Category: Culture

Dirt Series: She’s the pretty cyclist

Richard MasonerApril 27, 20097 Comments on Dirt Series: She’s the pretty cyclist

I took some photos over the weekend of the Dirt Series women’s mountain bike skills clinic in Santa Cruz at the invitation of local travel writer Karen Kefauver. Karen’s a real sweetheart, a lot of fun to be around, and very enthusiastic about everything she does. She faceplanted into a sandpit while racing at the Sea Otter Classic the other weekend and laughed through the whole episode.

I’m just a hack with a blog and a camera, but Karen is a professional journalist who does research, checks facts and takes notes. She told me Olympic medalist Jill Kintner was at this clinic and asked me to take photos of her.

“Okay,” I say. “Where’s Jill at?”

Karen, with a completely straight face, tells me, “Jill is the real pretty one. Bye!” and then Karen goes back to her group for more mountain biking instruction.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am in a field surrounded by 60 athletic, stunningly beautiful women on bicycles, and Karen tells me to find “the real pretty one.” Uh huh.

Dirt Series in Santa Cruz: Mountain Bike Skills Clinic for Women

Karen writes about her experience at the Dirt Series mountain bike skills clinic in Santa Cruz. Drop by and tell her hello!

More: Pink pink pink pink Gnat.

Posted In girls

GT Aerostream city bike

Richard MasonerApril 17, 200912 Comments on GT Aerostream city bike

I saw Valerie at the GT Bicycles booth with the Aerostream cruiser bike and asked her to describe the benefits of this bicycle. GT Bicycles Aerostream bicycle has some nice features differentiating it from other bikes in the cruiser bike category.

Valerie was kind enough to demonstrate some of the features of this bike:

Gates carbon belt drive
Shimano 3 speed hub
Efficient and smooth rolling 700 x 47 tires
Women’s model (shown) has a front basket for Valerie to store her pom poms. This front basket has a collapsible frame which is cheaper to ship (lowers dealer cost)
Men’s model has rear racks and panniers.
Unique rear triangle design eliminates the usual bolt off triangle used in other belt drive designs.
Lightweight aluminum frame is stiffer, less clunky and lighter than your standard beach cruiser. Valerie let me ride her bicycle and I can report that it indeed provides a very nice and smooth ride.

As you can see, just sitting on the GT Aerostream automatically makes anybody at least 14% hotter. This is what Valerie looks like off of the bike:

…And here’s another photo of Valerie on the GT Aerostream:

Your mileage may vary.

Valerie also tells me that REI is now selling this bike and absolutely loves it.

Posted In girls | review

reaching non-traditional cyclists

Richard MasonerMarch 27, 200922 Comments on reaching non-traditional cyclists

A-bike photo courtesy of SlashGear, which has an extensive review

As has often been noted, selling expensive fancy bikes to passionate cyclists is where the bike industry excels. Expanding the pool of customers by reaching out to non-riders is much harder to figure out.

The Sinclair A-Bike was discussed in Cyclelicious and VeloVision in 2006, when the product first went on sale. What struck me in reading about the A-Bike again today was that its U.K. distributor is Mayhem, a gadget and novelty company more akin to Brookstone or Sharper Image than a traditional bicycle retailer. A big part of marketing bicycles to non-riders may be realizing that we need to sell bikes in the places that they shop. People who don’t think they want bikes don’t go into bike stores!

Sure Walmart sells bikes, but Walmart is where shoppers trudge to buy diapers and toasters, not fun toys and not transportation equipment. In order to promote the image of bicycles as hip fashion accessories, as seen in Bikes and the City and sac cycle chic and Velo Vogue, we need Electras in Ann Taylor and Stridas in Old Navy and Breezers in Starbucks. In order to promote bicycles as transportation, why not convince car dealers to sell them? Maybe someone who can’t quite qualify for a loan to buy a Prius would be interested in an Xtracycle instead.

Posted In business | fashion | marketing | transportation

Cycling points of view

Richard MasonerMarch 24, 2009Leave a Comment

In Carbusters issue 37, Jonas Christian notes

while the need to protect non-smokers is well established, the necessity of protectin non-drivers has yet to arrive in the mainstream.

Christian raises a fascinating question as to whether the protection of non-smokers is a curiosity or a precedent.

In a completely cycling-free lecture, Marjane Satrapi comments that cartoonists aren’t taken seriously in part because most people learn to draw as children and then give it up as adults.

Via The Bike Show from Resonance FM, I learned of yet another cycling podcast, Bike Love from Sydney, Australia.

Posted In australia | Culture | law | podcast

world’s only bicycle-touring cellist performs in Mountain View

Richard MasonerMarch 24, 20094 Comments on world’s only bicycle-touring cellist performs in Mountain View

Chang recently rode in a 5,000-mile bike tour called The Pleasant Revolution with the band Ginger Ninjas. They set off from Northern California and traveled — with a bike trailer for his cello — all the way to Mexico. They would pull up into a town and talk to people at different bars trying to find a gig. As far as he knows, he’s the world’s only long-distance bike-touring cellist.

Courtesy of the Mountain View Voice. Chang performs for FREE an eclectic mix of classical, hip-hop and “generally wacky” on Friday March 27 at 8 PM at the Dana Street Roasting Company at 44 W Dana St, Mountain View, CA 94041, reachable at (650) 390-9638.

Posted In bicycle music

immigrants boost cycling in Oakland

Richard MasonerMarch 18, 20095 Comments on immigrants boost cycling in Oakland

In the Chron today, an article by Christopher Heredia:

despite the car-oriented landscape, residents of the city’s Latino community, for the most part, liked to get around on foot and bicycle and, as a result, were bending the neighborhood to their collective will. . . . The bicycle was a key mode of transportation even though there weren’t dedicated bike lanes . . . . they like the cacophony of cars and bicycles because it reminds them of big-city life in China.

I’m biased since I am the descendent of relatively recent immigrants, but I think immigration is the key factor keeping America strong. The U.S. has a lot to learn from other nations, and immigration is the easiest way!

Posted In Culture | Oakland | transportation