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Bike Friday took a long-overdue Christmas visit to the San Francisco and the Bay Area, home of many Friday fanciers. The occasion? Launching our new tikitTM agents VeloSport (Berkeley) and Warm Planet Bicycles (San Francisco) plus getting up to some good old fashioned Friday frolics ... - LC
 Bike Friday in Berkeley Riding with the fold on Berkeley's outstanding bicycle boulevards, and new BF Berkeley dealer VeloSport Warm Planet Bicycles Launch BF's new dealer Warm Planet Bicycles launched a bicycle parking garage ... for those without a folding bike MOVIES BF launch at VeloSport, Berkeley Peter Rich takes the plunge BF launch at Warm Planet Bikes Valet Parking Grand Opening, San Francisco Leah Shahum on the tikitTM and 'road diet' The Executive Director of the San Francisco Bike Coalition says bike lanes calm traffic Little guy, Big job Little Person Dan Okenfuss leads us through the Capitol Building in California, while the tikitTM waits under his desk! STORIES Stolen tikit returned to the fold An amazing account of how the Bay Area folding bike "CSI" brought a little lost Friday back to its rightful owner ... Pictured: Civilized 2-wheel commuting indeed, courtesy of the EBBC's efforts to make the streets of the Bay Area 'Bicycle Boulevards'. |
A spin along the impressively bike-cognizant streets of San Francisco and the East Bay reveals an interesting new trend: folding bikes are popping up center stage at many bike shops, rubbing handlebars with the carbon fork and titanium spoke nipple brigade. Whether it's due to gas prices or the tendency for everything to be shrinking - cellphones, legroom on United and size 12 dresses - we're not complaining. Especially when it was the first thing to greet us at VeloSport, our first tikitTM agent in Berkeley. |
Friday Sales Expert Paul Adkins attended the Dec 21 launch which drew some old Friday faces out on BART with their Fridays. Correction - those faces didn't look a minute older than when I last visited the BF Club in 2003. Must be all this tooling around on our little "kiddie bikes", I tell you! Jeanne, a lively Friday owner in her sixties, showed up with her early-prototype tikitTM from three years ago, designed by before Rob English joined the team. "I use it to walk the dog. I have knee problems, and the dog's faster, but when I ride my tikit I can keep up with him." Lee told the group she liked her Friday because she could wear a skirt with it, alluding to this stunning fact: a Friday is a "bicycle for life" - the elderly can get their leg over it |
 Bike Friday Club of SF co-leader Jackie Link had come by way of Japan, France and New Zealand on her Friday and was on her way to France again. Tough life! Jorge, a shovel (read Caterpillar) operator, enthused about how the tikit might save him money whenever the hardhat with the clipboard orders him to scoop over the shining sea. "I'll do anything not to have to drive across the Bay Bridge," he said. "It's $4 plus parking, plus gas ... $35-45 a day ... " I showed the audience clips from the NY tikit On Trial experiment and was told that while velophobia was milder-mannered on the West Coast, it did exist in some quarters, - more in goat cheese and Malbec restaurants than office buildings. VeloSport are keen to offer the full monty - the tikitTM as well as custom Bike Fridays. In fact, the demo tikits were whisked away in the back of a Jag by two new customers the very next day! |
Of course we don't need to murmur that if you have a folding bike, you might never need such a garage - nor the special carriages to carry bikes that the CalTrain officials spoke warmly of. After speeches by several dignitaries including Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the wildly successful San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the rubber tube was cut and the garage declare open; it was already half full and it wasn't even a busy day. Leah admitted that while the purpose-built garages and train carriages are important, folding bikes are a big part of the solution, distributing the load much like a potluck dinner saves one party from the burden of the whole show - and running out. Yes, if you need to commute, get the right tool for the job! She spoke convincingly about the traffic calming properties of bike lanes - motorists had actually written to thank the Coalition for getting bike lanes on some key streets. Check out the videos above. |
