Critical Mass
Shimano is working closely with a few bike manufacturers to create a new breed of bikes called Coasting that will appeal to people who don’t bike. The bikes are made to be extremely low maintenance, comfortable, cheap, and above all easy to use. More riders might clog bike trails, but beyond that this is a good thing in every way—fewer cars, improved health, and more people interested in cyclist issues. Hopefully the bikes are as successful as they’re predicting.
- rockythompson
This entry was posted on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2006 - 9:35 A.M. and is filed under Gear, Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 4th, 2006 at 10:17 am
This is a friggin’ brilliant idea. Right now if you don’t want to smile like a donut or hug the barrell at a fancy-schmancy spandex-warrior bike shop, your only option for a basic transit bike is Walmart bikes. I don’t give a crap how awesome Gary Fischer’s high end bikes are, I ain’t paying for their name.
This should fill that huge gap between “Nice Bike” and “Huffy” that exists right now.
October 4th, 2006 at 10:27 am
My only concern is if they can make it affordable.
I mean, a drive shaft bike would solve most casual cyclists’ issues, but they can be expensive, prohibitively so.
How cheap is the question, really.
October 4th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Shimano knows the market well. The dominant bike in japan (and my favorite bike I have ever owned) is the “mama-chari”, short for “mama” (mother) and “charinko” (tokyo slang for bicycle). I would love to have a cheap sturdy mama-chari. I would ride down to the store, buy some milk, eggs, tentacle pr0n, and stop at Mister Donuts on the way home. (just kidding– I wouldn’t buy donuts).
October 4th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
… What are the eggs and milk for?
October 5th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Whoah, they make shaft pedal-bikes? How do they compensate for the power loss from the couplings, being as you can’t do a longitudinally pedaled bike? Maybe they just gear ‘em way down?
December 20th, 2006 at 11:39 am
[…] In spite of its name, the Electra Amsterdam is not an electric bike, nor does it come with a “stash pocket” popular on so many snowboard products. The $550 cruiser is an easy riding bike with a 3-speed Shimano Nexus hub. Electra’s bikes are marketed to the same consumer Shimano’s going after with the upcoming Coasting bike—people who don’t know how to shift gears. The nice thing about the Electra Amsterdam is that it comes with class, too. […]