Go Clipless

New bike 'zine chronicles the Urban Cyclist

Brad Quartuccio and Jeff Guerrero of Dirt Rag fame, have started a new 'zine called Urban Cyclist. The first issue just hit the streets/web and is chock full of gritty city street biking and culture. And culture is what this zine is all about. Here's an excerpt from the editor's statement:

For people of all walks of life the bicycle is the great unifier. Brothers and sisters on two wheels, another cyclist is a friendly face in a crowded sea. Through this a wealth of culture is within reach much of it focused on our shared love of two wheels.

The zine just exudes cool...download it here.

Cycling participation rates down more than 13 percent

Now this is pathetic - more people fish for sport in this country than cycle. In fact cycling participation rates just took a major nose dive, dropping 13.3 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to a survey conducted by the National Sporting Goods Association. At least cycling still made the top ten activities:

1. Exercise walking - 87.5 million
2. Swimming - 55.2 million
3. Exercising with equipment - 52.4 million
4. Camping - 48.6 million
5. Bowling - 44.8 million
6. Fishing - 40.6 million
7. Work-out at club - 36.4 million
8. Cycling - 35.6 million
9. Aerobic exercising - 33.7 million
10. Weightlifting - 32.9 million

I was surprised to find that running/jogging was only the 14th most popular activity with only 29.2 million Americans participating. So why does cycling seem like such a fringe activity compared to running when there are almost 7 million more people participating?

It seems that scooters, skateboards, and in-line skates are partially responsible for cycling's decline:

“The decline in bicycle riding was the most dramatic change in the Top Ten,” NSGA Vice President of Information & Research Thomas B. Doyle said. “America’s youth appears to be opting for other forms of wheels -- scooters, skateboards and wheeled footwear. Even off-road mountain biking, which had been strong in recent years, declined more than 5%.”

What's really scary is that 6 of the top 10 recreational activities are indoors. Does anybody go outside anymore?

(Via BRaIN)

2007 world cross country mountain bike standings

USA Cycling just announced the world standings for cross country mountain bike racing according to UCI (the world governing body for professional cycling).

Both the American men and women are fairing well overall with a 3rd place ranking for each. Top 10 American riders include, Todd Wells, Mary McConneloug, and Georgia Gould.

The world rankings aren't just for fun either. The better a country ranks the more riders they can send to the 2008 Olympics:

A top-five nation’s ranking in the men’s standings will yield the maximum of three start positions, while a top-four ranking for the women will result in the maximum of two entries.

Current standings highlighting the placement of American cross-country riders below:

Corporate bike blogosphere is growing, however slowly

So I've noticed an up-tick in the number of corporate bike blogs lately. There have been at least three new notable additions to the bike blogosphere in the past couple of months:

• Kryptonite - One could argue that Kryptonite has been blogging for years as its marketing maven, Donna Tocci, has been blogging on her own site Tidbits and More in addition to being a contributor at Shut Up and Drink the Kool Aid. Nonetheless, the new blog Unbreakable Bonds is now Kryptonite's official corporate blog.
• Haro - Jill Hamilton is the brand manager for mountain bikes over at Haro Bikes (sister company to Masi Bicycles). Not content to sit on the side lines while the Masiguy received all of the PR glory, she started blogging at Bike Biz Babe where she'll tell "a collection of stories, thoughts, and random chatter from a chick who works in the bicycle industry."
• PrincetonTec - Hot on the heels of a successful launch of their new Switchback series of lights (see my overview here), PrincetonTec has started a blog called Living on the Dash. Not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds good...oh, and the blog looks good too (via Solo Goat).

While it's great that three more bike companies have decided to join the conversation with their customers, it still feels like the industry has been slower than most to embrace the blogosphere. The interesting thing is that for all the companies that have been blogging, they have enjoyed nothing but success - think Surly, Masi, Swobo, Cannondale, and there are others. I don't think I've seen a single issue that should cause shareholders or executives at a company to worry.

Is there something that makes this industry different than others when it comes to marketing? I don't think so, but I could be wrong.

Sea Otter Classic industry news roundup

For those that don't know, the Sea Otter Classic is a giant cycling festival consisting of mountain and road races of all kinds and an outdoor exhibit area for bike companies to showcase their wares. It's open to the public so it attracts quite a mix of people from regular old cyclists, pro and amateur racers, industry insiders, and the media. Given that the event is really the first major cycling event of the season manufacturer's use the occasion to rollout production ready products revealed at Interbike in the Fall as well as introduce prototypes of new product for the upcoming model year (would you believe companies are already introducing 2008 products?!)

There's so much new stuff being introduced that it's difficult to keep up with all of the news and rumors breaking with each day of the festival. As a result, I thought I'd do a little round up to get you caught up...and...because I'm jealous as hell that I'm not there covering the event for you like I have with Interbike in years past.

Mountain bike racing on the North Pole

Waaa...Waaa...Waaa...so you're crying that it got a little cold just when things seemed like they were warming up. Well quit you're whining and get off your ass and bike (he says hypocritically), it's not that cold out. At least not when you compare the weather to that of...say...the North Pole!

Yup. We missed it. The first ever bike race at the North Pole. What's that you say? You could have done it? Well good for you...you'll have your shot in 2008, for the low-low price of 12,000 Euros (approx. $16,000). Check out the race description:

You will cycle a 26.2 mile marathon distance in extreme sub-zero temperatures on the high Arctic Ocean while negotiating small hillocks of ice and pressure ridges. You will struggle in this formidable challenge, constantly aware you are on territory where the polar bear is king. Forced to carry your bike in some sections, and with 6 to 12 feet of pack ice separating you from 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean below, a steely nerve will be required to take part in North Pole Bike Extreme - the coolest bike race on the planet.

Meanwhile, YourMTB.com has one of the first photos from the event and YourCycling.com has a podcast from one of the participants checking in via Satellite phone.

So what do you say to a Go Clipless race team in '08...who's with me?

Cycling magazine circulation statistics

I'm trying to hunt down the circulation numbers for the major cycling magazines for a future post that I am working on. Unfortunately, this data is harder to find than one would think it should be. Here's what I've got so far, but I wonder if there is anyone out there that may be able to help me out:

The chart is ordered from greatest circulation to least with the unknown mags sequenced by my best educated guess. A few things to note.

1. I included Outside magazine because they cover mountain biking in at least every issue that I have seen so far, although it is not their primary purpose.
2. The data is from 2005. It comes from the Magazine Publishers Association which appears to be the largest auditing bureau for magazines in North America.
3. The statistics are circulation numbers per issue and include both subscriptions and newsstand sales.
4. Mountain Bike Action is published by Hi-Torque which claims to have several hundred thousand readers of its bike magazines which includes MBA but also BMX oriented magazines. I'm guessing they have about 100,000 MBA readers.
5. I believe Dirt Rag's numbers are about 50,000 based on a press flyer I picked up at Interbike, but I can't be sure since I have lost it.
6. I'm not insinuating that the magazines whose numbers I cannot locate are not being straight forward, I just have not found them yet.

I put a copy of the original source spreadsheet out on Google Docs so you can reference it in case you're interested in any other popular magazine numbers.

Anyway, thought you might find it interesting. I'll save some analysis for later, but I didn't want to sit on these numbers too long. Besides, I thought maybe some of you savvy Internet types or industry insiders might be able to fill in some of the holes. Thanks.

Swobo introduces new urban bike collection

Cult favorite cycling apparel company Swobo has entered into the bike building business in a serious way. Last year they hired Sky Yaeger, former brand/product manager at Bianchi to develop their new line of urban bikes.

Swobo's outlook on the cycling industry is both unique and refreshing. Instead of looking at the market in segments like road or mountain, etc., they design bikes that will have a cultural fit for certain groups of people. So, for example, their urban bikes are not just road bikes with tougher components, but instead a whole new breed of bikes that allow a canvas for personalization and can withstand the abuse that a city puts on a bike everyday.

For more insight on the happenings at Swobo check out the most recent Crooked Cog Podcast where, Tim Grahl interviewed founder Tim Parr. Also, Dirt Rag has an interview with Sky Yeager specifically detailing the inspiration of the new line of bikes. I love this quote from Sky on the new Folsom street bike:

I used the coaster brake so you can ride with one hand on the bar and still brake. Say you're coming home from the bar with a 12-pack... you can carry it and still slam on the brakes.

Learn how to ride your bike off a 3,000 foot drop and live to tell about it

Answer: Use a parachute. That's exactly what Stefan Oberlander did (you knew there had to be a catch, right?).

It's called Base-jumping and Oberlander was the first man to successfully land a base-jump on a mountain bike. Just in case you think that sounds easy, I'll let Stefan explain:

Keeping the bike and landing on it changes everything. If you keep it, you enter a totally different level of commitment as you must attach the bike to you; with all the possibilities for entanglements of your gear and only 1 parachute quite a step.

So far, everybody who has tried Base-jumping on a bike dropped it due to the complexity and the dangers involved in keeping the bike during freefall, deployment and landing.

Not that I'd ever have the guts to try such a thing, but who knew it would be so complicated? Go check out the before, during, and after photos.

Kind of reminds me of this Evomo poster.

Anyway, this is old news as it happened in July of 2006, however, I don't remember it getting much coverage at that time. Thomas at Bike-community.net resurrected the story.

Annual Top 100 Bicycle Retailers survey results now available

The annual Top 100 Retailers survey results were announced yesterday at the Bicycle Leadership Conference. Most of the usual suspects made the list again this year.

For those that don't know the list is compiled through a survey of the sales staff at many of the largest manufacturers and distributors in the cycling industry. As a result, one might surmise that the list is skewed toward some of the larger shops given that sales people will likely want to 'reward' their best customers. That's not to say, however, that these are not great retailers, I just wonder how different the list might look if customers were surveyed instead of retailers.

So did your favorite LBS make the list? Are there any obvious omissions? Anyone that shouldn't be on the list from a consumers point of view? Have at it.