BusinessReport.com

Once upon a time, buying a bicycle was simple. All you had to do was figure out whether you wanted a Sting-Ray, a 10-speed or a Newsboy Special.

Nowadays the array of choice is dizzying. Bicycle styles have mutated into several varieties that didn’t exist just two or three decades ago, or existed but in an earlier primitive form. Today’s cruisers, for instance, owe a debt to the old newsboy bikes manufactured by companies like Columbia and Schwinn in the 1950s and 1960s.

But now there’s a specialty bicycle for just about every whim, including road bikes, triathlon bikes, hybrids, commuters, cruisers, comfort bikes, cross-country, BMX, mountain bikes, three-wheelers and recumbents.

Butler Murrell, founder and manager of the Bicycle Shop on Highland Road at the North Gates of LSU, says it’s a wonderful time to be a member of the bicycle-buying public.

“They’ve never had so many choices, which makes selling them a little more difficult because we don’t want to confuse them, but then again you want to give them a choice,” he says.

The increase in options has occurred over the past five years, Murrell says. What it boils down to is that a lot of potential customers who walk in expecting to leave with, say, a mountain bike instead walk out with a head full of questions and the need for further research.

“But at the same time the purpose is to get them on the right bike, so they look forward to getting on it,” he says. “If they don’t look forward to getting on it, it’s going to sit in the garage, and we don’t want that. That’s not doing us any good.”

Murrell has been in the business plenty long enough to remember when the Sting-Ray and the English Racer—think Raleigh—were about it. Then mountain bikes were invented, and it was all mountain bikes all the time. Mountain bikes eventually branched into separate categories: cross-country, downhill and free ride.

The Bicycle Shop sells a lot of them, especially at the beginning of the school year. A mountain bike there will cost you between $360 and $5,400. The store carries Specialized, Bianchi and Orbea. Racing bikes tend to be the priciest and come in three categories: entry-level, road bikes and triathlon.

A Bianchi Pista road bike goes for around $600, or you can go all the way up to an Orbea Arin Record for $5,750. Comfort bikes—which are exactly what the name implies—start at around $300 and go up to maybe $1,200. For less than $200 you can ride away on a one-speed Sun Retro Cruiser or spend a little more for a Nirve Sunflower Cruiser, featuring yellow rims and sunflowers painted on the top tube.

Besides expanding options, bicycle technology has changed a lot, Murrell says. For one thing, bikes are a lot lighter. In the old days, frames were steel tubing with arc-welded joints: strong but heavy. Even so, steel-tube bikes won the Tour de France because that’s what all bikes were made of. The next innovation was lug frames: lighter steel tubes that fit together “like PVC or Tinkertoys,” Murrell says.

Steel tube frames are good at absorbing road vibration but take a lot of energy to move because they’re heavy. Chrome-moly steel frames were even lighter and then came aluminum, which didn’t weigh much but added a lot of stiffness. Most of the bikes Murrell sells are aluminum, which are great at transferring road vibration to the rider’s body—not a good thing.

Bike-makers tried different alloys and manipulating the shape of the frame tubes to combat vibration in aluminum. Then along came carbon fiber, which is expensive but feather light. Aerobatic planes are made from it, and it stops vibration dead in its tracks. An aluminum bike with carbon components in the right places—a carbon front fork, for instance—makes for an essentially vibration-free ride. Looking down the road, Murrell sees carbon being introduced into many more parts, meaning even lighter bikes, and the greater use of hydraulics rather than cables.

“The next big hurdle will be to get energy to both wheels,” he says. “It’s being done, but it’s still in the developmental stage.”

Mark Adams, manager for Capitol Cyclery on Jones Creek Road, says the newest thing out there right now is the Shimano Coasting Gear System, a rear hub that changes gears automatically. The technology is only about a year old, and bikes that have it aren’t cheap. It hasn’t been advertised much, though Adams can sell you one if you want it. Adams sells Cervélo, Electra [makers of the popular Townie series of comfort bikes], Felt, Gary Fisher, Giant, Haro and Redline brands.

Townies, which come with a multitude of gearing options, start at around $300. Townies and other Electra models, along with Trek’s various mid-range bikes, tend to be the most popular, Adams says. Among the cruisers are custom retro-styled models like the Hellbilly and Ghostrider [around $580] from Electra, and the more sedate but eye-catching Wasabi, Calypso and Cruiseliners from Trek, the country’s top bike manufacturer, followed by Specialized and Giant.

You’d think young folks would be the main customers for bikes with flames and skulls painted on the frames, but you’d be wrong. A broad age range takes to the custom models, Adams says.

“It depends on who has the wild side in them,” he says.

Despite the growing popularity of cruisers, comfort bikes, commuters and hybrids [a cross between road bikes and mountain bikes], the venerable mountain bike is still holding its own—because it’s so versatile, Adams says. And while he hasn’t seen sales rise appreciably with record gas prices, Adams thinks they would if Baton Rouge were a more bike-friendly town. With gas as high as it is, bikeways make more sense than ever.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to put trails here,” he says. “It’s not going to cost much more to put two feet on the side of a road. It doesn’t have to be on both sides. There’s too much road work going on around here for us not to have some bike trails. What are we, the second-fattest state in the nation? It’s because we don’t have bike trails.”

BICYCLE 101

What’s in a name? What’s in a style?

Here is an explanation of some of the different types of bicycles:

BMX [bicycle motocross]: Designed for stunts and racing, with small wheels and light frames

Commuter: Designed for transportation as opposed to recreation, with upright seating, gearing for moderate conditions and travel accessories such as full reflectors, cargo racks, bells and fenders

Cross-country: Designed for general riding, focusing on climbs and quick turns, with light frames and suspensions

Cruiser: Designed for comfort, with curved handlebars, padded seats, balloon tires, one gear and coaster breaks

Hybrids: Designed as a compromise between mountain bikes and racing bikes, with a sturdy frame of mountain-bike pedigree, tires made for road use and upright handlebars

Mountain bikes: Designed for off-road cycling, with a reliable, sturdy frame, tough wheels with knobby tires, upright handlebars, powerful brakes and super-low gearing

Recumbents: Designed to maximize comfort and minimize wind resistance around an ergonomic seating position, where the rider sits in lawn chair-like comfort and pushes pedals located ahead of the body

Road racers: Designed for speed and traditionally lightweight, with skinny tires and dropped handlebars

Road sport: Designed similarly to a road racer, except slightly more comfortable with a slower-handling frame

Three-wheelers: Designed as an adult tricycle for transportation by companies or exercise by senior riders

Triathlon bikes: Designed to optimize aerodynamics since triathletes can gain a significant advantage by riding a bike that reduces wind resistance, with aerobars, oval- or tear-shaped cross section and wheels that might have fewer spokes