Thoughts on Interbike and transportation cycling

The granddaddy North American bike industry trade show, Interbike, kicked off this week, and aside from the the show girls in mini skirts and midriffs, it’s always fun to see new product roll outs and trends in the bike industry.

In the past, there has been relatively little in the way of products developed for actually going places on a bike. The focus is always on the performance items, first with the carbon obsession that has yielded a string of silly products that have no business being made of carbon and now with the ubiquitous integrated and proprietary components locking you into whatever options your bike maker chooses to give you.

Having said that, there does seem to be a move lately towards developing the utility cycling market from the larger bike companies. Higher gas prices and global warming have created a change, opening a brand new, enormous American market to anyone who would put some thought into product development. So far the offerings from the big bike manufactures have been pretty clumsy, but this market stands to greatly eclipse the performance bike market so more attempts are likely on the way.

In the meantime, let’s do a quick rundown of some products becoming available to the bikes-as-transportation customer.

Electra goes really fat tire

Electra has been one of the few U.S. companies to really embrace the European style city bike with their Amsterdam line. While their initial offerings have been plagued with some safety issues and one could argue that the build quality is not up to Dutch bike standards, they are continuing to plug away with the introduction of a balloon tire version of the Amsterdam.

The component selection for this incarnation is a little more sporty with external gearing and the absence of fenders, a rack, or chain guard. I’m just glad this version has brakes!

It is unfortunate that this appears to be a step back from the original, very practical Amsterdam concept. I have no double that this balloon tire version is a lot of fun to ride, but I wonder how I would pick up groceries or wear business cloths with this bike.

Civia slummin’ it for the rest of us

OK, a $1400 3 speed bike is not slumming it, but high-end city, bike maker Civia introduced a new Loring brand of more reasonably priced bikes. At less than half the price of their Rohloff equiped Hyland, you could actually park this thing at your office without hiring a person guard to watch it all day. Also, while the Hyland is all business, the Loring is a little more stylish with bamboo fenders and a bamboo lined front rack. Personally, I think the bamboo fenders are a bit of style over function, but it is good to see a more developed product line to allow people with different budgets to get in on decent city bikes.

Whoa! A folding cargo bike?

The new aluminum Xtracycle deck, the TekDeck

This year’s Interbike is a really a coming out for Xtracycle in their development of a more comprehesive product line. I have to say this makes me very happy and shows how viable the cargo bike market is.

New products include a fully built integrated Xtracycle framed bike called the Radish, a better developed double kickstand, a cut to fit pad for your deck called the Magic Carpet, and an lighter, more durable aluminum rack deck. The most shocking product however was photographed by the folks at Bikehugger: a Dahon folding Xtracycle. I have no idea why you would want a folding cargo bike or if this is even a good idea, but when a Fredish company like Dahon embraces you, you are getting painfully close to mainstream cycling.

Final Thoughts

So are we entering a utility cycling nirvana where we’ll be seeing a string of great transportation cycling products appearing on the market? I think it’s too early to say. The bike industry’s default setting seems to be racing bikes, so this may be a short fling. There is an emerging market here however, and someone stands to make a pretty penny off of it. We’ll see who takes batton and runs with it.

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4. Bike Industry Profile: Brad Beneski of FlashBak ...
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