Monday, July 11, 2005
For the Shiftless
Shimano has reinvented the lowly comfort bike to woo the La-Z-Boy generation.
The U.S. cycling industry desperately needs a mass-market hit. The number of bikes Americans purchase each year has languished at around 13 million for 30 years, never eclipsing the 15 million bought in 1973.
Shimano, the Japanese producer of gearshifts and derailleurs used by the likes of Lance Armstrong, has an idea that might appeal even to sedentary middle-agers: a new bike with an automatic transmission for "people who don't want to ride up a mountainside in France and are scared to death of Lycra," says Kozo Shimano, the 43-year-old head of the company's U.S. wing and grandson of the company's founder.
Shimano's Nexus Inter 7 replaces the cluster of gears and chain arms with two gear sets sealed inside the rear hub. Shifting can be controlled by a mounted computer that selects a gear based on how fast you're moving and whether you're slogging uphill or coasting down (it has seven speeds). Yep, you can ride and talk on your cell phone.
A bike with the fully automated system costs around $1,000; a semiautomatic version is $350 to $700. That's three to six times what cheapie ten-speeds cost at Wal-Mart but only slightly more than a quality comfort bike.
Shimano's problem will be reaching the comfort riders who might want one of these bikes. "A lot of these people don't dare to go into a bike shop," concedes David Lawrence, head of the company's U.S. marketing.
The U.S. cycling industry desperately needs a mass-market hit. The number of bikes Americans purchase each year has languished at around 13 million for 30 years, never eclipsing the 15 million bought in 1973.
Shimano, the Japanese producer of gearshifts and derailleurs used by the likes of Lance Armstrong, has an idea that might appeal even to sedentary middle-agers: a new bike with an automatic transmission for "people who don't want to ride up a mountainside in France and are scared to death of Lycra," says Kozo Shimano, the 43-year-old head of the company's U.S. wing and grandson of the company's founder.
Shimano's Nexus Inter 7 replaces the cluster of gears and chain arms with two gear sets sealed inside the rear hub. Shifting can be controlled by a mounted computer that selects a gear based on how fast you're moving and whether you're slogging uphill or coasting down (it has seven speeds). Yep, you can ride and talk on your cell phone.
A bike with the fully automated system costs around $1,000; a semiautomatic version is $350 to $700. That's three to six times what cheapie ten-speeds cost at Wal-Mart but only slightly more than a quality comfort bike.
Shimano's problem will be reaching the comfort riders who might want one of these bikes. "A lot of these people don't dare to go into a bike shop," concedes David Lawrence, head of the company's U.S. marketing.
