It has been quite a year here at Civia.   Our little bike brand has been busy.  I am excited with what Civia has in store for 2012.  We’ll be releasing the Twin City in April.  This neighborhood bike is a great everyday ride, and with an integrated rack, the bike expands your bike-able universe.  We know this bike will get more people out on their bikes, and when more people are out on their bikes, there is more joy in the world.  Let’s get one thing straight, you cannot argue with joy.  At Civia we live on our bikes because we know cycling makes us and our communities stronger and more joyful. 2012 is the year of joyrides.

Want to find out how much your car commute costs, and how much you can save by riding your bike?  Look here

http://commutesolutions.org/external/calc.html

And that doesn't include any health benefits or health club fee savings!

See you in the bike lane.

Burton

Free Bikes for Kidz is giving away 5000 bikes this holiday season in the Twin Cities. This is a very audacious goal, but FB4K is getting it done.  The group has rounded up over 5,00 used bikes and is repairing, cleaning,  and shining  them up to  give  away to children in the Twin City area.

My family rode over to the Midtown Greenway Transit Station to fix up bikes last week to help out.   My wife and I had our 7 year old and 5 year old with us, and we all helped out to get some bikes in working order and looking good.  The kids are alway stoked to learn to how to work on bikes, but they also to got to “test ride” a bunch of bikes.

At the Midtown location, FBFK has finished up 392 bikes, but they have 108 to go in two weeks.

If you are in the Twin Cities area, you should make it a point of donating a few hours of your time to be a part of a very powerful mission: more kids on bikes.

You can sign up here:

http://fb4k.com/volunteer

It was fun to ride the Halsted on the street that inspired its name; it’s a great connector to many neighborhoods. The bike turned more than a few heads as I wove through the congestion, it was likely the first time they’d seen a “low gravity carrier” bike.

J.C. Lind Bike Co. was my first stop. I walked in to find Jon Lind, the owner, talking with a regular customer about a Civia Bryant. The timing couldn’t have been better for me to show some face to face customer support. Opportunities like that don’t happen often enough!  Jon is a smart and passionate entrepreneur who spent about 18 months working in the Netherlands for a previous employer and developed a strong appreciation for the bike-centric way of life there. When he returned to the states, he decided to take the self-employed route and opened a cargo / Euro-style city bike shop in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago.

Jon does a super job merchandising the Civia Lorings on the floor in his shop, perhaps that why he sells so many?  With the low step over and relaxed riding position on the Loring, you’d be amazed what you can carry with these bikes. They’re not full-on cargo, but a solid, smooth and sturdy base for daily errands or simply rolling through the neighborhood on a gorgeous afternoon.

My next stop was the Dutch Bike Co.’s new shop off of Milwaukee and North in Bucktown. Their original store is in Seattle, WA and is also a stocking Civia dealer. As I rolled past the store front to find a bike rack, one of the shop employees ran outside to greet me. He obviously noticed the customized Halsted I was riding and was psyched to see someone on this relatively new bike. Dutch Bike Co. embraced the Halsted when it first came out and had one prominently displayed on the sidewalk in front of the shop.

Vince Spina is the shop’s GM and is a former bicycle tour guide. A few years ago, Vince was found leading groups of vacationing cyclists through the hills, villages and vineyards of Italy. After getting his fill of this dreamy lifestyle (though not always as plush as you’d think according to Vince) Vince moved back to the states and joined Dutch Bike Co. What is it about working in Europe and returning to the U.S. to pursue a career in the bike industry?

Dutch Bike Co. opened their new location in a busy, hip and thriving pocket of the Bucktown neighborhood. Their neighbors across the street sell cheap tacos and burritos, pitchers of beer and have ample patio seating. The place is packed 24/7 and people often stop by the bike shop to check out the beautiful bikes.

My hat is doffed in your general direction J.C. Lind and Dutch Bike. You’ve both done a great job creating welcoming spaces for people to find that bike they’ve been searching for, and start a new path to smarter living.

We recently had our own design problem that needed a sustainable solution. After using a bamboo floor for our tradeshow booth for a number of years, the tongues and grooves were warped and worn and weren’t fitting together well—we found a loving home for the bamboo floor, while it could still be put together, and looked for a new one.

We considered comfort (for standing on it for long periods of time), style and sustainability. In the end, we purchased carpet tiles constructed from 80% post-consumer recycled face fibers that looks great and won't kill our feet on those long expo days.

The impact we have on the environment matters to us in everything we do, and we appreciate when it matters to others as well. Check out this article about two students from the University of Vienna who constructed an energy efficient house from 800 reused pallets—a beautiful design that is also environmentally responsible.

Trinity Cycle, a great Civia dealer from Fort Worth, Texas was at a Civia event this weekend in Utah, and commuted on a Civia Prospect from Ogden to Snowbasin  one morning.  He had a great ride, and sent us this picture. Next time I'm riding with him.

Here is the link to more of Bernie's mountain commute on the Prospect: http://trinitybicycles.com/home/

At Civia we take the view that any trip that we can take by bike is going to be a better experience; its going to be more fun, its going to get us out in our community, its  going to improve our health and the health of our environment.  With these trips under two miles it is even questionable if the car will actually be faster when you factor in traffic and parking in most dense urban cities. 

Obviously, Civia thinks bicycles are the smarter choice and that why we design bicycles from the ground up for what we call smarter living. When we talk about design we’re not talking about contemporary paint colors on  barrowed European city bikes, no, we’re talking about what all design should do, that is, solve problems on a systems level.  Our Civia Halsted does just that with its integrated front rack with a low center of gravity.  The Halsted gets a load of groceries home without the car trip, a cycle truck for your everyday life and for smarter living. 

Civia: bicycles for smarter living

The difference between the two racks is small but significant. The aftermarket rack has only one tab that attaches to the front of the fork crown.  This one tab can fail under repeated stress. If the rack fails it can fall into the front wheel.  The original equipment rack has two tabs that attach to both the front and bottom of the fork crown.

Consumers should remove this rack from their bicycles immediately and contact the store where purchased for a full refund or replacement. 

If you have questions on your Loring rack please give us a call at (877) 311-7686.

Lara has always been drawn to dense urban cities: Chicago, New York and now London. Getting around in these cities is easy and relatively cheap given their strong public transportation infrastructure. Like many people in these cities, my sister has usually opted for subways/trains or the bus to get around (she hasn’t owned a car for over 10 years). However, Lara is starting to think there might be a smarter way to get around her neighborhood, she has started commuting to work by bike!

The last vivid memory I have of riding a bike with my sister was at our cousin’s farm in Missouri on an 80cc motor bike. I was about 5 years old, sitting on the back of the bike, arms around her waist when all of a sudden the rear wheel fished tailed on a turn and we were both bloodied and laying on the ground. We both still bear the scars on our knees. 

A couple weeks ago, Lara decided she was going to bike to work. The commute is 5 miles, a straight shot, and she can shower at work. It hadn’t rained for 2 months in London so she was pretty sure it’d be a pleasant, sunny ride, both ways. The first thing she noticed was that she had to watch out for other cyclists rather than cars. “There are tons of bikers in London. About 90% of them stop at stop signs and lights and they’re far more polite to pedestrians and motorists than cyclists in New York.” (Lara lived in NYC for about 2 years). Her commute doesn’t sound too shabby either. Despite the lack of bike lanes on the streets, her route takes her through Hyde Park and the Notting Hill neighborhood. Rolling at a comfortable pace, the commute took her about 30 minutes, slightly longer than taking the Underground (a.k.a the "tube"). Aside from feeling more awake from the ride into work, “you don’t have to deal with armpits in your face on a bike like you do on the tube”. Lara isn’t the only one in London realizing the benefits of using bicycles as transportation.

Barclay’s Cycle Hire (a.k.a Boris Bikes) is a bicycle sharing system in London that is based on the Bixi Cycle rental system that originated in Montreal, Canada. Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France have similar bicycle sharing programs as do a handful of cities in the U.S. Bicycles can be rented on a membership basis, or with a credit or debit card at any of the 400 docking stations around London and parts of the 8 boroughs. The program was launched on July 30, 2010 and boasts a fleet of 6,000 bikes. Among the many incentives for using a bicycle as transportation is London’s “congestion tax” which charges motorists 10 pounds ($16) to drive their cars in the center of the city. London’s Libertarian mayor, Boris Johnson, is a proponent of the bike sharing system and hopes that one day, bicycles in London will be become as commonplace as black cabs and red double-decker buses.

Civia has close ties with Ison, a distributor of bicycles, accessories and components in England. Established in 1992, Ison is an established and trusted distributor of high quality products in the bicycle industry. Through Ison, Civia has seen significant growth in England this year. There are now 6 independent bicycle dealers throughout England that carry Civia bicycles, parts and accessories. Keep Pedaling is one these shops and was recently featured on the Manchester Evening News web site. If you live in the U.K. and would like to see Civia in your local bike shop, ask them to contact Ison for information about ordering Civia!