Opinion/Analysis

After more than a year of blogs about Bike 2.0 and what it might look like in various contexts,  perhaps it’s time to look at what it ain’t.

The preseason Dating Game is an outdated answer to a question that hasn’t been relevant in 15 years. So what’s the Right Question? Glad you asked.

Why do so many suppliers and retailers keep putting their money into The Dating Game year after year? Rick has some alternate ideas.

It's almost August, which can only mean one thing.

One CEO of a top-ten bike brand tells me that as a very rough estimate, he thinks financing in all its various elements ends up representing as much as 10% of his wholesale pricing. 10% of the approximately half of all BPSA bikes pre-seasoned last year means cyclists (consumers) ended up paying almost $125 million (at retail) to support wholesale finance costs in 2009.

The old Bike 1.0 business model as practiced by Trek, Giant, and Specialized relies on a shrinking market where a relatively few “smart” retailers prosper at the expense of a majority of “dumb” ones.

Behind The BPSA’s Redacted 2008-’09 Numbers: Boondoggle, Hornswoggle, or Clerical Soap-Droppery?

The final day of BRAIN's D.C. Dealer Tour took us through a grittier part of the city as we cycled outside the Beltway on our way to Arrow Bicycles in Hyattsville, Maryland, a cool neighborhood Giant shop. On the way we rode on the new Met Branch trail, a recently opened Rails to Trails project in Northeast D.C. that the Washington Area Bicyclist Association has been working on securing funding and easements for since the early 1990s.

Send us your Bike to Work Week Photos, and I'll post them up on our Web site!!!

The second day of BRAIN's D.C. led us from Alexandria through tony Georgetown and into the heart of the district where we rode past many of the D.C. must-sees such as the White House, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials.

BRAIN kicked off its Dealer Tour of Washington D.C. on Tuesday with stops at shops in Alexandria, Crystal City and Arlington. We capped a long day by joining 200 local riders for Conte's Tuesday night shop ride. Here are some pictures from the first day:

Shannon Haslam, who used to work for Tifosi Optics and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee informed me that a local charity needs some help after the rain and floods that have recently swept through the area.

As many of you well know Bill Fields is recovering from viral encephalitis.

I swung by the grand opening on Saturday of the Bicycle Hub, a new bike cooperative in Long Beach, California.

Outside Magazine's third annual "Best Places to Work" list has been revealed:

Kind Shock general manager Martin Hsu organized a six-day, 510 kilometer ride around Taiwan's picturesque east side following the Taipei Cycle show earlier this month, and extended an invitation to BRAIN to have a rider come along.

NiteRider will be rolling through the U.S. in style for 2010.

Here are the award winners from this year's handmade bike show that took place in Richmond, Virginia, over the weekend:

Tagged North American Handmade Bicycle Show

With its unique mix of bikes and brew, the Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee Bar is the latest hub of Minneapolis’ thriving bike culture. Keep reading for a bit on Cars R Coffins, a Minneapolis messenger scene mainstay for the past four years.

Sunny skies, mild breezes and palm tree-lined streets offered the semblance of a beach side town.

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