Yamaha actually created the first electric assist bicycle back in 1993. I can’t vouch for that claim, but it’s encouraging that the company sees great potential for e-bikes in the near future.
On a side note, it’s interesting that these electric bicycles are on display at the Motor Show. I caught a glimpse at an industry survey, recently, of IBD’s and their interest (or lack of, as it turns out) in selling electric bikes and have to wonder if the specialty bicycle dealer channel will be seen as the place to go for e-bikes in the future or if it will be served by others as well in a significant way. These could be motorcycle dealers or mass merchant electronics dealers like Best Buy. I know there has been a debate in the bicycle community about whether e-bikes should be considered bikes or essentially the equivalent of motorcycles that happen to run on batteries. Designed the proper way, I believe that they can fit into the bicycle category.
I have to say, I finally got to seriously try out an electric assist bike (a Giant) at our East Coast Demo event in Providence a few weeks ago, and I’m now convinced of the potential for the category. If a dealer can get the right customer on one, it’s an instant eye opening experience. Providence’s Mayor David Ciclline (in the photo below talking to Brad Klipping from Giant) came out to the event to try some bikes and I had to really talk him into trying the Giant. The mayor is a cyclist himself, and I think his pride was preventing him from giving the bike a try. He gave in and the smile came across his face right after the first electric-assisted pedal stroke as it did for me. To give him full credit as a cyclist, after the e-bike ride we hit the demo trails on a pair of the new Breezer MTB’s.
I would recommend a deliberate look into e-bikes for bike dealers out there who are on the fence. And give them a second chance if you have had less than stellar experiences with them in the past – it’s a whole new ball game with some high quality innovations by many companies.
Jul
20
Video: Tompkins & Fries on OutDoor Demo East 2009
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, OutDoor Demo East, Racing, Video | 1 Comment
Here’s a brief video we filmed back at Sea Otter earlier this year with Interbike show director, Andy Tompkins, and New England race promoter and announcer extraordinaire, Richard Fries. As we’ve announced, our OutDoor Demo East event in Providence, Rhode Island, will have two days open to the general public (Oct 10 & 11) following the trade-only days (Oct 8 & 9). We’re partnering with Richard’s company, GSD Promotions, to hold the public expo in conjuction with their Providence Cyclocross Festival. Lots of bike gear and cross racing – what could be better?
Public day registration isn’t open just yet, but if you’re a retailer, you can go ahead and register to attend here. Retailer badges allow access to all four days of the event – both trade-only and public. Find info about OutDoor Demo East here at the main Interbike website.
Jun
17
Bicycle Film Festival kicks off in NYC today
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | Comments Off
For those of you lucky enough to find yourselves close enough to New York City, you owe it those of us that aren’t to attend the Bicycle Film Festival that kicks off tonight. Look for parties, rides and oh, yeah, films from today (June 17) through Sunday the 21st. The event is sponsored by beverage company42Below and a bunch of other forward thinking brands and organizations.
Check out their website for the schedule and details. Here’s the trailer for the 2009 BFF:
Wouldn’t it be cool to have a BFF event in Vegas in September?
May
8
Maurice Tierney, publisher of new Bicycle Times magazine
Filed Under Cycling, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 1 Comment
While at the recent Sea Otter Classic event in Monterey, CA, I was really pleased to be able to run into Maurice Tierney, publisher of the new Bicycle Times magazine and the venerable Dirt Rag, in the media center. He was kind enough to step outside into the unseasonably sunny Monterey weather for a quick interview.
The inaugural issue of BT had just been published and I was very excited to finally lay eyes on it since it further extends the reach of urban and transportation cycling in the media. I’ve really enjoyed the passion for cycling and the personality that the Dirt Rag team has always put into that magazine and have great expectations for what they can do with BT. Best of luck, guys!
TALES FROM SEA OTTER 2009 – Bicycle Times from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
Funny story about this video. So I start interviewing Maurice and notice that he’s got a clear plastic disposable fork sticking out of the right side of his cap. Now as a straight-laced native New Englander, who am I to question Maurice on his sense of style? Maybe all the cool kids are sporting plastic fork head gear these days. So I say nothing and continue the interview. After we’re done and just chatting a bit, he leans his head over and out falls the fork with a plunk on the concrete. He says, “Hey, was this fork sicking out of my hat the whole time?” Turns out he was camping out while at SOC and had just left his camping fork in his cap by accident. So don’t go getting any strange ideas about Maurice from his, um, accessorizing.
Bicycle Times on the web: www.bicycletimesmag.com
Follow Bicycle Times on Twitter: @bicycletimes
Video produced by Cyclefilm
Apr
30
Gary Fisher on Social Media from Sea Otter
Filed Under Cycling, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
At the Bicycle Leadership Conference that took place in Monterey, California, just before Sea Otter this year, I gave a presentation to the attendees on the topic of social media marketing. It was an interesting opportunity given the make up of the audience at the BLC: primarily the executive leadership of all the major brands in the bike industry. That’s an interesting group to speak to on the topic because at most other seminars, talks and panel sessions on the subject, the audience is typically made up of people in marketing that already “get it” about SM for the most part. What many of these marketing professionals and SM evangelists are looking for are tools to use when trying to explain the value of SM to upper management at their companies – exactly who I would be speaking directly to.
In framing the “why” of SM to executives, I believe that it’s imperative to address the value proposition that SM can bring to their companies. What is it that CEO’s and presidents need to hear to be convinced? It’s not just the fact that conversations are happening online (yawn…) – it’s how engaging these people through SM can add value to their companies and empower and excite employees and customers. I hope that we – I asked Chris Matthews of Specialized’s marketing department to co-present with me – were able to do that. (I’m still planning a full post on this as soon as I can finish writing it up.)
With that said, one of the examples we gave in our presentation (along with the photo above from fisherbikes.com) when describing the importance of *authenticity* and *personality* when engaging in social media, was Mr. Gary Fisher. If you’re at all familiar with the bike industry, you know what we mean about Gary. I was really hoping to run into Gary in the expo area of Sea Otter to ask him a few questions about his use of SM since he’s become a very active – and interesting – user of Twitter over the last few months. As you can see below, I did and was able to get some great insight into his use of the tool and what it means to his mom, of all people. Again, with the great video skills of Markus from Cyclefilm.
TALES FROM SEA OTTER 2009 – Gary Fisher from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.
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