Selling City Bikes: NYC Case Studies

While in New York City last week, I had a chance to visit two bicycle shops specialising in transportational cycling: Hudson Urban Bicycles (HUB) and Adeline Adeline. These visits were great, but they also evoked some envy. Why do we not have shops like this in Boston? Seriously, there is not a single bike shop in town catering specifically and exclusively to urban transport. A few shops do stock transportation bicycles, but the selection is limited. When I ask why they do not offer more I am told there is no demand. Baffling, because I know for a fact that both New York and Portland, ME (not to mention a number of online retailers) receive a steady stream of Boston customers because there is no local supply.

Based on my observations over the recent years, I do not think there is in fact a lack of demand. But it seems that bike shops that specialise in transportation may be in a better position to sell city bikes than bike shops that are diversified. Visiting Adeline and HUB in New York underscored this idea.

I would say that for shops selling transportation bicycles, location is key. Adeline Adeline is on a small and quiet street in TriBeCa. Hudson Urban Bicycles is on an equally small and quiet street in the West Village. In both cases, there are bike lanes literally just out the door, with protected greenways nearby. This sort of thing is absolutely crucial for beginners looking to test ride some bikes, which is precisely the category many potential customers fall into. They would like to ride in the city, but quite possibly they have never actually done so before. Their first cycling experience in ages might very well be this test ride outside of the bike shop. It makes a huge difference whether the space outside the shop is beginner-friendly. 

When I was shopping for my first bicycle in the Spring of 2009, I was not confident on a bike at all and could not yet imagine riding in traffic. I found it impossible to properly test ride a bike in almost any local shop, because the spaces outside were not beginner-friendly. While it's hard for established shops to change that reality, a new shop devoted specifically to city bikes can choose their space with access to infrastructure in mind.

Appropriately informed staff are important to selling transportation bicycles as well. In typical bike shops, most sales staff tend to be avid road cyclists, many of them racers. I have listened to quite a few steer customers by default toward cyclocross bikes with drop bars for commuting. I have also witnessed sales staff actively discourage customers from getting bikes with step-through frames or internally geared hubs, citing performance drawbacks. They did not even ask the customers how long their commute would be before saying such things.

While hanging out at HUB, I watched the owner talking to a couple who was new to cycling, and as they chatted I could see that couple grow more relaxed about the prospect of riding in the city. In shops that do not focus on transportation per se, I often observe the opposite happening: The longer a potential customer talks to a member of staff about commuting, the more concerned their facial expression grows. The "information" they are receiving is obviously scary and confusing. Bike shops that sell many types of bicycles cannot usually afford to hire separate sales staff to handle the city bikes. 

No less important is the atmosphere inside the shop. The interiors of Adeline and HUB are heavenly microcosms - worlds where transportation cycling is normal, cool, intuitive, safe, and has an obvious place in everyday life. And the creation of such an atmosphere is a huge public service as far as I am concerned. Even if the customer walks out the door without buying a bike, they will still walk away with the impression that transportation cycling is fun and, above all, normal. They will be more likely to come back, or at least to keep cycling in mind as a valid possibility. When city bikes are mixed together with all sorts of other types of bikes on one cluttered floor space, it is impossible to achieve this kind of ambiance; it is impossible to communicate this message. I do think it's possible for diversified bike shops to present transportation cycling in a similar light by designating a special area to them, and then staging this area as if it were its own boutique. But in actuality this is seldom done.

Several members of the bicycle industry have mentioned to me now that it is easier to start a dedicated city bike boutique in a town that already has a dozen bike shops than it is to get existing shops to carry city bikes. And I have seen plenty of evidence to support this. Aside from the issues already mentioned, existing bike shops tend to err on the conservative side and stick with what they know. Even if they delve into city bikes, they are not going to start carrying 5 new brands right away; they might start with one or two. But that might not be sufficient to be truly effective. Hopefully, some brave entrepreneurs will start transportation-specific bike shops in Boston soon, as well as in every other city that is ready for them.

In the meantime, I may just have to keep visiting NYC for test rides. During this visit alone I test rode  four bikes, and there were plenty of others to try. There were also other city bike stores to explore had I not run out of time, most notably Bicycle Habitat and Rolling Orange. For anyone visiting New York, I recommend having a look at those, in addition to Adeline Adeline and Hudson Urban Bicycles (HUB).

Aside from bicycles, Adeline specialises in exquisite accessories the likes of which you might not find elsewhere: the latest in bicycle bags, jewelry, books, unusual clothing. HUB on the other hand, boasts an entire show room of vintage bikes in refurbished condition, including loads of pre-1970s English 3-speeds - some with original lighting! I enjoyed visiting both shops, and will be posting reviews of the Achielle, Retrovelo and Jensen bicycles soon. 

Miss Mercian: Then and Now

One of the things I was very much looking forward to on my trip to New York last week, was visiting Justine of Midlife Cycling. Justine is a fascinating, generous and knowledgable person and we have lots to talk about outside the world of bicycles. But more pertinently to this blog, Justine is known for her small, exquisite collection of Mercians. And so I happily found myself in Astoria, Queens, in an apartment that was eerily similar to my own in its proportion of total living space to the space devoted to bikes. Nothing wrong with that at all.

When I first wrote about Justine and her Mercians two years ago, she had three of them - all custom made and painted the same stunning shade of "flip-flop purple green" (more on this later). One of these is a geared roadbike, the second is a fixed gear, and the third a Miss Mercian step-through. Subsequently, Justine unexpectedly acquired a fourth Mercian secondhand - an earlier Miss Mercian model, from an era when the design was still a classic mixte with twin lateral stays. Knowing this, I was looking forward to seeing the two generations of Miss Mercians side by side, and excited when Justine offered me to test ride both bicycles and compare my impressions. While her diamond frame bikes are too big for me, the lower step-over of the Miss Mercian frames enables me to try them.

Through the quiet streets of Astoria, we rode to the Socrates Sculpture Park to photograph the bicycles along the East River. The park is small, but very pleasant, with a cobblestone path along the water and views of Roosevelt Island and passing boats in background. It was a cold and windy morning, but at least the sun was out, bathing the bicycles in a golden light.

This is Justine's current production Miss Mercian, named Helene. My understanding is that Mercian switched to this frame style for their Miss Mercian model, because they only use Reynolds tubing and Reynolds stopped making the tubes suitable for classic mixtes a few years ago. I will be honest that I am not a fan of "angled step-through" frames. But the lugwork, the colour scheme, and Justine's very personal build make this bicycle rather charming.

One of my photographic goals for this bicycle was to capture the flip flop purple green finish in action. The beauty of this colour is hard to describe, but basically it's as it sounds: Under some lighting conditions it looks purple, under others it looks green. Seeing the colours change takes my breath away. Above I captured it in a very purple state, though usually it looks like a much more subdued silverfish lilac.

And here you can see what happens when the colour flips to green.

Neat, huh?

Flip-flopping in the sunlight! I love this colour and might have used it for my own bike were it not so distinctly Justinish in my mind. It is certainly one of the most unique paint finishes available. 

But all right, there is more to this bike than its paint colour. Like Justine's other custom Mercians, the frame is lugged and made of Reynolds 631 tubing.

Helene is set up with Porteur handlebars, inverse brake levers, bar-end shifters adapted as "thumbies," side pull brakes, pedals with classic toe cages, hammered fenders, rear rack, a Brooks saddle and a
Carradice saddlebag.

Justine rides this bicycle in her regular clothing - skirt, heels, the whole deal - and it is her fast, responsive commuter. The geometry, which Justine specified, is pretty tight and aggressive, and she likes it this way. For her this is an upright, but maneuverable and go-fast bike.

Justine lowered the saddle for me and switched out the pedals to platforms, so that I could comfortably ride the bike around the unfamiliar-to-me area. When I rode this bicycle, the geometry - not the frame style, but the angles and proportions - struck me as an exaggerated version of my Royal H. mixte. My positioning on the bike was very similar as well. Unfortunately the angled step-through frame and I did not get along when it came to mounting and dismounting the bike: I found the top tube too high for me to comfortably climb over and kept banging my knee. I was also a little uncomfortable with the amount of toe overlap, and between this and the high top tube I felt oddly trapped by the frame, as if everything was too tightly spaced. Of course this says more about the difference between my and Justine's geometry preferences than anything else, but I was a little nervous on this bike as I followed her up the winding bridge ramp to Roosevelt Island. I did not want to crash the bike or to knock it over while attempting to dismount. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened and we had a nice ride with scenic water views. As we rode, I noticed that the frame flexed for me a bit more than I would have liked, which is odd because Justine describes it as stiff. The subjectivity of this sort of thing is amazing. 

Stranger still, is that Justine describes her older Miss Mercian as more flexible than the current model, whereas I found it to be stiffer. How can this be? Are we simply associating different sensations with the terms stiff and flexible? It's a mystery. 

The day did not warm up despite the sunshine, and even though I had donned every single pair of stockings I'd brought with me to New York (three pairs!) I was uncomfortably cold. Between this and having to be across town by early afternoon, our ride was not very long. Still, I feel that I got a fair sense of the difference between the two bicycles - although since both of these are custom bikes made for specific people, I am not sure how generalisable my impressions are to Miss Mercians at large.

Overall, I felt more comfortable on the older (1994) Miss Mercian - with its longer wheelbase, lower stand-over and greater toe clearance. I also preferred this bicycle's ride quality and handling, which to me felt a bit cushier and more stable. None of this necessarily has to do with the styles of the two frames; it is more about geometry really. Still, I lamented that Mercian no longer makes the classic twin stay mixte - it was oh so elegant.

Justine's 1994 Miss Mercian is named Vera, and the original owner ordered the frame in English Racing Green with gold lug outlines.

The Reynolds 531 frame was built for cantilever brakes, and eyelets for fenders and front and rear racks.

The cable routing is kind of interesting, integrating nicely with the twin lateral stays,

then "climbing" up the seat tube. I have never seen this kind of routing on a mixte before, but I think it works well.

One of the cool things Justine has got on this bicycle, is this green and gold crankset with built-in chain guard. I have never seen one like it before, and it certainly makes the bicycle stand out as her unique creation.

I tried the MKS Lambda pedals for the first time and liked them a lot, even though I did not think I would. They are grippy, and not as sharp as MKS touring pedals.

Justine set up the older Miss Mercian similarly to the newer one, but with a front rack in addition to the rear, a single instead of a double chainring, North Road handlebars instead of the Porteurs, and flat pedals. This bicycle is a little more upright and relaxed, and set up to carry more weight than its sportier room-mate.

Justine has been riding bicycles for decades as a messenger, racer, cyclotourist, commuter - you name it. And she has owned an untold number of bikes over this time (I believe the estimate she gave me was 60?... but no, that can't be right!) This makes it all the more fascinating, that all of her current bikes are from the same manufacturer. Is it the Reynolds 631 tubing Mercian uses that she finds so agreeable? The way they put together frames? Do their notions of optimal geometry agree with her own? Whatever the answer, Justine seems to know what she wants and she is happy with her choices.

Of course I am trying to convince her now that she also needs to add this bike to her Mercian collection, then let me test ride it extensively. Fingers crossed!

For the entire picture set, please see here. And I thank Justine profusely for allowing me to try her beautiful bikes!

New Amsterdam Bicycle Show 2012

Dominated by a sea of transportation bicycles and accessories, Dutch-style and otherwise, the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show lived up to its name and then some. Only in its second year running, the show was a lively display of trends in North American urban cycling. 

Held in a contemporary ground floor space in SoHo, the rooms began to fill with visitors from the minute its doors opened at 10am on Saturday. 

By mid-day the crowds were impressive, with every seat in the Beer Garden annex occupied by hot dog eating and beer drinking attendees. 

Grolsch sponsored the show with free beer, and had a couple of bespoke bikes on display. This one with the charming backward fork is by Republic, and there was also a Fietsfabriek cargo bike nearby. 

In a general sense, I would describe the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show as similar to Interbike, only focused predominantly on transportation cycling. 

A secondary focus of the show was on small, independent manufacturers and craftspersons. A few local framebuilders were represented, and there were lots of bespoke and hand made accessories on display. 

My favourite handmade bicyce at the show was this truss frame by Benjamin Cycles (whose website I cannot find - help me out someone who knows them?). 

Not only is it a truss frame, but the two tone stencil paint job is spectacular.

Nearby, Horse Cycles had a nice display of beautifully lugged frames.

But what really stood out was their frame with what appeared to be silver octopus tentacles wrapped around the tubes. Not for me, but it was certainly noteworthy.

I have been wanting to see Amy Munro's Florentia Formigli bicycle for a while, and here it was at the show - gold lugs and all. 

And catering to the bespoke/ lugged aesthetic, Bianchi showed off their newest Pista Classica model - celeste with custard yellow lugwork.

Of course with all these bicycles, it was only fitting to have a bicycle painter at hand. Taliah Lempert was in attendance, and her bicycle paintings booth was extremely popular.

There were even bicycle jerseys with her paintings on them, as well as coffee cups and coloring books.

Unlike industry-only trade shows such as Interbike, the New Amsterdam Show is open to the public, which makes the atmosphere more dynamic and casual, not so corporate-feeling. It is also good for the vendors, because they can sell their goods at the show and offset the fees of attending. 

These House of Talents baskets - displayed at the Adeline Adeline/ Velojoy booth - were selling particularly well and it seemed like everyone was walking around with one. I am not surprised, as I've been testing them over the winter and they are are excellent; I will have a review up soon.

Another hot item were the Clever Hood capes. These sold so well on the first day, the owner had to restock overnight. The brisk trade created a happy environment of pleased vendors and attendees alike. The show had a relaxed and exciting vibe to it that I enjoyed.

As far as trends, the big one that was hard to miss - and I mean that literally - was reflective wear. It seemed like a dozen manufacturers were showing garments and accessories that were both fashionable and offered reflective properties. We Flashy introduced an entire line of tees and sweatshirts with reflective designs. Bicycle Habitat offered pant cuff straps with glow in the dark views of the NYC skyline. Halo Coatings brought a prototype of  spectacles that light up in the dark.

The Dargelos Lightning Vest creates ethereal silhouettes that looked stunning during the fashion show when photographers used flash. 

And then there was the tailored wool brocade vest by Vespertine that every passer-by oohed and aahed over. The texture, construction and quality of this vest is hard to describe without dedicating an entire post to it, and I will try to get my hands on one for review.

With New York City being one of the fashion capitals of the world, it is only fitting that some good ideas about how to combine hi-viz and fashion should develop here, and it's interesting to see the creativity with which various designers are approaching this.

The fashion show held on Saturday - called Postcards from New Amsterdam - highlighted the local approach to bicycles and fashion as well. Directed by Nona Varnado and Hudson Urban Bicycles (HUB), the show was well coordinated and almost aggressively focused - leaving me with a better sense of how the outfits related to the bicycles the models were shown with than the show I watched at Interbike last year.

As far as transportation bicycles, a dizzying variety of brands and styles were represented. Some were displayed by the manufacturers themselves, while others were brought in by the local bike shops. I was especially excited to see the Achielle bicycle and the Viva shown earlier, neither of which I had seen in person before. I had a chance to test ride an Achielle while in New York City, and will have a review of that shortly.

The locally made Worksman Cycles were on display, and I was excited to see some locked up around the city as well - some new and others decades old.

Aside from the high-viz and the transportation bicycle trends, one final trend I noted were bags - lots and lots of bags, most of them handmade locally. My favourite was this small United Pedal saddlebag, at the Bicycle Habitat booth.

Truce offered a more contemporary selection of messenger-style bags in bright colours.

And Fabric Horse added funky tool bags to the mix.

A couple of manufacturers unveiled new lines of bikes, and one of these was Cooper - yes, as in the automobile Mini Cooper!

Fresh from celebrating their North American grand opening, the candy-coloured Bobbin Bicycles were on display as well.

There was much, much more at the show, and my image collections on flickr and instagram should give you an idea of just how many interesting things there were to look at.

The attendees were pretty intriguing also. Lots of glamorous New York fashion types - though my favourite outfit of the day was this one!

I attended the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show on Saturday only and am now back in Boston. Today was likely even busier, since both Bike Snob NYC and Grant Petersen of Rivendell were giving their talks. If anyone was there for this, I would love to hear about it. My overall impression is that the New Amsterdam Show proved to be pretty good for the exhibitors. If you are a small manufacturer or an East-Coast bike shop, I feel that this show is more relevant than Interbike on a number of levels, as well as more accessible financially. And for the attendees it was a blast as well, with all sorts of cool products on display they might not see elsewhere, and special discounts on most of the merchandise sold.

Having attended as "media," I do have a couple of suggestions for the organisers as far as improvements for next year. The lighting conditions were inconsistent, and quite poor in some parts of the space - which I felt was unfair to those vendors who were assigned those spaces. It was also difficult to take photos without using a flash unit and getting on everyone's nerves, which I don't like to do. The other thing, is that in my experience it is customary for trade shows to provide a free wireless internet connection for media, so that we might share our impressions of the show without having to, say, go to the Starbucks around the corner every couple of hours. Some secure storage space for equipment would also have been much appreciated. Maybe next year there could be a curtained off little Media Room?

That said, the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show was fantastic and I hope it will be even better next year. I will certainly try to make it again, and I recommend it to anyone within reasonable traveling distance.