Eurobike is wrapping up and Interbike, the North American bicycle trade show, will be starting up in the next few weeks. In the past, this has been the place where bicycle companies big and small try to wow dealers and industry writers with the lightest, most aero on everything from bikes to wheels to shoes. For at least the last 5 years, carbon has been king, but a new trend emerged last year and is growing this year: the introduction of honest to God city bikes meant for serious transportation cycling.

Gary Fisher Simple City step through

It was only a couple years ago that when you walked into a bike shop looking for a commuter, you would be recommended a recreationally designed mountain bike or hybrid. Not only was the riding position and inevitable suspension fork not well suited to the purpose, these bikes were generally ugly and often the useful bits like fenders and a rack were either an afterthought or a required extra purchase of usually ill fitting accessories.

Well, transportation cycling is the red-headed stepchild no longer with the industry discovering a new market called “Urban.” Initially, the focus of Urban cycling was emulating fixed gear bikes. Whether a straight up fixed gear or performance oriented single speed, the answer the bike industry was giving us was you need to ride a minimalist bike that most riders would find either very difficult to ride in traffic or not very adept at terrains that don’t mimic the Netherlands (read “flat.”) For the most part lights, fenders, chain guards and racks were again left off. An industry always focused on racing and performance just couldn’t let go their prejudices of speed over utility.

It may seem like I am harping on the subject, but I think for transportation cycling to work for people, you need to be able to wear regular cloths, carry your stuff, and be seen after dark. A bike that doesn’t do all of these things at least adequately out of the box does not deserve the title transportation bike, city bike, “Urban” or whatever the hell you want to call it. Other types of bikes can be made to perform this function through retrofits, but they are not as good at the job. They certainly should not be sold to a customer for that purpose.

Breezer Uptown

Things are changing in bike world and it appears bicycle manufacturers are starting to think about how people will actually use transportation bikes in design. Since they pioneered the mountain bike craze 30 years ago, it is only fitting that Gary Fisher and Joe Breeze have been on the forefront of producing true utility bikes on a large scale with new products in the last year. The Breezer Uptown 8 offers a full equipped city bike down to dynamo hub lighting and frame lock in a utilitarian package while Fisher’s Simple City offers a lower cost, more stylish bikes that leave out some must have features like lights and racks at the lower product level. I should also say that Electra was a couple years ahead of everyone with their Amsterdam model. It’s equipped with lower end parts and has not been without issues, but their entry price point was certainly attractive and showed there was a market for useful bikes.

The Globe Live, part of Specialized's new urban bike division

This summer we saw Specialized and Trek follow suit with new product lines aimed straight at the car replacement market. Specialized revamped its Globe line, a previously ho-hum commuter in the mountain bike with slicks approach, into a separate product division. Of course, the ubiquitous fixie was included in this “Urban” lineup, but also included were two sides of the same coin, the Haul and Live. Both are upright riders with fenders with one having a larger rear rack and the other a large front rack.  (Read the great product overview article at BikeHugger for more on the Globe line.) Trek recently rolled out the Belleville as part of their EcoDesign project. Offered in a standard diamond or mitxe frame, the Belleville offers some very useful features like dynamo hub and large front and rear racks in addition to gimmicky items like zip tie attached saddle covers (supposedly more environmentally friendly allowing you to recycle the cover. Yeah, sure.)

Trek's porteur inspired Belleville.

All of these bikes except the Breezer Uptown fail to nail all of the needed options as well as a traditional Dutch city bike, but they are all promising developments and light years ahead of previous products. I think realizing transportation cyclists do ride after dark and that we need to lock our bikes when we get there would make these bikes even better. In addition to overall better utility, there is also a trend with these bikes away from garish racing graphics as is dominate in other lines. We can credit this in large part to the influence of the current generation of custom builders and the bikes seen at the North American Handbuilt Bike Show. These bikes look good though by necessity they will never have the charm, unique look and tailored fit of a custom hand built bike.

Sure, the big boys are following yet again (where are you Giant?), but the results are nice looking, functional bikes available in large distribution channels at prices a lot of consumers can handle. Getting more people bike commuting or shopping by bike requires safe routes and safe places to park your bike at your destination. Good infrastructure is key but having bikes that make the task easy is just as important. These new products are a promising development in turning America into a biking nation.

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