Monday, June 30, 2008

S.F. Chronicle Publishes Bike Commuter Article in the "Style" Section

In an article by Amy Moon, The Chronicle(SFGate.com on the web) covers the current minor exodus from car commuting to biking and even walking.

What caught our eye was one of the pictures published in the print edition was one of Cheryl Brinkman with our (now hers) Soma Mixte prototype(built up by American Cyclery).

<<Cheryl Brinkman also became an almost daily bike commuter in the past year. She lives in the lower Haight and commutes 2 miles to her job as a product manager at McKesson Corp., in the Financial District. About her wardrobe, Brinkman said, "I've altered it for the better and only one thing that I don't wear now that I bike so much is long full skirts."

"My main thing is getting to work not feeling like I just had a workout," said author Judy B. (her full, legal name), who lives in the Fillmore and commutes to her job as a legal assistant in the Financial District. "If I'm kind of going along, rushing to make red lights, and realize I'm breaking a sweat, I go whoa, slow down," she said. "San Francisco has ideal biking weather because the coolness is a perfect balance to the heat I generate riding my bike at a reasonable pace."

Graduate student Lisa Foster refuses to let the peddling keep her from wearing her pumps, as she wrote in an issue of the San Francisco Bike Coalition's Tube Times.

"I really think bikes are made for people who wear heels," she said. "You don't have to walk in them. It's so much better." (That makes a lot of sense actually.)

While it's impossible to know exactly how many new cyclists are on the streets, bike-store employees and bike-rack attendants at BART stations say that the numbers have jumped as dramatically as gasoline prices over the past six months or so.>>

Today was a great morning to commute...not too hot, not too cold or windy...and the sea breeze is cleaning out most of the wild fire tainted air of last week.

For the rest of the article, go here.

FYI:
Geometry for the Buena Vista mixte frame is up on main website now. Keep visiting the blog to find out when production models will go on sale. We have pushed back the release date a bit. Sorry to those who were patiently or anxiously waiting.

5 comments:

Yokota Fritz said...

And the Basil panniers on Cheryl Brinkman's Soma are the same ones I got for my wife last Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Would the mixte support a 5'11" guy weighing 210#?

I'd love something I could wear work pants on, but those stays always worried me.

BC said...

That geometry indicates that this is a men's mixte. The effective top tube is relatively huge -- it's not going to fit most women. I'm a fairly normally-proportioned 5'6 woman, and none of those would fit me unless I put cruiser bars on them or something. The smalls are way too short (with steep seat tube angles) and for the others I'd never have a prayer of making the reach.

Bummer, but I guess men need bikes, too. I'm glad someone is thinking of this underrepresented population. (And also glad I went ahead and bought a Speedster instead.)

Anonymous said...

I only recently crossed the bridge of a step through bike.

I realized that riding in pants is made more difficult if you're worried about splittage when you mount the bike.

The embarrassment of splitting your pants greatly exceeds embarrassment born out of my insecurities.

BC said...
This comment has been removed by the author.