By Todd Welvaert, toddw@qconline.com
Printed and digital copies of this image are available for purchase. Digital delivery within minutes.
Photo: Todd Welvaert
Jeff Bradley, owner of On Two Wheels bike shop in Davenport, holds one of his shop's high end models, the Trek Madone 5.9. Today, avid cyclists can buy a bicycle that weighs less than 16 pounds, thanks to high tech frame materials and light weight parts. More photos from this shoot Hauberg Civic Center "Quad Cities best kept secret"
It's not your father's 10-speed.
With frames that weigh less than 2½ pounds, made from the same materials as high-tech jet fighters, and boasting 20-speed transmissions, today's crop of top-of-the-line bicycles are technological marvels with price tags to match.
"I've always thought 'OK this is it, this is the end, there's nothing more they can do,'" said Jeff Bradley, owner of On Two Wheels bike shop in Davenport. "Then the new stuff comes in and it just seems to keep going and going. The leaps have gotten a little shorter, but
(improvements) are still coming."
Mr. Bradley, 45, should know.
He won 11 national cycling championships and was on the 1984 Olympic cycling team. In the 1980s, Mr. Bradley was a member of the legendary 7-Eleven professional cycling team, the first U.S. team to race successfully in Europe, and he competed in international cycling's premier event, the Tour de France. He retired from professional cycling in 1987 and returned to his hometown of Davenport.
"When I started, the top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art bikes weighed 21, 22 pounds. They were steel frames, 14 speeds and cost $1,800 to $2,000, and they were custom made." Mr. Bradley said. "Now, an entry level (racing) bike we sell for $699 is way better than the bikes that I rode. The bike Lance Armstrong rode in the Tour De France weighs less than 16 pounds and costs upwards of $7,000. It's a 20-speed, and it's a lot more comfortable."
And available at a bike shop near you.
"You couldn't find the bikes we rode in a shop, it would have to be built for you. Now, you can buy them here. It's absolutely incredible what's out there."
According to the National Bicycle Dealers Association, more than 19 million bicycles were sold last year in North America, up 8.2 percent from 2004. Some bike makers estimate that 30,000 cyclists each year spend $3,000 or more on a new bike, but there are many who are willing to spend even more.
Healthy Habits owner Bruce Grell got involved in the bicycle business in the 1990s, but has been a cyclist all his life.
He said he never would have predicted the $8,000 bicycle when he started, but isn't as surprised now.
"Look at the average income now compared to where it was then, look at cars, there's a lot of similarities there," Mr. Grell said. Although cars are viewed as a necessity, there are many consumers who buy cars with features and functions that go far beyond what the consumer needs, he said. Bikes are no different.
When Jerry Neff's parents started Jerry & Sparky's Bicycle Shop in Davenport, they bought a $2,000 Ford pickup in 1967 to make deliveries, a memory that forced a smile earlier this month when he sold an $8,500 bicycle.
"I never thought I would see that," said Mr. Neff, who's been in the bicycle business 25 years.
A part of Jerry and Sparky's business is custom-made Waterford Precision Cycles. The Wisconsin company makes custom-made frames for buyers. Complete bikes range from $4,500 to $6,500, and are widely regarded as some of the best bicycles made.
"We've had a few people who have had some problems, even back problems, and they were able to go with a Waterford and come up with a design that fits the bill," Mr. Neff said. "We're close enough (to Waterford, Wis., where the bikes are made) that people can go up there to do a fitting."
Trek, one of the world's largest bicycle makers, suggests a retail price of nearly $5,000 for its flagship, the Madone 5.9, but it's not nearly the most expensive out there. Exotic materials and custom builds push prices even higher. The carbon fiber Serotta MeiVici will set a rider back $7,095 -- for the frame alone.
Mr. Grell said many cyclists look at Cervélo as one of the lightest, fastest bicycles around. In 2004, the Canadian company made one of the lightest carbon fiber frame, 870 grams or 1.9 pounds, so light it failed to meet International Cycling Union established weight limit and was not allowed to race that year. As a complete bicycle with race-worthy equipment, the R2.5 Bayonne runs about $8,500.
Carbon fiber is a strong, light composite plastic and epoxy material reinforced with fiber that has similar strength to aluminum and steel, but at less weight. Carbon fiber also has a unique characteristic of dampening the bumps and vibrations a bicycle rider feels.
"Ten or 15 years ago, steel bikes were about all you could find, then aluminum came on, and it has been predominate for quite a while," Mr. Bradley said. "Now carbon fiber is starting to go like gangbusters and you are seeing it in bikes that are less expensive every year."
Mr. Grell said experience has taught him there are few limits to bicycles and the science that is driving them lighter.
"Every time I thought anything like that, they come up with something new," he said. "It wasn't too long ago, six-speeds (gear clusters on the rear wheel) were considered more than enough. Then it went to eight, then nine and now it's 10 (effectively making some bicycles 20 and 30 speeds). Someone will probably come out with 15-speed in the next (few) years."
There is a trickle down of technology that runs through bike lines and benefits consumers of all stripes, Mr. Bradley said.
"What starts on top-of-the-line bikes, within five years that state-of-the-art technology is on the bottom of the line bikes.
"It's amazing, you don't have to be a pro cyclist to tell the difference between a carbon fiber bike, or a bike with carbon fiber parts, to tell the difference between it and another frame material," he said. "The price of carbon fiber is coming down, a full carbon fiber bike goes for $1,800. The average person might not be able to tell the difference between an $1,800 carbon fiber bike and a $7,000 carbon fiber bike, but the average person can tell the difference between an $1,800 carbon fiber bike and a $700 aluminum or steel bike. There's a big difference there."
Mr. Grell said disc brakes started on $4,000 mountain bikes just a few years ago, and now can be found on bikes at $450.
Steve DePron has been in the bicycle business for 33 years. The owner of Bike & Hike in Rock Island, said all the technological trickle-down might make this the best time in the history of bicycles to buy one.
"You're getting so much for your money right now, it's just incredible," he said. "The bicycle price point we sell the most at, that $339 bicycle, is equal to a bicycle worth $1,200 just 12 years ago. Bikes have gotten so much better because of the work that's put in on the high end. You get a ton for your money right now."
So where does it end? Mr. DePron said he never thought he would see a $5,000 bike when he started in the business, but today there are 25 on his showroom floor. His flagship model, the Giant Team Mobile bicycle, runs around $5,500.
"I think there always is going to be an exotic market there. Today, you can spend $12,000 on a regular production bicycle," he said. "But at some point, and I tell my customers this, I think you get to a certain point and you are splitting a pretty fine hair."
Mr. DePron also sees a contradiction of sorts in bicycle advancements.
"I saw an article in (an inventors magazine) about the bicycle and how the basic design, two wheels the same size, a frame and pedals, what was then called a 'safety bicycle' hasn't really changed that much since the 1880s. There were pretty ultra light bicycles in the 1920s, with steel frames and wooden rims, they were around 22 pounds.
"Carbon fiber, which is the biggest new thing, isn't really new. There were carbon fiber frames 25 years ago. The technology has gotten much better, the quality's improved, but there's not a lot that's new."
#
No comments:
Post a Comment