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| The new Trek bike packaging. (Hard to see a difference) Image courtesy of Trek |
As a bike mechanic with well over 20 years of building new bikes experience, I can say with some authority that there are literally pounds of waste materials generated from every new bike sold. Plastic bits being the worst offense here. But there are also rubber bands, cardboard, foam, Styrofoam, plastic film, tape, and even paper waste that can become a burden, not only on price, responsibility to the bike shops, but on the Earth. I've said it for years- While bicycles are often said to be a 'green' alternative form of mobility, the bicycle industry is far from 'green' in reality. The packaging of new bikes being one of the worst offenses here.
Well, some companies are out to do something about this. I reported on something along these lines a year ago on RidingGravel.com in a report on a company that was seeking to reduce waste in packaging their recycled stainless steel bikes. Trek changed their packing up in December last year on some models and reduced some amount of plastic. You'd be hard pressed to see much of a difference. But, something is better than nothing, or actually increasing packaging, which is possible and happens.
The thing here is that there is a balancing act between getting a bicycle to a destination unscathed, (harder than you think), getting it to a destination in a mostly assembled state, and keeping costs reasonable, which is nearly impossible. I remember in the past, the least waste in packaging for a new bike was always an USA made Cannondale, which had everything zip-tied to a big cardboard plate which was then stuck in a box. The problem with those bikes was that almost nothing was pre-installed, but was often still in OE packaging, which- if you think about that, is another level of packaging bike brands have almost zero control over. Anyway, dealers hated the extra labor that building a Cannondale bike from a box took back in those days. So, despite the reduced waste in packaging, it wasn't practical in terms of doing business. When Cannondale went overseas for production, they ended up becoming packed like every other brand. It just made more sense from a money standpoint.
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| Image courtesy of Bike Europe |
UPDATED: Yesterday an industry news site, "Bike Europe", carried a post on their site saying that - at least out of one factory in Europe- Cannondale has developed a 100% recyclable bicycle carton and is shipping HPC bikes made in this Dutch factory across Europe now.
So, kind of ironic, eh? But this is certainly a good sign and should point towards industry-wide rethinking on packaging for new bikes, as this idea has been set up as an 'open standard', meaning the ideas and ways to make this new bike packaging are free to any company seeking a way to make their carbon footprint that much smaller.
The factory representative quoted in the story also claims that there is no additional costs to doing this. That's even better. Elimination of all foam, plastic, plastic type tapes, and PVC materials is awesome and I hope to see this packaging technique become more widespread. So, while I said that the monetary expenses looked to be the biggest barrier to change in this area, this story seems to contradict that thought. Hopefully it will prove out to work as they say it does.
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| HD "Serial #1" from the early 20th Century. |
The "FN&V" has reported on the development of a Harley Davidson branded HPC (electrified bicycle), before, but now it all looks to be coming true (sort of) in a Direct To Consumer model and the company will be a separate entity from Harley Davidson according to several media posts I saw on Tuesday. The company will be called "Serial 1", which is a reference to HD's first HPC (Hybrid Powered Cycle) which is known as "Serial #1", according to the same reports posted Tuesday.
This becomes interesting since, obviously, it sends another brand in a crowded marketplace against established traditional cycling companies. While Serial 1 will use a DTC model for sales, these HPC's will be available through select Harley Davidson dealers as well, according to reports. This means that these bikes will enjoy a somewhat built in distribution model and possibly reach a new audience. This also points to how motorcycle sales have plummeted over the last several years, making electrified bicycles an attractive market for motorcycle companies to get into since the market share for HPC's is on the upswing.
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| The 'Serial 1" company's first HPC offering. |
One publication alluded to an existence of an 'e-moped' segment of the marketplace. This is very different from what talking heads in the cycling industry say, as these sorts of throttle controlled HPC's seem to be invisible to the cycling industry, or they point to them and say that they are 'illegal' because these vehicles do not adhere to the three-class "e-bike" guidelines. While this is a distinction I have called out as being silly, the cycling industry has been sticking to their guns on that point, saying that laws are being drawn up across the nation in support of a three tiered class system for what they call 'e-bikes'. See, this sort of ignoring of reality is what is going to cause the cycling industry to eventually fall to the wayside as a provider of motorized transport.
Consumers could care less about the three tiered class rules. If someone is riding a cargo bike that happens to have pedals but is cruising along at 20mph uphill and not pedaling, this is the sort of magic that attracts their attention. In human terms, the race to the easiest option, the path of least resistance, is far to attractive to be ignored. I mean, look at all the gizmos we have in our lives nowadays. I used to manually turn on my radio. Now you ask your 'digital assistant' to do that task. But I'm a guy with a vehicle that has crank down windows and starts the engine with a key. So old fashioned and ya know......waaaay too much work! So, what do I know/
As consumer trends and desires change, I foresee what I've always said would happen here. The so-called 'e-bike' will eventually shed its nearly useless pedals and cranks as consumers look for easier to ride, more powerful, and eventually, less bicycle-like options for their mobility needs. Attaching motors to bicycles has been done before, and we are simply repeating history with a different motor type, is all. That Harley Davidson has a hand in this market is particularly ironic.
There is literally a 'day' for everything under the Sun, right? I mean, even the Sun gets its own day once a week. (Sorry! I couldn't resist!) Anyway......I found out that International Singlespeed Day is 11/2/20 this year. Maybe it's the first year for this/ I don't know. I've never heard about this before this past week anyway. But you all know that sort of talk is right up my alley! I love me some single speed bicycle action.
Well, however it started, I'm certainly in on this. Now the dilemma for me is which one? Which single speed device do I celebrate this day of being in the wrong gear at all times? How do I choose just one to be at oneness with? I suppose it comes down to gravel or single track, and then I go from there. Gravel narrows things down to three main rigs and dirt means I could go with one of two, maybe three if you allow a 'dinglespeed' and I keep it in one range.
My predilection is to go on a gravel ride, since, ya know, I have this quest thing to finish up. So, that could all change depending upon weather and family obligations, or the fact that this falls on a Monday. We'll see. But this has much more appeal to me than a "World Fat Bike Day" which almost always is on opening day of deer shotgun hunting season here, and I do not want to be in the woods on that day! Heck, I stay off gravel on that day, generally speaking. But yeah.........stay tuned on this single speed deal.
NOTE: For my opinions and comments on yesterday's announcement concerning the Unbound Gravel event in Emporia, Kansas, I wrote a post about that yesterday. Click Here to see it.
That's a wrap for this week! Have a great weekend and get out and ride!
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