The 30th episode of The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast included David Bernstein from The FredCast Cycling Podcast, Carlton Reid from Bike Biz and QuickRelease.tv, Tim Grahl from The Crooked Cog Network, and Tim Jackson from Masi Bicycles.
Among the topics we discussed:
- Tim Jackson’s Crash and Injuries
- National Bike Month
- Bike Sales on the Rise (News Story)
- More Commuters on Bikes
- Mellow Johnny’s Grand Opening
- Tips
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That was a fun show guys. Can you tell I was starved for conversation? I was a bit “talkative”… as usual, I suppose.
Couple of quick corrections (of myself); I have a double fracture of my RIGHT knee, not left, and I had a huge HEMATOMA, not contusion, of the left eye.
More commuters on bikes is a blessing- for whatever reason they choose to do it and I hope we can keep them.
i really appreciate your comment about commuting rather than racing.
i have spent just under $1,000 on mostly commuting gear, but i would never in the foreseeable future spend that on a ‘racing bike’.
my bike-shop commuter bike was a bargin at a close-out price at my local bike-shop for $300 (diamondback transporter)! i would love to get a Bianchi Stratus for $850, but that is just *crazy* expensive to me! it would defy all logic for *saving money*!
BTW, i’m interesting in touring in the future, when i have *money*.
I applaud the comments about getting people to buy Commuter bikes to commute upon, but people never do the right thing. 🙁
In our very nature we are aspirational, fashion victims to the core.
Just look at SUVs, Minivans ( 4x4s and People Carriers for those outside the US ), pickups, and cars that can better 150mph… 99.9% of the population ‘Need’ them to feel fulfilled.
We’ll have to wait until Commuting becomes FASHIONABLE for the real surge.
I fully agree with DaveP here – people don’t buy what is practical, they buy what is cool. Most “commuter” bikes are (a) very very uncool, and (b) heavy and inefficient – which is the LAST thing a beginning commuter needs.
Carbon fiber is cool. Titanium is cool. Imagine a commuter bike with a frame like the Serotta Carbon/TI one – not necessarily the best performance wise, but it *looks* cool. Cheap carbon frames are being churned out these days – you can easily buy a carbon road bike with Dura-Ace for $2K. Build a commuter bike around the same frame and you could easily come in at $1500. Sure, not many people would actually BUY one – but everyone would think it’s cool, and it would raise the image of commuter bikes.
Chevrolet doesn’t sell many Corvettes, but they help to sell other Chevys.
Really good show guys, from a regular listener. Lovely to hear the commuting aspect being endorsed and great to hear you sounding so upbeat about the future. Its a real contrast to the doom and scandal of the race scene.
I’ve come from touring and day rides to pretty much just commuting and running errands. And i love it. In the UK where companies run tax free bike schemes i know a lot of people buying new bikes purely for the commute , folders being very popular. In Cities like London and Cambridge practical commuter/city bikes are becoming real fashion bikes. Check out sites like http://www.cyclechic.co.uk .
Hope Tim’s Bones heal fast and well!
Paul: How about commuting on one of these carbon beauties:
http://www.eurekacyclesports.co.uk/uploaded_img/large/Diem%20Black%20Buena.jpg
SimonM: I work for HP, one of the worlds largest IT employers… they don’t do the Cycle2Work scheme, the reason: “.. non of the offices can be commuted to by bike.. ” Doh! 🙁
One comment for Dave B and the crew. There was a lot of discussion about how the ASO is being “arrogant” or just wrong in banning Astana from the TDF for their doping incident with Vino last year.
Can I just say that criticism of ASO is tacit (and probably unwitting) support for doping.
Big call I know but here’s why.
The company that owns the Astana cycling licence has some monetary value. It’s value increases the more wins it gets (through more publicity for it’s sponsors). This creates additional pressure to cheat via doping and collusion by the management of teams for their athletes to cheat as they need the wins.
If a company has a rider caught cheating and the company is not punished then the company keeps it’s monetary value.
Astana has had a management and rider cleanout, but if this is all that is required to escape a penalty the owner of a licence knows that all he/she has to do is sell off the company for close to full price to someone who will change the management and TA DA no penalty. So the sale price of their asset (the company) will not materially be affected by the incident.
Without creating a penalty for teams and thus the owners when a rider cheats you are punishing the users and not their management who may actively or passively support their doping.
If we are really keen about eradicating doping we should applaud the ASO’s action. Sure it is a tragedy for the riders who moved to the team. No doubt. However if the ASO is consistent about the punishment, in future riders will avoid transferring to these teams if they want to ride the big races, this will effectively multiply the penalty and act as a further incentive to keep your riders clean (ala slipstream).