Originally Posted by
Doohickie
You know..... if I were a bike manufacturer, I think I would also try to develop some bicycle infrastructure. Like open up a full bike shop in a dowtown area that would include various kinds of storage solutions, etc., just to see what works. Maybe not do it in every city, but put two or three shops like that in, plan to invest heavily in this stuff for those to markets, and see if it takes off. Maybe also have a partnership with a city to develop and test bike infrastructure (sharrows vs. lanes vs. trails vs. bike boulevards). If those companies want to sell more bikes in the U.S., they probably have to develop the market, but I bet it would pay off in the end.
Heck, just get bike shops to offer LAB Road 1 and Road 2 would be a start. The support from bike shops and maybe from manufactures seems to be limited to putting bikes in the hands of the user...
On the other hand Lance's shop down in Austin, Mellow Johnny's, at least has what you are talking about... a commuter center. Great shop... take a run down 35 and go to Austin and check it out...
http://www.mellowjohnnys.com/index.php
Or better yet, ride the back roads and don't forget to stop in Fredericksburg for great beer. Just a bit out of the way (grin) but worth the stop.
Regarding the bike market in the US... Oh it is a great market, a huge number of bikes are sold in the US, which then gather dust in garages. There was some sort of crazy quote about this I can't recall at the moment (may be in my sig)