We love to hear about local folks who promote alternative transportation, particularly if it involves bicycles. We recently had a visitor in our Chapel Hill shop from High Point, NC, who is one of the most enthusiastic bicycle proponents we've met in a while. He has been working to organize a group of riders in High Point who use bikes as every day alternatives to cars. He's started a blog,
, that is doing a great job of raising awareness of bicycles as alternatives to cars. We hope that he and people like him can really help promote bicycles as one alternative to the US oil addiction.
This same fellow was really enthusiastic about RANS bicycles, which use the "Crank Forward" design. The idea behind crank forward is to have a more relaxed riding position that is closer to the ground, so that when you stop, both feet can be placed firmly on the ground. While bikes like the Electra Townie have advertised this feature heavily, there have been a number of companies who were doing this long before, including RANS, and more recently Day6.
We think this is an interesting concept. While we don't personally own any crankforward bikes ourselves, we certainly see the potential benefits for those riders looking for a more relaxed and comfortable arrangement.
So, we've decided to test the waters by bringing in some of the Day 6 bicycles first, to see how that goes. These are designed for the utmost in comfort at a very reasonable price, and are particularly focused on the female riders and over 50 crowd. If designs like this encourage more people to ride a bike in their daily lives, we're all for it. So, as of next week, we'll have two of the Day 6 bikes in the shop for test rides, the 7 speed internally geared Journey, and the 21 speed Dream. There are also a few different seat options, one with a backrest and one that looks like a normal bicycle seat, but has some very thick padding. If you've been looking for a more comfortable and safe way to ride a bicycle, stop by sometime and check one out.
If this market goes well for us, we may explore additional options like the RANS bikes.
This same fellow was really enthusiastic about RANS bicycles, which use the "Crank Forward" design. The idea behind crank forward is to have a more relaxed riding position that is closer to the ground, so that when you stop, both feet can be placed firmly on the ground. While bikes like the Electra Townie have advertised this feature heavily, there have been a number of companies who were doing this long before, including RANS, and more recently Day6.
We think this is an interesting concept. While we don't personally own any crankforward bikes ourselves, we certainly see the potential benefits for those riders looking for a more relaxed and comfortable arrangement.
So, we've decided to test the waters by bringing in some of the Day 6 bicycles first, to see how that goes. These are designed for the utmost in comfort at a very reasonable price, and are particularly focused on the female riders and over 50 crowd. If designs like this encourage more people to ride a bike in their daily lives, we're all for it. So, as of next week, we'll have two of the Day 6 bikes in the shop for test rides, the 7 speed internally geared Journey, and the 21 speed Dream. There are also a few different seat options, one with a backrest and one that looks like a normal bicycle seat, but has some very thick padding. If you've been looking for a more comfortable and safe way to ride a bicycle, stop by sometime and check one out.
If this market goes well for us, we may explore additional options like the RANS bikes.
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