1. Briefly describe your background and what you do now?
I’m a marketing consultant working mostly in the bicycle industry, but I’ve also had some strategy projects for social networking sites. That’s pretty much my whole work history; I started doing PR gigs at a few bike races in 2003 while I was still working at a bike shop just after college and things progressed from there.
Some stuff I’ve worked on… I was the marketing manager for the Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada professional team in 2005 and 2006. This year I launched a blogging and social media campaign for SRAM Corporation around their sponsored teams and athletes. I also help with the business and sponsorship side of MASH, which is basically the first action sports-style urban cycling film.
2. What’s the story behind the current urban biking movement and what forms is it taking?
Utilitarian urban bicycling - as opposed to the recreational bicycling that most people in the US are used to - has always been a part of life in lots of places around the world, from China to Holland. In this country, the two most visible stories in urban bicycling right now are bike commuting and fixed-gear/track bike culture.
The use of bicycles for commuting and alternative transportation is benefiting from some extremely powerful societal and cultural trends. Environmental values have become mainstream. People are concerned about health and fitness. When gas prices were high and now that the economy is bad, the fact the bikes are an inexpensive form of transportation has become more relevant. Finally, urban living with a European sensibility is very much in style.
On the other hand, the fixed-gear culture started with bike messengers but it has inspired a much larger trend of people riding any sleek, fast, skinny-tire bike in the city. Not many are riding true track bikes without brakes, but lots of people ride a fixed-gear bike with brakes, a single-speed, or just a road bike. This culture combines the benefits of alternative transportation with action sports, style, and youth culture. When MASH came out, they had premiers all over the world, were featured in all these fashion magazines, and blew up in Japan. Nothing like that had ever happened with bicycles before.
(definitions of fixed-gear and track bikes at http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html)
3. How do you see this evolving in 2009?
No matter what happens with the economy, more people will have more reasons to ride their bikes to work and around town in 2009 than they did in 2008. But that doesn’t mean that the bike industry is recession-proof since most bicycling is still about recreation. Still, strong bike shops are doing better than most retailers right now.
One evolution that you’ll see in 2009 is bike-sharing programs rolled out in more major cities. They’re like Zipcar for bikes, except that some of them let you have a certain amount of time for free before they charge you. Paris’ “Velib” program is the gold standard, and DC started the first for a major US city this year. Honolulu, Minneapolis, and a few others are on tap for next year.
You’ll also see more celebrities on bikes and the general “fashionization” of bicycles. I recently interviewed the CMO of Puma for my blog about how they’ve made bikes a part of their strategy, and you’ll see more non-bicycle brands doing the same thing in 2009.
4. Who are the companies and organizations that are supporting this movement, it seems to have its own ecosystem?
For something so big, there’s very little hierarchy. It’s really just a chain of communities sharing ideas and learning best practices from each other. Cicolvia program for car-free days in city centers, started in Bogota and spread to other cities in Colombia, then around the world.
Generally, you see the most progress in terms of bike lanes, bike racks on transit vehicles, car-free days, and generally safer streets for bicyclists in cities with strong bicycle advocacy organizations and pro-bike mayors. London’s Ken Livingstone is a great example. In San Francisco, the SF Bicycle Coalition just passed 10,000 members and they’re a significant political force in the city.
The bike industry itself was fairly slow to react to the growth of urban cycling. Until two or three years ago, there were road bikes, mountain bikes, and lounge chairs on wheels. Now there’s an “urban” category of bikes that are designed for fast, efficient city riding. Bike companies are giving more money to advocacy organizations, although it’s likely that the industry as a whole still spends more on sponsoring professional racing than on promoting urban bicycling.
5.Is it possible with a renewed focus on alternative forms of transportation that biking will see a resurgence, if not, what is required to make this happen?
This is already happening, but mostly in denser cities and metro areas with political climates that are more progressive on environmental issues. In many places, the bicycle is not the most practical means of transportation, but we can’t just tear up the sprawl and start over. That’s why people in the bicycle advocacy community are starting to talk about bicycling not just on its own, but also as part of a system of alternative transportation. Instead of “ride your bike to work”, the messaging is expanding to include “ride your bike to transit” and “ride your bike to carpool”. Bicycling and other forms of group transportation go hand in hand.
Practicality is only part of the story; fixed-gear culture will play a role by changing the image of the urban bicyclist. It used to be that dorky guy in your office building who’d get on the elevator still wearing his helmet and reflective strap on his pants. Now it’s actually cool to be a bicyclist, which is an amazing thing.
As a final note… thanks to all the little line items that were included to pass the second version of the Bailout, you’ll be eligible in 2009 for up to $20/month of tax-free reimbursement of bike commuting expenses. Subtract $240 per year, and riding to work is almost free!
"Building on a relationship between two Milwaukee neighbors that dates to Harley-Davidson's 90th anniversary celebration in 1993, Miller Lite will be the exclusive malt beverage sponsor of next year's Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary Celebration. The only light beer to win four gold medals in the bi-annual World Beer Cup's American-style Light Lager category, Miller Lite will feature a national summer promotion highlighting the Harley-Davidson affiliation."
It makes perfect sense, but then you think again and you are not so certain.
Of course, the partnership involves lots of safe driving activities, but the desired message Miller clearly wants to communicate is "rebel beer" and that's a little bit of a conflict.
Perhaps, this is a win-win for Miller because the more negative press they get the more rebellious the brand will seem.
Posted by Ed Cotton
Shimano saw it as a market opportunity, so they hired IDEO to find out why.
From spending time with non-bikers, IDEO discovered there were a number of attitudes and beliefs these non-riders held, that had become barriers to them ever getting on a bicycle.
1. They liked biking as children, but adult biking was serious and competitive
2. The employees in bike retail stores are intimidating
3. The bikes themselves can be messy and complicated
To overcome the barriers, Shimano went off and created a new category, Coasting.
It’s basically a new carefree philosophy built around meandering around on a bike.
Manufacturers have responding and have produced special bikes with automatic “transmissions”, like Trek’s, new Lime.
Bike manufacturer Trek is hoping to sell 26,000 Limes this year.
Improved sales training and product innovation have tackled many of the barriers identified by IDEO, but the biggest problem is the lack of facilities (bike paths) and that could be too big a problem for Shimano to solve on its own,