"Urban" Is the new buzzword

When we attended out first Interbike Expo in 1993, few people in the bike industry wanted to talk about urban transportation. When we discussed our plans to open a bike shop that would serve urban commuters in the middle of Chicago, many smiled politely, and nodded their heads, but we could see they thought were crazy.
Well, times have changed. Several years ago, Joe Breeze, one of the pioneers of mountain biking and a developer of a highly regarded line of off-road bikes, made a complete about face, and now he runs Breezer, a company devoted entirely to commuting cyclists.
He's not alone. The headline of the main industry news magazine speaks for itself:

Virtually every supplier at this year's Interbike line up is prominently displaying bicycles made for city riding. Everything from cruisers, to hybrids to road bikes, has been urbanized.
Some of it is suspiciously superficial, and looks more like a fashion statement, than a  movement to change the way folks think about urban travel. However, I can certainly appreciate the fact that fashions, or trends, if you will, have the ability to penetrate the collective psyche more effectively than activists and slogans (bless their hearts).
My question is, what happens when people get tired of looking like bike messengers (bless their hearts, too; but you know, people get tired sometimes, kind of like they got tired of looking like Michael Jackson a while back)? Will they still want to bike? Is this trend inclusive enough to acknowledge, recognize and legitimize those who have been or have become bicycle commuters without ever aspiring to look like bike messengers.
I am thrilled that the industry has discovered the joys of urban cycling, and in turn, plans to market that joy to the consumer.
I heard and interview the other day with Mark Penn, the author of a new book Microtrends. When asked what is a microtrend, he said something to the effect that if two or three million Americans are doing it, it's a microtrend.
How come urban cyclists are not on his list?

Comments

[Fritz]

That chick on the front cover of BRaIN is Carey, a marketing director for Raleigh USA. That's the 2008 Raleigh One Way she's riding in that photo.

[Justyna]

Yep. I figured that our when I saw the Raleigh catalog. Nearly the same photo. Talk about "authentic".