more cycling and smart transport podcasts

Resist twitter by listening to cycling podcasts! Thanks to The Bike Show at Resonance FM, I learned of an Australian show called Bike Love.

Speaking of Resonance FM, The Bike Show has special coverage on the Spring Classic Races this week.

The Puma, courtesy of Engadget

One of my favorite non-cycling podcasts is the geeky Engadget. This week Engadget has a 24-minute discussion about bicycles, Segways and new electric mini-offerings like the Puma and the Peapod. Paul Miller of Engadget got to ride in the Puma and have a close-up look at the Peapod.

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.

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!