getfitfirst

The Artistry of Bike Friday Design

Michael Embacher’s New World Tourist. photo courtesy of Cyclepedia.

If you love bikes, the Portland [Oregon] Art Museum is a must-see destination this summer with its exhibit: Cyclepedia: Iconic Bicycle Design.

The exhibit is a display from the private collection of Michael Embacher, a bicycle aficionado and designer who wrote the book “Cyclepedia.”

Bike Friday’s New World Tourist is part of Embacher’s collection, and one of the 36 bicycles selected for display in Portland.

“I am not much for art books on the coffee table in the living room, but when I first saw our customer Michael Embacher’s book Cyclopedia I  knew he was an appreciator of bikes in my own sense,” Bike Friday Co-Founder Alan Scholz says.

“He has collected some of the most interesting bikes built in my lifetime, and a few before. When you see the picture of his attic in his house in Switzerland you will know you are not the only one that says the right number of bikes is just one more!

“He has collected a huge range of cool designs that are some quite a ways from ‘common’ bikes. If you like bikes you will really enjoy Michael’s pick of bikes to collect for your bike geek enjoyment.”

Bike Friday will be partnering with the Portland Museum of Art throughout the exhibit’s run to help visitors understand and appreciate what Bike Friday has to offer.

It is a fantastic opportunity to justify a trip to Oregon: Come pick up your new Bike Friday and visit the exhibit.

One of the coolest aspects of Embacher’s work can be enjoyed whether or not you can make it to Portland. It’s the Cyclepedia iPad AP that is available on iTunes and just a blast to play with [especially the Bike Friday display].

As Bike Friday finalizes its appearances in Portland during the exhibit we will announce them here.

Add comment May 16, 2013

Big Getting Bigger

Bike Friday’s Pocket Llama [in a large, 60 cm frame] next to a 36er — big brother of the 29er.

While the 29er [that's a 29-inch wheel] has been getting attention for a few years, Raz got a peek at a 36er!!

Add comment April 29, 2013

Check out the Silk

Cycling blogger Wojtel Wysocki, who writes for the Atlanta Sports Gear Examiner.com,  took this video of Raz showing off our Bike Friday Silk  at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA.

Add comment April 29, 2013

Alive and Cacklin’

My old friend, going back 6 years.

I have to admit, I had other things on my mind.

A beautiful spring day, sunshine angling with soft morning light…

I just nailed the photo of our Touring Silk that I had been hoping for.

Now it was time to get into work.

I should have known, really, all the signs were there.

When I rolled down to the Bike Path along the Willamette River, another old friend [or maybe blood relative of my old friend] stood like a sentry watching over my entry to my favorite ride.

An osprey, with its bright white breast sandwiched by dark black wings perched atop an ash, just along the Canoe Canal. The sun illuminating its breast like a spotlight.

It’s his spot, one he has returned to time and again in the past three years. It’s only a few hundred yards from the wire tower that held an Osprey nest a few years ago, before a wicked spring storm blew it off to a 100-foot crash in the brush.

Somehow they managed to get the young Ospreys over to a makeshift nest in a small stand of trees, building the new nest around the survivors.

Since then, the ash has been the lookout perch.

The blue heron nests farther up the bike path were quiet. I had seen them building the nests a few weeks ago. I hope to hear the clacking of blue heron chicks snapping their bills together, calling for food, sometime in the near the future.

Yes, I saw those hints. But the photo opportunity had garnered my attention.

I snapped my photos, and began a more spirited ride toward work.

Once again, riding along the banks of the Willamette, where my buddy has returned each spring for most of the past six years.

Last year, I feared the worse since I hadn’t seen him in two years.

But we had a reunion of sorts.

While he didn’t greet me with his usual cackle, I was pretty sure it was him.

Six years ago he first drew my attention by blasting his call to me each time I passed.

I’d stop and watch countless others pass by without a peep from him.

Each year he’d buoy my spirits, catching me off guard with his “HELLO!”

It’s the moment each year when he slaps me awake from my winter doldrums, and helps me become aware again.

Suddenly I see everything. Hear everything.

The woodpecker hammering on a traffic sign, unaware his chance of penetrating the metal are very slim. A true to life Woody Woodpecker, making me laugh as loudly as the cartoon version ever did.

The squirrels who seem to pause a little longer as they dart out in front of me, freeze, curl their tail, then disappear back from where they came.

In any event, thanks to the osprey and herons, I was a little more alert than usual. Still, it’s been three years since he called to me.

Then, he did it. He blasted out his call.

I stopped and saw him, grand as ever, pecking on the same woodpile as last year.

He had a companion. He watched me as she pecked a bit, and disappeared behind a shrub. I snapped a photo or two. Said hi.

See you in the fall.

Add comment April 5, 2013

Belt Drive Ride

 Like so many individuals, my New Year’s Resolution focused on my belt.

Some folks figure a New Year is a good time to start losing some of the weight around their waist, while others look to save money. You can call those various attempts at Tightening a Belt.

My Belt didn’t need tightening. Or greasing, for that matter.

I dedicated the start of 2013 to the Gates Carbon Belt Drive system.

OK, so I didn’t exactly plan it that way. But with the launching of our Bike Friday Silk, and its attention to the Gates Carbon Belt system, I didn’t have much choice.

My job is to get photos, write copy, write blogs, etc. That means it’s my JOB to get out on the Silk.

I did that big time in January. Commuted exclusively on Gates Belt Drive.

I can say that because when I wasn’t stealing a Silk out of the showroom hoping to find that perfect photo for our upcoming catalog, I snatched up a Carbon Drive tikit when no one was looking. Belt Drive all the way.

Aside from my instant love of Belt Drive, I focused on digging deeper.

In essence, the question is WHY?

Why is this a profoundly different feel?

I harken back to my baptism in the way of the Fixed Gear. Something about the Gates Carbon Belt that connects one to the bike, much like the sensation I feel on a fixed gear.

While some folks raise their eyebrows when I mention such talk, I think back to the New York Bike Expo last year.

Back when our only Gates Carbon Belt offering was the tikit, a tried and true NYC Bike Messenger hopped on one for a test ride.

She came back with a smile. I asked what she thought of the ride.

“Intimate,” she said, pausing while her partner nodded in agreement. “I’ve never felt intimate on a bicycle before. But that felt intimate.”

If you haven’t given a Gates Belt Drive a spin, do so.  And tell us what you think.

Add comment March 18, 2013

Silk Squared

Bike Friday customer Will Silk [yep, that's his name] picking up his brand new Bike Friday Silk in our Factory Showroom.

Add comment March 10, 2013

Catch Bike Friday in Seattle!

Bike Friday Consultant Walter Lapchynski put together a great design for commuting in the Northwest, and this Silk will be on display and available for test rides at the Seattle Bike Expo March 9-10. Come see us there!

Bike Friday’s latest innovation, the Silk, will make its Northwest debut this weekend at the Seattle Bike Expo.

Be the first in the Northwest to see and test ride our Silks, as well as our latest Carbon Infinity tikit and our 2013 Select models of our New World Tourist and Pocket Llama.

Come down to the Seattle Bike Show March 9-10 at the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal. Doors open at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

As usual, we don’t just want you to come see our Bike Fridays. We want you to experience them. Take them for a spin, and let us know what you think!

We will have special offers available, along with the chance to win a New World Tourist with NuVinci, valued at $2,400!

Also, come see Walter and Raz for a show preview on Thursday, March 7, from 4-6 p.m. At Montlake Bicycle Shop, Bike Friday’s Seattle Dealer.

Add comment March 5, 2013

Michelle Obama Backs Safe Routes

Safe Routes to School National Partnership Joins First Lady Michelle Obama and Partner Organizations to Kick Off Let’s Move! Active Schools and Fire Up Your Feet

“Parents can play a critical role at home by encouraging their kids to be active.” -First Lady Michelle Obama at the Let’s Move! Active Schools launch.

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership (National Partnership) joined First Lady Michelle Obama in Chicago last Thursday to celebrate the third anniversary of Let’s Move! and the official kick-off of Let’s Move! Active Schools, an unprecedented new collaboration to bring physical activity back to schools.

National Partnership director Deb Hubsmith joined leaders of other organizations, including Fire Up Your Feet partners Kaiser Permanente and National PTA. The energy on stage and throughout the auditorium was all about seizing the moment to build momentum for getting kids active in schools.

“Safe Routes to School National Partnership, the National PTA and Kaiser Permanente share goals with Let’s Move! Active Schools around the importance of increasing physical activity for children, school staff and parents,” said Deb Hubsmith. “Fire Up Your Feet is a leap forward in creating positive, early experiences to ensure that every child can achieve 60 minutes of daily physical activity a day while also encouraging schools and communities to be designed to foster safe, convenient, and fun ways to move.”

As the national spotlight turns to increasing physical activity in schools and combating the childhood obesity epidemic through expanding opportunities for physical activity, the national expansion of the Fire Up Your Feet program this spring will create new opportunities for physical activity to, from and at schools and in daily life for students and families around the country.

Parents, school staff, and students can get involved in Fire Up Your Feet today!

• Sign up for an informational webinar on March 14 from 3-4 p.m. Eastern to learn about bringing Fire Up Your Feet to your state or region. Click here to register.
• Attend a healthy fundraising webinar to learn more about raising money in a healthy, active way for your school. Click here to see full webinar schedule.
• Take advantage of free resources for encouraging activity in the classroom, organizing a walk and bike event, developing policies that support physical activity, and more. See all resources.

Add comment March 5, 2013

In-House Beta Testing Silk

Our Bike Friday beta tester Silk with 20×2.1 Primo Monster tires on 406 wheels, with Shimano Alfine 11 Internal Hub, Gates CenterTrack Carbon Belt Drive and Avid disc brake in the rear.

By Matthew Corson-Finnerty

For the last several months I’ve had the privilege of beta-testing a Silk, our new 20-inch Gates Carbon Belt Drive bicycle.

I’ve been impressed with the sturdiness and durability of the new design. I take the bike off curbs (sometimes up them). I drop the bike regularly. I never clean it. And I haven’t oiled it once.

Despite the repeated, and intentional, abuse it still runs smoothly.

My favorite moment, what really sold me on the Silk, came during a heavy downpour in the dark of night.

I was leaving the Bike Friday factory and traveling home via a bike path that runs alongside a canal.

I noticed that the water level of canal was high but didn’t think much of it. When I came to the first underpass, however, I was abruptly soaked from the knees down by a long stretch of water 7 inches deep.

My rain gear didn’t hold up so well and my boots filled with water, but the Silk didn’t skip a beat.

A half a mile later, still cursing myself for getting drenched, I encountered a second underpass.

This time I knew the water was coming and I thought, “Well, I can’t get any wetter … let’s see what this thing can do.”

I sped down the underpass as fast as I could, hitting the water with an even greater splash.

This time it was up to my knees and pedaling through it felt like I had the brakes on.

Downshifting with the Shimano Alfine 11 hub and the Gates CenterTrack Carbon Drive Belt entirely submerged? Not a problem.

In fact, the drive system responded just as well as it does when its not under 22 inches of Oregon winter runoff.

I pedaled out of the flooded underpass feeling victorious.

11 comments February 8, 2013

Introducing the 2013 Select Group

The 2013 Pocket Rocket with the Select Group includes a SRAM Apex group.

Some say the third time is a charm, and when it comes to our third season of offering the Select Groups for our most popular models, well, we have to agree.

The Select concept began to allow our experts to easily share their wisdom and insight with you by putting together optimum component groups for each of our core models.

The goal is to offer you a great performance for the best price. By continually searching for the perfect mix to offer, and listening to your feedback from countless miles for experience, we’ve come up with our best packages to date.

NOTE: Our tikit with the Select Group will be unveiled February 1.

The Select Group simplifies the order process. You choose the frame size [52 cm, 56 cm or 60 cm for 20-inch bikes], crank size [175, 170 or 165], your frame color and your decal/cable colors. It’s that easy.

You can submit an order request for a Select online.

You can make changes to your design and create a Custom Select model that’s as individual as you are, just contact a Bike Consultant.

All 2013 Bike Fridays will include a Threadless Headset, which has become the industry standard while the Threaded Headset has become more and more rare. The change will provide Bike Friday with more options to offer to you. [NOTE: The upgrade is for 20-inch Bike Fridays. The tikit already uses threadless headsets.]

Engineer Rob English points to the benefits of the Threadless Headset:

• It is easier to take the stem on and off since there will be no threads to slide over.
• The steerer is stronger because there are no threads.
• The headset is easier to adjust since it only takes a 5mm wrench.

The change allows Bike Friday to offer more price points for headsets, including the Bike Friday Threadless Loose Ball, Bike Friday Threadless Sealed Cartridge, Cane Creek and Chris King.

Introducing the 2013 Select Group for 20-inch Bike Fridays

New World Tourist with the Select Group: The 2013 Select Group is nearly the same for the New World Tourist, our most popular model. Why is it most popular? We have a solid package that delivers high performance and durability for touring, commuting or just enjoying a wonderful ride. The 2013 group will include a new Bike Friday cartridge threadless headset, FSA Gossamer Cranks (165, 170 175), 27-speed SRAM X-5, SRAM trigger shifters, Primo Comet tires and Bike Friday H-bars. Saddle and Pedals are not included. Its retail price will be $1998.

Pocket Llama with the Select Group: The availability of a heavy-rider upgrade or the flexibility to go with tires as wide as 2.25 make the Llama a popular choice. The 2013 Select Group will include a Bike Friday cartridge threadless headset, Avid disc brakes, FSA Gossamer Cranks (165, 170 175), 27-speed SRAM X-5, SRAM trigger shifters, Cane Creek Thudbuster seatpost, Schwalbe Big Apple tires and Bike Friday flat bars. Saddle and Pedals are not included. Its retail price will be $1998.

Pocket Rocket with the Select Group: The 2013 Select Group will include a couple of enhancements based on your input to bring the Rocket more in line with its drop bar, road performance heritage. The Select Rocket includes a Bike Friday cartridge threadless headset, a 20-speed SRAM Apex group, Apex Double Tap integrated shifters, Apex cranks and Schwalbe Durano tires, as well as FSA brakes and 4-bolt ahead stem with unsplit drop bars.. Saddle and Pedals are not included. Its retail price will be $2298.

Silk with the Select Group: The 2013 Select Silk will include a Gates Carbon Belt CDC Drive to go with Alfine 8 Internal Hub, Nexus Twist Shifters, Avid disc brakes and Kenda Kontact [406] tires. Saddle and Pedals are not included. Its retail price will be $1998.

Add comment January 22, 2013